How to make a fading reflection in Illustrator.

Many of you are probably familiar with making reflections in Photoshop. However, if your like me, you prefer to design in Illustrator. Creating objects in Illustrator will save you the steps necessary to finish in Photoshop, as well as allow for maximum scalability via vector graphics. So, let's take a look at how to create a fading reflection without the need for Photoshop.

1. Create or select an existing Illustrator object and duplicate it. You can duplicate the object via cut and paste, or duplicate the layer that the object is on by selecting the layer in the Layers pallette and selecting 'Duplicate Layer' from the fly-out menu on the right side of the Layers pallette. I prefer to duplicate the layer, because the duplicate layer is placed directly above the original layer. A pasted object will default to the center of the document, and may require you to move it.

2. Select the duplicated object and flip it by using the object/transform/reflect command. Select Horizontal for the axis.

3. Move the newly flipped object below the original object. You can move the object with either the mouse or the arrow keys. The arrow keys will allow you to move the object perfectly aling the vertical axis. Position the object with just a hint of space between the original and flipped objects.

4. Lock the original layer.

5. Create a new layer above the layer with the flipped object.

6. On the new layer, draw a square large enough to cover the object below it. Fill the square with a black/white gradient. You can adjust the gradient via the Gradient pallette. In the Gradient Pallete, make sure the gradient type is set to linear, and the angle is set to -90 (or 90). Please note: the white area of the gradient will show through in the end result.  

7. Select the object on the flipped layer and the gradient-filled square on the layer above it.

8. Open the Transparency pallette and select Make Opacity Mask from the fly-out menu.

9. Your reflection should now have a transparent gradient.

This technique can be used for a variety of subjects in Illustrator, so don't limit it's use to just reflections. Have fun.