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Ok, so, as a complete beginner with Blender, I've been trying to create a banana.

Here is the basic model :

enter image description here

I ,then, applied a basic yellow color to the mesh :

enter image description here

And now I am trying to add some sort of gradient "yellow to green" effect on the extremities of the mesh (as shown in this reference photo) :

enter image description here

But I have no idea on how I can do that. I've tried to play with the node editor, using a Gradient texture node, followed by a Color Ramp node, but the best thing I could get was that :

enter image description here

As you can see, It is applying only to one side of the mesh, and It is not even rotated properly to fit the shape of the object.

Am I on the right way to solve the problem ? Or should I perhaps simply try to UV Unwrap and apply a texture to it ?

Thank you for your answers

Duarte Farrajota Ramos
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user51761
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3 Answers3

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Your approach is conceptually correct, you are only missing texture coordinates.

You can even skip the gradient texture and use raw UVs.

The most accurate method is to unwrap you mesh and make a proper UV map, but if you want to skip it, since the banana is an elongated almost-linear shape you can approximate it by using basic Generated texture coordinates.

They won't be as accurate as a proper manual UV mapping, but may do a passable job with less work.

Just use a Converter > Separate XYZ node to get the Y component of your Generated texture coordinates, then run those through the color ramp.

enter image description here

Duarte Farrajota Ramos
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  • Thanks a lot for this fast answer ! Problem solved ! I'll still try to do the second method you suggested (UV unwrap). – user51761 Feb 01 '18 at 08:40
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A quick update of the final result (forgot to answer) :

https://i.stack.imgur.com/BK7mu.jpg

After struggling for hours trying to color it, and mainly having problems to rotate the color propagation on the mesh, I found that I definitly needed to UV Unwrap the mesh in order to apply a clean rotation (using the mapping node). So I did an UV project from View, and tried to give a straight vertical shape onto the UV. Here is what It looked like : enter image description here

Then, the rotation of the color applied correctly to the mesh. Here is the node setup : enter image description here

I don't know why tho, my "color stops" had to be stacked on the left side...

And finally, I applied a black material to the extremities of the banana...

But yeah, It worked after all ! Thanks a lot for your help

user51761
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0

Add >> Vector >> Normal
Plug it into your Gradient Texture Vector
Spin the ball icon around 'till everything lines up.

Doyousketch2
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  • I tried it but It diffused the color ramp colors to the entirety of the model. All I need is to get both extremities of the model green... I might be doing something wrong... https://imgur.com/a/VqxUU – user51761 Jan 31 '18 at 22:43