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I am trying to create 3d ball in Illustrator. I have the following strategy:

• create a solid colour background;


• create a "diffuse" shape;


• create a "reflection" shape;


• mix them together.

Final result should look like this:

The problem is that radial gradient has a "background" color. To mix it with background figure properly I use "multiply mode", but then it mixes active colour as well.

Another solution might be to create a radiant gradient from transparency to active colour, but how?

How do I create such a illustration, consisting of two shapes in AI:

You can actually do quite a bit with only the Appearance Panel

Stacking multiple fills with various gradients and then transforming the fills can allow you to keep one object which can easily be color changed or saved as a graphic Style to apply later.

And.. if you want the orb to be translucent, merely remove the base fill (And possibly adjust the gradients on the shadows/reflection so they are radial rather than linear)...

Shape 1

• A circumference with a radial gradient fill

Shape 2

• Fill 100% white, Hard Light Mode, 40% and a Feather effect

Shape 3

• A circumference with a linear gradient stroke, 90º, from black 100% to
  black 0%, and a Feather effect.


• Mode Multiply, 60%

Result

Layering different types of light effects makes the shape complex, generating variations will be tricky. Illustrators 3D effect Revolve creates easily a sphere with the wanted glossy oval reflection + shading. The light and the reflection are adjustable in the effect dialog:

In the left there's a copy of the revolved half circle. An extra light was added to get the oval reflection.

A circle with three stop gradient fill was inserted on top with blending mode Hard light for the other shading:

The inserted circle and its white - grey - lighter grey gradient are shown in the left.