| In Print |
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| Illustrator CS Most Wanted Techniques And Effects |
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| The Swanky Text FX tutorial, along with many others, are featured in the new book from Friends of Ed "Illustrator CS Most Wanted: Techniques and Effects". Written by Matt Kloskowski and technical edited by Michael Hamm of ergodraw.com, you'll find a ton of useful tips, information and techniques to bring your work in Illustrator to the next level. |
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01 | Set Type & Create Outlines
Select the Type Tool and set your type at a fairly high point size such as 150pt or higher. Adjust spacing, size, font and so on from the Character palette (Cmd/Ctrl + T). For this tutorial, I'm using the Poolhouse typeface from House Industries set at 150pt.
Set the color of your text to a medium blue (Color values: R:102 G:153 B:204).
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Note: It's wise to maintain an editable version of your text for later modifications. Make a copy of the type you just set and paste it on a separate, hidden layer before you create outlines. |
Once you're satisfied with the look of your type, choose Type > Create Outlines from the menu bar. This will allow for more flexibility in later steps.
Name your current layer BASE. We will be working with a number of different layers throughout so keeping them organized helps alleviate the hand-wringing and hair-pulling.
02 | Duplicate & Offset Path
In the Layers palette option menu, choose Duplicate "BASE" to create a new layer above the original. Name this layer HIGHLIGHTS. If your layer has a different name, it will be reflected in the menu command. Lock the BASE layer so there's no accidental selection of the type object on that layer.
On the HIGHLIGHTS layer, select the type object and, from the menu bar, choose Object > Path > Offset Path. In the dialog box that appears, enter a value of -3pt in the Offset box. Entering a negative number produces an "inset path" as shown in the image below. Leave the other settings as they are and click OK. Fill the inset paths with white (R:255 G:255 B:255); they will be selected already.
Wait. there's more! Ungroup (Object > Ungroup) the inset paths from the original blue path and then delete the individual blue paths. When complete, select all of white inset paths and choose Object > Compound Path > Make.
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Note: Now would be a good time to save the file [Cmd/Ctrl + S]. |
03 | Copy and Key Offset
Make a copy (Cmd/Ctrl + C) of the inset paths and paste in front (Cmd/Ctrl + F) of the original. To see this new copy more clearly against the white, change the fill to red (R:255 G:0 B:0) and keep the copy selected.
Use the arrow keys on your keyboard and press the Right Arrow Key twice and the Down Arrow Key twice. This will "key offset" the red copy from the white, enabling us to make the highlights.
Continued... | Next Page » |
