Illustrator Help

[Quillz]

I've got another issue... When I try to apply white keylines to the outermost objects of my logo, I only want said white keyline to appear on one side, the outside edge. Usually this works, but on some images, the keyline will appear on both sides, and overlaps some inner objects on my logo. I've played around with all sorts of settings, and I can't figure out how to get it to just appear on the outside edge.

by "keyline" i assume you mean a white border. you can do this with the Object>Path>Offset Path>offset distance option, or it sounds like you just used the stroke option. Select Window>Stroke or [Ctrl+F10] you will open the Stroke Pallete. Under the weight and mitre selections is "align stroke", adjust that to be either center offset, inside offset, or outside offset. i think it's center by default.

The problem is even when I assign the stroke to the outside or inside, I still get that issue.

I'll try playing around with the Offset Path, though... Maybe that's what I need.

[MEANS]

or you could just copy your shape cmmd + c and paste behind cmmd + b and assign the stroke to that shape.

[chestnutz]

What's the best way to go about drop-shadowing text like this?

[pagan696]

What's the best way to go about drop-shadowing text like this?

illy has still not gotten a handle on simple drop shadow (and options) like other the graphics programs had figured out years ago. adobe wants you to use the Effect>3D>Extrude & Bevel, but i find it does not give me the results i'm after. you can make an offset path of the object, copy the offset path at the preffered drop and distance, and merge the 2 outlined path objects, then go back and manually remove the step drop/inset corner points to give it the look of a drop shadow (but that's extra steps for something that should be simple). i've seen other similar workarounds using a copy of the original object and Object>Blend Options (set steps to 256), Object>Blend>Make, then Expand, and Merge>Add. same problem arises, lots of unwanted corner points that need to be cleaned up.

i use another program for this type of drop shadows.

any better ways to do it in illy would be appreciated.

[Quillz]

I've got another issue... When I try to apply white keylines to the outermost objects of my logo, I only want said white keyline to appear on one side, the outside edge. Usually this works, but on some images, the keyline will appear on both sides, and overlaps some inner objects on my logo. I've played around with all sorts of settings, and I can't figure out how to get it to just appear on the outside edge.

by "keyline" i assume you mean a white border. you can do this with the Object>Path>Offset Path>offset distance option, or it sounds like you just used the stroke option. Select Window>Stroke or [Ctrl+F10] you will open the Stroke Pallete. Under the weight and mitre selections is "align stroke", adjust that to be either center offset, inside offset, or outside offset. i think it's center by default.

The problem is even when I assign the stroke to the outside or inside, I still get that issue.

I'll try playing around with the Offset Path, though... Maybe that's what I need.

Oh, so I finally got what I wanted to do done. What I learned was that for some reason, the .EPS files I was working with were laid out in such a way that it was not technically possible to apply a stroke to just one side of the object (even the stroke options didn't do anything.) So basically, I solved this issue by applying the stroke, outlining the stroke (to basically turn it into its own object), and then I was able to move it onto a new layer and delete everything in the center. I then simply moved the stroke back into place and what I wanted to do happened.

It was kind of messy workaround, but hey... it worked.

[Yahhoo]

sounds like you arent zooming it but enlarging and reducing it without selecting transform > scale > stroke with image?

or maybe lock the layers...

[Quillz]

sounds like you arent zooming it but enlarging and reducing it without selecting transform > scale > stroke with image?

or maybe lock the layers...

I guess I can give that a try. There's still a lot about Illustrator I don't know.

But, hey, I got what I needed to do done. The nice thing about Illustrator is there's usually a bunch of ways to accomplish one task.

[jeh-see]

Ok, I did a Google search to no avail, so, that being said, is there any way to make a "frosted" look in Illustrator? By frosted I mean like the surface of your care after a cold night has that cross-hatched ice look to it. Or even another really good ice texture would work. Thanks in advance, guys.

UniJ

[gordie_delini]

@ Quillz: sounds to me like what you were trying to offset was knocked out and only appeared solid. You basically did the right thing - outlining the stroke and moving it to the back of your shape. Its best to work with these sort of things ungrouped. You may want to look in the outline preview mode too to see what paths are actually there.

@ UniJ: Best way to create a "frosted" look in Illy is to use a combination of gradient fills and transparency blends and a lot of time and custom-done effort. You're not really going to find a fill pattern that looks convincing. Another option would be to find a picture of ice, increase the brightness/contrast in photoshop, livetrace it, then apply it as a texture overlay.

[jeh-see]

@ UniJ: Best way to create a "frosted" look in Illy is to use a combination of gradient fills and transparency blends and a lot of time and custom-done effort. You're not really going to find a fill pattern that looks convincing. Another option would be to find a picture of ice, increase the brightness/contrast in photoshop, livetrace it, then apply it as a texture overlay.

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

UniJ

[Quillz]

Is there any way in Illustrator I can break up a single line and/or path into multiple ones?

For example, I have this image (in a vector version):

I would like to remove the black circle, but I can't because the outline of the circle (the black) is attached to the rest of the black in the image, that makes up the tiger's body. Basically, I want to somehow get the circle onto its own path or layer or w/e so that I can delete it but keep the rest of the image intact.

Is this possible?

[MEANS]

use the scissors tool to cut the circle at the points where it meets the tiger

[Quillz]

use the scissors tool to cut the circle at the points where it meets the tiger

Oh my... How have I never noticed that tool before? That did exactly what I wanted it to do, though it took a little more work than I thought it would. Anyway, thanks, that did it.

[MEANS]

no problem, yes it is a bit cumbersome but it does the job.

[skier14]

okay, well i have not been using illustrator very long and im having a lot of trouble making animal logos. I know this is not a specific question, but if anybody has any tips or a link to a tutorial that would be great.

Thanks in advance

[SDX]

Davidsons sports logo inspriation thread has some great animals you could use for inspiration and practice.

[Dave Ship]

Hi,

I need some help with the Art Brush tool in Illustrator, please.

The screenshot explains much better what's my trouble. I just can't get fully rounded the corners of each line. Also if you take a closer look to the brush at the bottom you'll notice some strange stuff (inside the red circles) coming out from the most external line. I also added my Art Brush's settings.

Thanks for help!

[oddball]

Hi,

I need some help with the Art Brush tool in Illustrator, please.

The screenshot explains much better what's my trouble. I just can't get fully rounded the corners of each line. Also if you take a closer look to the brush at the bottom you'll notice some strange stuff (inside the red circles) coming out from the most external line. I also added my Art Brush's settings.

Thanks for help!

To get rounded corners on both the inside and outside, you have to draw them that way. So instead of going down to the edge of a hard corner, stop a bit before it drop a anchor and then go diagonally at about a 45 degree angle and place your next anchor and round it out to the shape you want it to be. It really doesn't like hard edge corners, there's a reason why, I just couldn't begin to explain it to you.

[Dave Ship]

Hi,

I need some help with the Art Brush tool in Illustrator, please.

The screenshot explains much better what's my trouble. I just can't get fully rounded the corners of each line. Also if you take a closer look to the brush at the bottom you'll notice some strange stuff (inside the red circles) coming out from the most external line. I also added my Art Brush's settings.

Thanks for help!

To get rounded corners on both the inside and outside, you have to draw them that way. So instead of going down to the edge of a hard corner, stop a bit before it drop a anchor and then go diagonally at about a 45 degree angle and place your next anchor and round it out to the shape you want it to be. It really doesn't like hard edge corners, there's a reason why, I just couldn't begin to explain it to you.

Thanks oddball! Yes, I did try that trick but it doesn't work well to me. Here's a tutorial I found surfing the net . As you can see the Pen tool just goes straight down, and you can always round the corners as well.

Do I have just to incrase the radius of the Round Corners tool?

[oddball]

That's interesting. It's got to be in his settings where he's getting the rounded corners. I would honestly email him and find out, because that to me might be the "secret" ingredient he's not showing. I see what he's doing and I got the same effect as you did, so there's something he's not telling us!