How do I bevel text in Illustrator? Please help...

[signmeup]

I can do this in Corel but I can't figure it out in Illustrator. I have CS4.
I googled it and looked at tutorials and looked in Illustrators help pages.

I can get a bevel or I should say embossed effect with angled sides and a flat top but I can't figure out how to do a V groove bevel like a carved letter would look.
I also don't seem to have sufficient IQ to follow the help files in Illy. My eyes just start to glaze over and my mind drifts off to my happy place. If you know how to do this please explain it to me like I'm 9.

(Please bear in mind that I can't easily change the colour of simple objects in Illustrator either...)

 

[Deaton Design]

On the bevel and extrude flyout, down at the bottom is a slider for height.
Set your bevel to one of the complex numbers, then use the slider. Im using cs5, and it works that way for me.

 

[signmeup]

I get an error in the flyout that says "bevel self intersection my have occured" and a really wierd shape instead of a letter. Nothing like a V carved letter.

I just tried to do a plain square and it worked perfectly. I guess it's a problem with text.

 

[signmeup]

Can anyone do this with text? The font is Baskerville but I tried other fonts and they don't work for me either. Maybe there's something wrong with my program?

 

[Malkin]

Have you tried converting the text to outlines?

 

[signmeup]

Um.... no. How do I do that?

 

[James Burke]

Have you tried converting the text to outlines?

Already tried that...doesn't work.

I've found that it's impossible to put less than a 1pt. bevel on an edge. Anything more seems to self-intersect...bummer.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Control +Shift +O with text selected.

 

[saktrnch]

OK, I typed the word in Illy cs4, added a 4 or 5 pt stroke, outlined, outlined the stroke, merged, dropped it into photoshop, dropped down the layer menu, layer style- bevel and emboss, and adjusted the height, grabbed the light source and put it from the bottom, then dropped it back into illy.

 

[royster13]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEtUyhVOygU

 

[signmeup]

OK, I typed the word in Illy cs4, added a 4 or 5 pt stroke, outlined, outlined the stroke, merged, dropped it into photoshop, dropped down the layer menu, layer style- bevel and emboss, and adjusted the height, grabbed the light source and put it from the bottom, then dropped it back into illy.

Good grief!! So the short answer is "you can't"? Now I gotta go figure out the difference between an outline and a stroke....... and how to "drop it into Photoshop".
Thanks for going to the trouble to help me.

 

[signmeup]

OK... I can get the text into Photoshop by cut and paste. I can bevel the snot out of it. How do I get it back into Illy? With a transparent background? Drag and drop?

When I bring it back to Illy, it's just a badly pixelated, flat bitmap.

When I do get it back into Illy properly, will I be able to resize it to 4 feet long without it losing quality? Or do I have to bevel it at the finished size?

 

[signmeup]

OK, I typed the word in Illy cs4, added a 4 or 5 pt stroke, outlined, outlined the stroke, merged, dropped it into photoshop, dropped down the layer menu, layer style- bevel and emboss, and adjusted the height, grabbed the light source and put it from the bottom, then dropped it back into illy.

How?! (If you don't mind...)

 

[The Vector Doctor]

AFAIK you cannot do bevels in Illustrator that resemble what you can do in photoshop without extensive hand drawn lines/shapes. The bevel/3d tool does not work well on fonts with various stroke widths. Someone mentioned doing the work in PS and taking it back into Illustrator. It is not vector if you do this. All I can recommend is doing the work in photoshop and doing a contour in Illustrator so the inside is raster and the outer shapes are vector and you can do a cutting line with it

 

[signmeup]

Thanks Eric.
Maybe I should explain why I want to do this. I want to send a file to be printed. The file is done in Corel and the printer guy uses Illustrator. When I convert the file to Illy, I get pixelated beveled lettering. The sign will be 60" x 48". Should I send him some other sort of file? I have never had this problem before because I have never tried to send a file with beveled lettering before.

 

[Deaton Design]

Try sending it to him as an exported pdf. Ive had some problems with sending illy files to corel users, but if I send it to them as a pdf with the box checked allowing illy capabilites intact, it usually works great. I dont know much about corel, so I dont know if you can do that or not.

 

[Advantage merchant]

if you have Illustrator CS3 you should be able to go to Effects - 3D - Extrude & Bevel

 

[signmeup]

Thanks John, I'll try that too.

 

[signmeup]

if you have Illustrator CS3 you should be able to go to Effects - 3D - Extrude & Bevel

I have CS4. Try what you just said for me (if it's not too much trouble) and see if it works for you. I just get a mess. (on text... it works fine on squares and circles)

 

[The Vector Doctor]

if you have Illustrator CS3 you should be able to go to Effects - 3D - Extrude & Bevel

No, as I mentioned it won't work like it does in photoshop. Please someone prove me wrong by showing a video or step by step tutorial that says the 3d bevel/extrude function in Illustrator gives you the same results as what is shown in the first post