Illustrator is driving me NUTS today!

[TheSnowman]

Ok, I have such a simple thing to do, but I haven't ever been able to do it EASILY, and I'm wondering if I'm just not seeing the right tool here or what the deal is. I want to just get this text to follow the curve of the banner shown. It should be SO SIMPLE, but I'm missing one key point I'm sure. I've tried making it do a "wave" or a "flag", and I've tried to just make the text follow the path, but that's more frustrating than the first two. Can someone just put me out of my misery here? I don't know if it's cause I was in Disney all week last week and my head is stuck in "Magicworld" or what, but I can't snap back into work mode today!

 

[signguy95]

I just use the "Text on a path" tool and then go into my character options and adjust as need. If it only lets you do the top path, you may have to remove points until you have just the bottom line, then do the text on a path?


Jay

 

[mamos]

I would draw a line to represent the curve you want to follow then select the path text tool which is in your toolbox. Click and hold the text tool to reveal the text tool flyout and in this flyout you will see a T at 45 deg like it is falling over.

Click on this and you will notice your curor has changed to the text cursor but with a curved line running through it.

Click on the curve you want to follow and start typing.

mamos

 

[mimakitech24]

yeah check in the options and there are different options, like above path, on path, below path, reverse, mirrored i think, stuff like that...

 

[RavenGraphics]

Type each letter as a layer and save as such (A,B,C,D)

Now make your path, scale and rotate,.. each letter to follow it.
Resize each letter as you like to see it.

It is that simple!

 

[mimakitech24]

Type each letter as a layer and save as such (A,B,C,D)

Now make your path, scale and rotate,.. each letter to follow it.
Resize each letter as you like to see it.

It is that simple!

yeah, but that takes 4everrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[RavenGraphics]

Yes it does...
but the answer is...
It...
will look sweet at the end of it all!

Have you ever watch Paint Dry?

Layer work is how you make effect for the...'Eye Candy'

 

[RavenGraphics]

'Your Screen ' is your palette.

 

[cptcorn]

I would draw a line to represent the curve you want to follow then select the path text tool which is in your toolbox. Click and hold the text tool to reveal the text tool flyout and in this flyout you will see a T at 45 deg like it is falling over.

Click on this and you will notice your curor has changed to the text cursor but with a curved line running through it.

Click on the curve you want to follow and start typing.

mamos

Correct. Another option is to use the envelope distort, but that's got a bit of a learning curve to it... I would follow this meathod...

Type each letter as a layer and save as such (A,B,C,D)

Now make your path, scale and rotate,.. each letter to follow it.
Resize each letter as you like to see it.

It is that simple!

This is the wrong way to do it...

 

[mimakitech24]

hahaha

 

[TheSnowman]

Don't ya love the different ways to learn on this board?! I got through it either way, but I don't even know which way I ended up doing it at this point...maybe I used a couple different ones.

 

[mimakitech24]

always glad to help a McCain supporter


ok ill help you Obama guys too, i guess...

 

[RavenGraphics]

OK!
We are talking about
Illustrator07/08/09/cs/cs2/cs4..... right?
As a layer project you can change each layer without hurting your other layers.
Image and colour changes can be done..
mask and redraw areas of the Artwork

Do you like working with a flatten image?
To me the layers are like wet paint.
each layer is like a fresh coat of Paint...

 

[Mainframe]

Here is what you do, start with just the banner, no text, select all then copy, then lock your selection,now paste in front, make the new banner another color, now take the direct selection tool and select the top line where you want the text to follow, copy it, now select all & delete, now paste in front, you should have the top line from the banner active, go to the text on path tool, click on the banner line & type your text, don't forget to drop your baseline shift, you can adjust it so the text will follow pretty closely to the graphic, create outlines of the text for fine tuning. Don't forget to unlock the original

 

[Bill Modzel]

If you want the text to just follow the curve, any of the above tips will work. If you want the text to follow the curve and the "warp" of the banner, I use another technique.

Set your text. Copy the center of the banner and paste it on top of your text and turn the text to paths. Go to object>envelope distort>make with top object. If your text is to close to the edges, do a negative outline path on the banner first and use the inner outline for the warp. Make sure you expand the results if your cutting vinyl with it.

 

[vid]

If you want the text to just follow the curve, any of the above tips will work. If you want the text to follow the curve and the "warp" of the banner, I use another technique.

Set your text. Copy the center of the banner and paste it on top of your text and turn the text to paths. Go to object>envelope distort>make with top object. If your text is to close to the edges, do a negative outline path on the banner first and use the inner outline for the warp. Make sure you expand the results if your cutting vinyl with it.

...and if you want to have a challenge: Go to object>envelope distort>make with mesh. I use 1 row/1 column (as I'm less likely to get confused that way.)

Adjust the nodes and control points until it "looks" right - the challenge. Bill's Plan is easier, but for freestyle designing and fitting text into asymmetrical shapes, that's my trick (*expanding object at completion.)

 

[synergy_jim]

Here is what you do, start with just the banner, no text, select all then copy, then lock your selection,now paste in front, make the new banner another color, now take the direct selection tool and select the top line where you want the text to follow, copy it, now select all & delete, now paste in front, you should have the top line from the banner active, go to the text on path tool, click on the banner line & type your text, don't forget to drop your baseline shift, you can adjust it so the text will follow pretty closely to the graphic, create outlines of the text for fine tuning. Don't forget to unlock the original

Yeah what he said.....

Thats how I would do it...

 

[mamos]

Or use CorelDRAW

It is much better

mamos