I am writing a peice of text for a newsletter I am designing. What I want to do is have that text cast a shadow, as if the text was three dimensional. I would like the shadow to appear to be fuzzy. I cannot figure out how to do this. It seems like this should be pretty easy, but all I can seem to do is make a shadow that is dark and offset fro my text. The shadow is niether fuzzy, light-colored and it does not lay as if it was on the ground. Please help if you know the answer to this problem.
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Trying to write text with a shadow effect.
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If I understand what you are attempting correctly, you would like the dropshadow to be less distinct, and to appear
as it would if it were falling against the ground as backdrop or object?
I am not certain that Illustrator can provide the 'ground' shadow effect, ie., altering the angle the shadow throws.
You should always be able to control the 'distance' and the 'blur' (fuzziness) of the shadow, as well as it's prevailing coloration. Blur can be further complimented when used in conjunction with the % opacity settings.
The dropshadow options permit you to set the X and Y offsets, and thus control to some degree how the shadow 'lies' beneath the object; blur and opacity, as well as color and darkness refinements, are also accessible at this stage.
There are third-party filters which provide effects such as the 'ground' shadow you have described: I believe Eye Candy's latest has this option. If you have Photoshop,
especially Photoshop 6.0, you will have greater latitude in working with the filters, as well as ease in shifting the angle and direction the shadow falls. Bear in mind that Illustrator is not primarily designed as an 'image manipulation' application, but more so for print design.
It is often easier to perform techniques of this style outside of Illustrator and then import them.
Good luck with your endeavors.
as it would if it were falling against the ground as backdrop or object?
I am not certain that Illustrator can provide the 'ground' shadow effect, ie., altering the angle the shadow throws.
You should always be able to control the 'distance' and the 'blur' (fuzziness) of the shadow, as well as it's prevailing coloration. Blur can be further complimented when used in conjunction with the % opacity settings.
The dropshadow options permit you to set the X and Y offsets, and thus control to some degree how the shadow 'lies' beneath the object; blur and opacity, as well as color and darkness refinements, are also accessible at this stage.
There are third-party filters which provide effects such as the 'ground' shadow you have described: I believe Eye Candy's latest has this option. If you have Photoshop,
especially Photoshop 6.0, you will have greater latitude in working with the filters, as well as ease in shifting the angle and direction the shadow falls. Bear in mind that Illustrator is not primarily designed as an 'image manipulation' application, but more so for print design.
It is often easier to perform techniques of this style outside of Illustrator and then import them.
Good luck with your endeavors.
There's no direct way to do that but you can "trick it" so that it LOOKS like the text is casting a shadow across the page.
Take your text and Copy, Edit/Copy or (Ctrl+C), and Paste in Front, Edit/Paste in Front or (Ctrl+F). With the copy selected convert it to Outlines, Text/Create Outlines or (Ctrl+Shift+O).
Place the shadow text behind the original text, Object Arrange/Send Backward or (Ctrl+[) and change it's color so it's different from the original text. Use the Shear Tool to adjust the shadow text's angle. I held down the Shift key when doing this to keep it horizontally level . You will have to adjust the shadow text's placement with the arrow keys so that it appears the Shadow is eminating from the original text.
Squish it to about 2/3's the size of the original text. You will have to play with it a bit to get the exact look your after. From there you can apply a Transparency and/or a Gradient to the Shadow Text. Once you've done that you can apply a Gaussian Blur to the shadow text. Go to Effects/Blur/Gaussian Blur. In this example I set the radius to 0.4 pixels.
Here's the example I did:
Hope This Helps.
Cullen Cox
cullenc3@aol.com
Graphic Artist/Web Designer.
Take your text and Copy, Edit/Copy or (Ctrl+C), and Paste in Front, Edit/Paste in Front or (Ctrl+F). With the copy selected convert it to Outlines, Text/Create Outlines or (Ctrl+Shift+O).
Place the shadow text behind the original text, Object Arrange/Send Backward or (Ctrl+[) and change it's color so it's different from the original text. Use the Shear Tool to adjust the shadow text's angle. I held down the Shift key when doing this to keep it horizontally level . You will have to adjust the shadow text's placement with the arrow keys so that it appears the Shadow is eminating from the original text.
Squish it to about 2/3's the size of the original text. You will have to play with it a bit to get the exact look your after. From there you can apply a Transparency and/or a Gradient to the Shadow Text. Once you've done that you can apply a Gaussian Blur to the shadow text. Go to Effects/Blur/Gaussian Blur. In this example I set the radius to 0.4 pixels.
Here's the example I did:
Hope This Helps.
Cullen Cox
cullenc3@aol.com
Graphic Artist/Web Designer.
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