[jeffvi77]

Hi:
In Corel Draw 11 I can manipulate text using the envelope tool. It is real easy to give a word a squeezed in middle look with the middle letters being smaller than the outside letters. The top of the word is arched down and the bottom of the word is arched up. I am trying to do the same thing in Adobe Illustrator CS4 but have had no luck. I can arch, squeeze, fisheye, etc. the word but cannot get the same result as in Corel Draw. Hopefully this makes some sense and someone can shed some light. Thank You.

 

[rudi]

Go-effect-distort and transform-free distort.
a box will open where you can manually tweek you type.

 

[aldan]

First you'll need to convert your text to outlines (Type>Create Outlines)

Second, on the toolbox there is a warp tool. Click and hold the button, until a sub-menu appears next to it. In this sub-menu, there is a "Pucker Tool". That's the tool you want to use.

When you have the Pucker Tool selected, double-click it in the toolbox, and yet another menu will appear. Here you can adjust the brush dimensions and intensity of the pucker. I attached an image to show examples of intensity, using one click with a 100x100 size brush:

 

[ProSeparatorNJ]

Basically, both applications have envelope style tools, but they are not the same. Corel Draw's envelope tools are many years more mature than Illustrator's and maybe more robust. If I have a piece of art that has a very customized envelope then I go straight to Corel Draw to match it. But for basic envelopes, I get it done with Illustrator. A problem with Illustrator's envelopes is that anything other than basic presets, you don't get the constrained and reflecting movements like you can with Corel Draw's. You can still do a lot of things, but you have to carefully try to move in symmetry while Corel Draw allows you to constrain movement to vertical or horizontal.

 

[jeffvi77]

Thank you. This is getting me closer but I can only manipulate the beginning and end of the word. This is a tool that I can use quite often and I appreciate you passing it along.
JD

 

[jeffvi77]

Thank you! I greatly appreciate your input.

 

[bungy]

I think this is what the OP is wanting to do, but in Illustrator.
This was done in CorelDraw X4

 

[jeffvi77]

Yes, this is exactly what I was trying to convey. Through the variety of posts, I have been able to get close but through a much more tedious process than in Coral Draw. Thanks for shedding some light with your upload!

 

[ProSeparatorNJ]

That picture above is what I had in mind when I mentioned the basic "presets" which are easy to do in Illustrator. The particular preset for the picture above is called "Bulge" in Illustrator. That can be done in a good 5 seconds. Go to the menu across the top Effect/Warp/Bulge. Click the "preview" checkbox and slider the first slider called "bend" in either direction to bulge out, or to contract in.

 

[jeffvi77]

Awesome! Thanks a bunch for your tip as I completed the task in well, like you said, about 5 seconds! Thanks for taking the time to help me out!
Much Appreciated.
Jeff

 

[Smokestack]

There is a pretty cool Illustrator plug in called FilterIt 4.4 which gives tons of options for the "envelope distorting" The web site offers a fully functional demo version. It's really quite awesome.. go here and check it out


Welcome to C Valley

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