Text and Illustrator

Objectives Generate “fake latin” to experiment with text in Illustrator Explain serif and sans serif fonts Define and perform kerning, tracking, and leading Create text that flows between regions, text on a path, and text in a shape

Preparation Start Illustrator, Create a new document Set Units to Inches Set Orientation to Landscape Set Color Mode to CMYK

Background Info There are multiple categories we use to describe text Monospaced or Not Every character occupies same size space HillS (this is monospaced, Courier New) Hills (this is not monospaced, Calibri) See the difference in the space consumed by the I’s and L’s? Serif vs Sans Serif Serif has “tails” on letters, Sans serif does not Print is traditionally serif but web is general sans serif for main content, serif for headings This is Sans Serif, This is Serif Common Web Sans Serif: Verdana, Trebuchet, Arial Common Web Heading or Print Serif: Georgia, Times New Roman Decorative Script

Grab some IPsum When working with text, you sometimes need some filler text Good website, http://lipsum.com/ Form to generate certain amounts of blank text Copy the generated text into a notepad or word document for later, but we might not use

Starting with Text tool Find the text tool… note it’s sub-tools Before you start typing, find your character settings. There's a character pane – should show automatically when you select text tool, but can also go to menu->Window->Type->Character Or Menu->Type->Font

Starting with Text tool 2 Next to character pane is Paragraph Can also go to menu->Window->Type- >Paragraph Change Indentation, left/right border, Alignment, hyphenation Practice text: Now is the time for all good men to come to their country Select it Paste as point text ,Ariel, 36 point into an Illustrator document

Type in a box Drag a text box Look for new cursor shape Paste the text inside the box Watch for overflow

Preparation Start Illustrator, Create a new document Set Units to Inches Set Orientation to Landscape Set Color Mode to CMYK

Preparation Start Illustrator, Create a new document Set Units to Inches Set Orientation to Landscape Set Color Mode to CMYK

First Text Find the Type tool… note it’s sub-tools Click where you want text to go – this is called point type Paste in the Lorem text It might extend beyond the artboard

Sizing a box for Text, and overflow Another way to enter text is to click and drag with the text tool – creates a text box This text box can be resized, but text that doesn’t fit within will “overflow” The red + at the corner is the overflow indicator If you click it, cursor changes – you are now prepared to draw another text box where the overflow text should resume, known as threading Once you’ve deselected the text, you need to use the text tool (T icon) and click back into the box again to edit

Terms: Kerning Kerning: Changing the distance between two adjacent letters Make a new text box, enter Ipsum text Click between any two characters In the character box, find the Kerning spinner (V/A icon, lower left) Set to something like -200 See the results? (Between U and M for me)

Terms: Tracking Tracking: Spacing between all characters in selection Make a new text box, enter Ipsum lorem Top box is normal tracking (14) Highlight two or three words text, find, change tracking to -200

Terms: Leading Leading: Space between lines. (Name from old type- used to separate lines with actual lead) Actually between the baseline, or where the characters sit (and where characters with tails drop below, like p or q) Top image is normal leading, set to 21.6 Change the leading in the character box… Bottom is result, with leading set to 40

Illustrator Text Effects Text on a path Find the Pencil tool (under the Shaper tool) Draw a path (this won’t have a stroke) Find the Type On a Path Tool (under the Text tool, with the T icon) With this tool active, click on the path and start typing If you run out of space, you get the red + icon – select this with the selection tool to Thread text to a new box This technique also works with shapes you drew with the Rectangle/Ellipse/Star tool, etc

Illustrator Text Effects 2 Text in an area Draw a star, rectangle, or some closed shape with the Pen tool Choose the Area Type Tool With this tool active, click on the path and start typing If you run out of space, you get the red + icon – select this with the selection tool to Thread text to a new box This technique also works with shapes you drew with the Rectangle/Ellipse/Star tool, etc Note the overflow again!

Vertical Text tool Types vertically, easily Good for side text/labelling

Glyphs Window->Type->Glyphs for more complicated characters

Character fun We can turn text from character into vector shapes, that can then have any normal illustrator styles, effects etc To do this, we will type some text (type 123) Then Select the text with the Selection tool Choose Effects, 3D or warp lower… Use Touch type tool to rotate a single character T?

Effects and type Use 36 point text Arial font and type “123” Select the type using the selection tool The selected type should look like this: Choose menu>effects>3D, or warp Choosing arc lower, for example would result like this”

Columns In the Options section of the dialog box, select a Text Flow Gutter Specifies the distance between rows or columns. In the Options section of the dialog box, select a Text Flow Gutter Specifies the distance between rows or columns. In the Options section of the dialog box, select a Text Flow Gutter Specifies the distance between rows or columns. In the Options section of the dialog box, select a Text Flow Columns Gutter Specifies the distance between rows or columns. In thesection of the dialog box, select a Text Flow

Character to Vector 2 Now the letters are vector shapes with control points (no longer editable as text) With the shapes selected, try Effect->3d- >Extrude & Bevel I changed extrude depth to 10 point

Warping text Use point or area text Select the text Try Warp>Arc Lower