Lazy Line Painter...

[brianriback]

Hey there everyone.

I'm a Photoshop guy but need to do this one thing in Illustrator and haven't a CLUE what this even means, let alone how to do it. LOL! Anyone out there willing to help me? I'm not asking for someone to do it for me...just explain the steps: Lazy Line Painter

The instructions read:

"Ensure there are no fills, No closed pathsLine needs a start and end, Crop Artboard nice & tight!"

All I have done is created a text box. I then saved it as an SVG. But when I load it to the site, it shows up blank. I'm not sure what any of the text above means, other than cropping the artboard.

I appreciate any guidance!

-Brian

[Doug A Roberts]

why did you make a text box? what do you want to draw with this thing?

[brianriback]

Because I don't know what I'm doing! LOL!

[Doug A Roberts]

you need to put something in to get something out. what do you want it to draw?

[brianriback]

I am sharing this to show what I've done. Please don't take this as an insinuation that I want someone to do this for me. I'm just not sure how else to explain.

20170706-lazy-line-working Report.zip - Google Drive

[Monika Gause]

Select the text object and then Type > Create Outlines.

Assign no fill and no stroke using the swatches panel.

No colour is the one in the top left with the red diagonal line.

[Myra Ferguson]

If you only created a text box and saved it, do you mean that you want the Lazy Line Painter to do its effect on text?

If that's the case, then here's how you can make your text open paths. Enter your text. Select it and go to Object > Rasterize...  While it's still selected and after it has become rasterized, you'll see the option Image Trace appear in the bar above your artboard. Use the drop down menu to select Line Art. Click on the Expand button above the artboard. Now you should have paths. Depending on what font you used and what characters you typed, you might have a closed path. If that's the case, select the Scissors Tool (C) and click on an anchor point to open it. (Closed paths means that it's a shape where all the segments are connected. A squiggly line that doesn't intersect itself would be an example of an open path.)

Note:  there is an option to turn text into outlines (Type > Create Outlines), but it will outline the inside and outside of the shape of the characters creating closed shapes. Image Trace will help you make the open paths from the text.

[brianriback]

Thank you Myra. This seems to have worked except that the SVG code still isn't rendering correctly. I never knew this was so complicated!

I'm not sure which export options I need to use to achieve the same "setup" as the SVGs in their example: callback-example.zip - Google Drive

Not trying to ask too much of anyone...very grateful for any support!

-Brian

[Monika Gause]

You won't be able to do that by converting a text.

You will need to draw a single line. Yes, actually draw it. Autotracing won't give you that handwriting effect. And outlining the font won't do that either.

[Myra Ferguson]

I'm not sure what the Lazy Line Painter uses to determine the order in which the lines are recreated. It could be from left to right &/or stacking order. Stacking order can be changed by making a selection, right-clicking, going to Arrange in the context menu, and picking from one of the options to move something forward or back. If the rendering issue is related to the order the traced segments appear, you could try adjusting that order.

Maybe instead of using Image Trace to turn the text into strokes, how about using the Paintbrush Tool (B) to manually trace the letters? Then delete the text box leaving only your hand-drawn path. You might get a better result.

[brianriback]

If I had your talent, probably! LOL! I know that seems easy but I'm TERRIBLE at it!

[Myra Ferguson]

Instead of the Paintbrush tool, use the Pencil tool (N). It's easier to redraw segments over it to correct imperfections. Use the text you've typed out as a guide to trace over with the Pencil tool. It sounds like you're probably having to do this with a mouse which is much harder than if you had a graphics tablet. Just go slowly. If you go outside of the lines, that's okay. While the path is still selected, the Pencil tool will let you redraw segments over it. You'll get there!

[brianriback]

Myra-

Thank you. If I can ever offer email marketing advice, please feel free to contact me directly! Ha!

LAST question...If I use the pencil...how do I then apply the same design/treatment that exists with this font?

-Brian

[brianriback]

Myra - How could I use the paintbrush while retaining the font treatment? You know what I mean?

[Monika Gause]

  schrieb

Myra - How could I use the paintbrush while retaining the font treatment? You know what I mean?

You can't.

All you can get is one line.

[The Print Craftsman]

Are you not liking how it traces the outlines of your letters?  Are you just wanting it to draw one stroke and have the line appear all ragged like your font behind it?  I'm not certain the Lazy Line tool can do that.  I got it to work using your file but it does outline each letter all the way around.

If you want just single centerline tracing of your word then you will probably need to draw the lines for it and then adjust the thickness of the stroke in Lazy Line but the strokes will be smooth.

I wonder if there is a way to get Lazy Line to fill in the object after tracing all the way around it?

Randy

[The Print Craftsman]

Oh I see while I was off experimenting with the tool that Myra has been helping you out.  Everything she has said is true.  But you won't be able to get the font treatment added to your line.  Even if you could the tool will then trace around the ragged line rather then make one pass with the ragged line coming out behind it.  I was able to convert your text to outlines and have the tool trace it but it traced all the way around each letter.  Which I am assuming you do not want.  I am convinced at this point that the Lazy Line tool is NOT going to do what you are wanting it to do.  You may want to look at other options?

Randy

[brianriback]

Randy:

I am open to any other options. But the thing is...if you look at my existing site, it was done successfully before. I just don't know how the developer did it and I can't reach him: www.riback.me

[The Print Craftsman]

What is your website.  I don't remember seeing it in the discussion.

[brianriback]

Sorry...it was in my last post but I didn't hyperlink it: www.riback.me

[Myra Ferguson · Accepted solution]

It sounds like it isn't possible to keep the style applied to the stroke using the Lazy Line Painter. If you do want to try something else, I would recommend using Animate. The process involves applying a mask over the characters that reveals them as if they were being drawn. Animate can publish the animation as an SVG. If you want to try that route and have questions about that process, I can help you over in the Animate forum Adobe Animate CC - Home .

[Om Nath Jha]

Hi Myra,

I am moving this thread to Adobe Animate CC - Home​. Please assist Brian to get it done with Adobe Animate as he is new to that program. Really appreciate your willingness to help.

Regards,

Om

[The Print Craftsman]

O.K. I did find your website.  I was mentioned above. My bad.

O.K. after reviewing I do not see any grunge effects or rough looking lines.  They are smooth single strokes only.  You can certainly achieve that using the Lazy Line tool.  And as mentioned before you will need single smooth strokes drawn using either the pen tool or the pencil tool.  They both draw the same Bézier vectors.  They just offer different ways of doing it.  As Myra has correctly pointed out the pencil tool might be the easiest for you to use.

Randy

[Myra Ferguson]

What Monika means is that the recreated line won't show up as the font. You can draw a path to simulate the curve of the characters, but you're not going to retain the style of the stroke. Once you create the path with the Pencil Tool, you could try applying a brush to the stroke. To do that, select the path and look at the tools above the artboard. You'll see Stroke then it should show a line that says Uniform and then a dot that says 3 pt. Round. Those are the defaults. Change 3 pt. Round to 5 pt. flat. That one is built in. You can make your own brushes to more closely resemble your font. Before trying to make a new brush, I would recommend seeing if the Lazy Line Painter will recognize a different brush applied to the stroke.

[The Print Craftsman]

I did exactly what Myra is suggesting.  Once a style is applied to the stroke the Lazy Line tool draws all the way around the stroke in order to draw the shape of the stroke.  It does not just draw the one line with the textured stroke coming out behind it.

Randy