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Rockwll
Participating Frequently
February 27, 2011
Question

Changing stroke settings in Illustrator

  • February 27, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 35073 views

I'm wondering if it is possible to change the stroke settings in Illustrator so that instead of the stroke reducing the size of an image or text with the increase in stroke size...the stroke will instead start at the outer border of an image/text and proceed outward without reducing it's size?

I think this is possible because this is exactly how Photoshop applies strokes to text.  The stroke can keep increasing in size without reducing the size of the original text.

PHOTOSHOP example with 20 point Stroke

ILLUSTRATOR example with 20 point Stroke

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      2 replies

      R
      RockwllAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      March 2, 2011

      Thanks for all of the feedback people...this one has been

      bothering me for a while.

      Here's what I tried based on the suggestions and it worked perfectly:

      1.  Create text

      2.  Stroke Tab > Add Stroke to text

      3.  Effect > Path > Offset Path (Change Offset Setting to half the points of Stroke...ex. 6 pt Stroke = 3 pt Offset)

      Jacob Bugge
      Community Expert
      Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 27, 2011

      Rockwll,

      At least in CS5, you can set the stroke to be centred, inside, or outside, the path. In earlier versions, you may Object>Path>Offset Stroke (you can have the stroke as a separate path or combine it with the original path, in the latter case you may hide the original (always avoid to destroy the original artwork if possible)).

      _
      _Jongware_-9BC6tI
      Inspiring
      February 27, 2011

      Wouldn't it be enough to move the stroke behind the object, using the Appearance panel? I think I did it that way, where applicable.

      W
      Wade_Zimmerman1
      Inspiring
      February 27, 2011

      [Jongware] wrote:

      Wouldn't it be enough to move the stroke behind the object, using the Appearance panel? I think I did it that way, where applicable.

      Yes and no, it depends on if you wish to say have the stroke be 3 points, simply moving it behind the fill will make the stroke 1.5 because the default is centered alignment of the stroke to the path.

      In CS3 and later you can easily use the align to outside of path to accomplish this before that you had to use the Offset Path.

      So the combination of moving the stroke behind and the offset path does a lot for you in creating other effects with text an strokes.

      Anyway just moving it behind does not solve the problem.

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