Letter Shading

[GrangerMorton]

Hi All
a problem  I have constantly is to replicate a signpainters shade on a letter. Easy to 'shadow' but duplicating but a proper 'shade' is difficult. I also need it in a true vector format. Has anyone got a successful process (or is there a function) for doing this?
The odd letter is ok but when there's a lot of it it gets really time consuming.
ta
G

[Doug A Roberts]

You can use @Monika Gause 's method here. Read the whole article but especially from #10 down:

https://vektorgarten.de/long-shadows-with-illustrator.html

I use a variation on that here, using Offset Path on the underlying fill:

[GrangerMorton]

thanks,... I'm falling at the first hurdle here....  when I use isomertric bottom, my whole thing rotates, doesn't look like Monika's at all. I can't believe this is so dfficult. 

[Doug A Roberts]

You seem to have a letter and a rounded rectangle object selected there?

It's supposed to rotate. You then un-rotate it using a Transform effect. See Monika's step #7.

[GrangerMorton]

That was just so I had a similar shape to Moniks's. I've looked at Monika's tutorial and I just can't seem to get it to look like the examples

[GrangerMorton]

Doug, how does that (this) look in wireframe?

[Monika Gause]

Can you please upload the file with the situation where you got stuck?

Please upload to Dropbox or the like.

[Doug A Roberts]

Doug, how does that (this) look in wireframe?

By @GrangerMorton

It looks like live type, because everything else is just appearances (i.e. they do not exist in outline).

After Expand Appearance, Create Outlines (from type), and Pathfinder > Merge, it looks like the below:

[GrangerMorton]

Doug, looks good.... are the 45 degree angle lines straight or staggered?? Can you zoom in?

[Doug A Roberts]

Doug, looks good.... are the 45 degree angle lines straight or staggered?? Can you zoom in?

By @GrangerMorton

Again, where exactly are you getting stuck?

[marke90000265]

I would use the blending tool.

[GrangerMorton]

I don't think that works as vectors though??

[marke90000265]

Outline text is a vector. This will not work on live text.

[GrangerMorton]

I can always outline the text, flexibility is not important. The blend tool though, just creates a series of steps, no vectors involved I need it to look like this:

[marke90000265]

After the blending step you go to the object menu and expand object. Then with the pathfinder tool, (select all) merge button. (I dont know all the button names).

[GrangerMorton]

this just gets a sequence of steps

[marke90000265]

Yes, there will be steps. They are easy to clean up. Did you look at the pdf I supplied?

I have never tried to tell somebody how to to something in Illustrator. Sorry if this wont work for you.

I just think 3D is a whole new learning curve, when simple tools work.

[marke90000265]

The less steps you do, the easier the clean-up is. Use the direct selection tool to select the points on the steps. Then press the delete anchor point tool.

[GrangerMorton]

Unfortunately, that's what I'm trying to avoid.... 😞

[Doug A Roberts]

Outline text is a vector. This will not work on live text.

By @marke90000265

My example is live text.

[pixxxelschubser]

Hi @marke90000265 

Thank you for your contribution.

If I understand the topic correctly, the main focus is to derive the "shadow" directly from the live text or the "primary" path. Then you don't have to work with duplicates from the outlined text and you don't have to do the change on each duplicate.

The variants suggested by @Monika Gause  and @Doug A Roberts  make you much more flexible, e.g. when editing live text.