Old typewriter randomness

[HYPPie]

Hi,

does anyone know of a way to randomize opacity and placement of the separate letters in a text box?

The effect of an old, worn-down typewriter with ink that has seen better days. Preferably in Illustrator, but maybe I'm reaching here!

TIA Henri

[Anubhav M · Accepted solution]

Hello @HYPPie,

Thanks for reaching out. Kindly try the steps shared in this tutorial for Photoshop and see if it helps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg9gZVbk3a0

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[HYPPie]

Thank you very much, Anubhav.

I have been trying to do this with texture masks and displacement in PS, but never this elaborated!

I know what to do the coming time 🙂

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

I don't seem to remember what exactly you can set with the script TextTweaker for Illustrator. It has a randomize option and maybe it can set the baseline.

As for the worn out effect, try Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen

And then also you can of course apply an opacity mask

[HYPPie]

Thank you. I'll try that.

[HYPPie]

This is brilliant, Monika. The default values in the script are a bit high (I would trow away such a typewriter!) but you can tweak the baseline very delicately too.
Thanks again.

[BenAmphora]

Sorry to jump in on this, but thought the TextTweaker could be really useful to me – but I keep getting an error about manual kerning when I run it – did this happen for you?

[HYPPie]

Yes, I found out that it only works on normal text, not text boxes. Also, lots of text makes Illustrator crash. Maybe someone knowledgable can alter the code to make it work better?
I downloaded the script from:
http://www.wundes.com/JS4AI/textTweaker.js

[BenAmphora]

Doesn't work for me on loose text or text boxes - I'm just getting an error each time? Maybe it's not playing nicely with the latest version of Illustrator?

[BenAmphora]

Weirdly, I changed fonts and now it's working – must have been something with the basic system Myriad I tested it on that it didn't like... strange! 

[Test Screen Name]

A little note from someone who has read too many detective stories and imagines you are making a realistic prop or sample... for an old typewriter the changes are anything but random. Rather, wear and tear means that given characters are worn, partially missing, or misplaced relative to the other keys. But it is consistent - if "s" is a little high from the baseline once, so it will be every time. A good typewriter font of this kind should be made in the knowledge of the kind of damage there might be, so it should look realistic to someone who grew up with the things. Another thing to bear in mind is that only the fanciest typewriters had a correction ribbon. Typing for normal use (but not eg lawyer's contracts) will have items typed then x-d out or otherwise obscured. 

[HYPPie]

I am looking for a typewriter. I have a scanner. 🙂

Thank you for the logic.

[Mike_Gondek]

random baseline script

Convert the type to outlines, then ungroup so the letters are individual, not grouped.

Ranndomizer  opacity.

[HYPPie]

Yes, but I was looking for a (semi) automatic process that could do the same with future texts, a bit like a smart object or an action in  Photoshop would do. Thank you.

[HYPPie]

Sorry, I saw the links too late. It's been a long day, sorry. Thanks again.