Ragged text edges after applying effects

[MugginsHere!]

Hi everyone, I hope I am not duplicating this question and hopefully it is easily answered. Thank you in advance

Scenario:

1) I type a text box with short word in large type size e.g 48pt

2) I apply a graphic style which includes:

• add a fill colour (a mid brown)

• no stroke

• add grain (small/fine)

• apply gaussian blur to the grain

• apply plastic wrap effect

This is in Illustrator CS6.

The resulting effect looks like slightly rippled chocolate but the edges of the text are not sharp as I would expect in a vector file. I have even exported as a pdf and it looks fuzzy edged when viewed at closer magnification.

Could anyone point out what I am doing wrong here please?

I suspect the effect is not stopping at the edges of the object or text and thus is softening the outline but I don't know how to apply the effect only to the 'fill' and never to go beyond that (imagine a blur effect that softens a texture in a box but only up to the very inner edge of that box - that is what I want here but with the applied styles as detailed above if possible).

I use Photoshop but trying to get a but of practice in with Illustrator just to explain my experience level here with the app.

Thank you to all who looks in on this in advance - hope you can help...

[Monika Gause]

Your effects are pixel based.

You could try if increasing document raster effect resolution helps. Open Effect > Document raster effects setting

[MugginsHere!]

Many thanks Monica - I missed that - re pixel based - which explains the underlying issue. setting the resolution as you suggested (in my case to 1200) really sharpened things up. It would be a case of using the same standards as required for any pixel based art for the eventual size it is used at (e.g brochure (1200)/Sign or banner (2400 dpi or above etc) I imagine. But then there's the other useful suggestion by meganchi of using a copy of the text/shape which has been left in 'Vector Mode' (i.e not converted to 'Live Paint') and placing that behind with a stroke to create a vector around the pixel based fill (which would be the copy which was in Live Paint in the other layer).

[meganchi · Accepted solution]

Copy your text, paste it behind, and clear the appearance so that it is just solid brown. This should give you a vector edge behind all of your raster effects to make it look more crisp on the edges.

[MugginsHere!]

Thank you so much meganchi - yes - that worked beautifully. In my case i actually placed the text above the pixel layer and made the fill none with a brown stroke to go around the (mainly brown) in-fill on the pixel layer underneath. I guess it's a case of 'suck it and see' which is best but that seemed to have worked well.

I think the main point here for anyone else with this Q is that once an object is converted to Live Paint it is pixel based and any issues that flow from that apply equally to Photoshop or any other pixel based app. Whereas, most of the things that are created in Illustrator are Vector based (it's main reason for being I assume) so then the scalability/smoothness of edges is not an issue then.

Many thanks to you both for helping here - hope I can also help sometime if I can build my working knowledge of this app up sufficiently over time.

[Doug A Roberts]

Live paint objects are not pixel-based; it is the effects you used that are.

[bobbieguns]

Hello,

I know this is an older post, but submitting a solution here in hopes others find it! If you go into the appearance panel you are able to apply the effect just to the fill. Hope this quick solution helps!