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View Full Version : Illustrator/EPS with stroke to LW???

PixelMyst
02-27-2007, 03:38 AM
Okay, I've done my fair share of logo animations, though I tend to cringe a bit when I have to go into Adobe Illustrator (not my favorite program) to export AI/EPS files into LightWave. Never had any problems in the past, converting text/fonts to outlines, saving into Illustrator ver 7 or 8, BUT now I'm in a fix. I have a font in Illustrator that isn't available in "Bold" and I need to make it "Bold" or just a bit thicker as it's a client logo. When I add a stroke to the font in Illustrator I get what I need, but when importing into LightWave the stroke won't import, just the basic/original font size, which is too thin.

Is there a trick I'm missing here? Any thoughts on how I can get a bolder font out of Illustrator into LightWave, besides tracing it by hand?

Thanks

Greg

P.S. I'm usually all over the clients to provide the raw art so I don't have to go through this, but...out of luck on this one.
jasond
02-27-2007, 09:17 AM
Stroke the text (or the shape) and Object > Expand > Expand Stroke. You'll have to ungroup the objects and use the Pathfinder > Add to Shape to make it all one shape.

or

Stroke the text and Object > Path > Outline Stroke. Use the same cleanup method.

or

Select your shape (the text converted to paths) and Object > Path > Offset Paths. This will give you a whole new shape, fatter or thinner, depending on your choices. You'll have to select (maybe ungroup first, don't recall) and delete the old path that's still in there.

Good luck.
Matt
02-27-2007, 11:27 AM
Yep, that's what I was going to say!
PixelMyst
02-27-2007, 04:44 PM
You guys saved me on this one - Many thanks! I will face my demons and force myself into learning a bit more about Illustrator.

Thank You again!

Greg
jasond
02-28-2007, 07:14 PM
I don't have the expertise to be very helpful on the main issues of this board, so it's good to be able to throw something back occasionally.

You may want to look into the Actions features so that you can either download other people's automated functions or build your own. It makes dealing with the unfamiliar package easier.