extruded text

Greetings all-



I create a lot of text that gives the illusion of being extruded, with also has a soft shadow.



I do this by:



1. giving the text a color

2. duplicating the text

3. putting the duplicated text at a lower layer

4. changing the color darker

5. offsetting the duplicated text

6. creating a diamond the same color as the duplicated text, placing it in one of the voids created by the offset.

7. duplicating and placing as many times as necessary (keeping in a folder for organization)

8. applying a shadow to the top text layer



I have done this thousands of times over the years. There has got to be an easier and less tedious way!



Any suggestions???
extruded text
No suggestions on the text, BUT!



I would STRONGLY recommend you go into your forum preferences (link near the top right of every page here) and change your username.



These forums get scraped and copied to any number of other sites on the web, and your address is just ripe for harvesting by email harvesting spiders. You can keep it in your profile, but you might even want to format it as:
username [*at*] domain [*dot*] com or something similar.



If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem!



:)
extruded text
Do you happen to run Windows on your Mac or have access to a Windows based computer? If so, the easiest way to do extruded text is Xara 3D 6. It is fast and easy to use. Xara products were one of the major reasons I started using a Windows vritual machine (VMWare's Fusion) on my Mac.



http://site.xara.com/products/xara3d/

thank you

You can use Illustrators 3D effect as well.



And it is pretty easy to do.

I have to admit, I am no genius at illustrator - but I am willing to try. This seems like such a straightforward thing, but it isn't in PS. Once you have the text the way you want it, and you have to make any kind of change - kerning, leading, etc... ...more work, and an increased chance of error. I always leave this task to the end, right before print - but that is when I never have the luxury of time.



I'll poke around in illustrator, but will the text maintain it's integrity? I produce visual graphics for print and crisp text is essential.



Thanks for the advise.



-James

James,



It sounds to me like you should be using InDesign, really.

The images / artwork I use requires a lot of PS time. I used to use QXP, but after PS7 came out I dropped Quark altogether. I'm really an old PageMaker guy from way back in the Aldus days. Anyway, if I start using ID, I would need to justify it for a staff of 10. I don't know if I can (in this economy) only to make extruding text easier.



But thanks, I may pull out the trial version and see how it goes!



-JP

Perhaps we could see a couple final-sized examples of these extruded text things you do?Maybe that will help lead to the best solution.



You can use the free http://www.pixentral.com to upload and host images for posting here. Just read and follow the directions.



After the image you upload is displayed back to you, scroll down and copy ALL the text the the box labeled ''HTML'' for pasting in a reply here. Ignore the code in the box labeled ''Forum''

The last two paragraphs of #8 (thank you, Phos卤) should be made into a FAQ.



%26gt;You can use the free http://www.pixentral.com to upload and host images for posting here. Just read and follow the directions.

%26gt;

%26gt;After the image you upload is displayed back to you, scroll down and copy ALL the text the the box labeled ''HTML'' for pasting in a reply here. Ignore the code in the box labeled ''Forum''.

New TextExpander shortcut =
PixPost

%26gt;New TextExpander shortcut = PixPost





?




Off to google TextExpander.



EDIT: Ah! It does exactly what TypeIt4me does. :)

jmpatrick bring the place the file in photoshop from Illustrator as a smart object.



Then you can updated by clicking it icon in the layers panel and i will open the original and you edit then the changes will be reflect in the photoshop document.



Very handy tool.

Clarification:



Double-clicking on a Smart Object in Photoshop does

NOT
open the original file, as it is NOT linked to the original file. The file is not linked, but a copy is embedded in the Photoshop document. Double-clicking on that
opens the embedded copy in Illustrator so you can edit said embedded copy. The original has been totally forgotten by Photoshop.

Correct note that is correct i was not clear about what a smart object actually is but it points out another value of the smart object as well as it protects the original and you also do not have to remember to take the original with you when you load the file on removable media to wrk at a remote location such as at a clients location or a service.