Text within a letter / number

Supernube

New Member
Hello to you all.

I would like to start by saying that I am very new to using Illustrator....and I appologise if my lack of knowledge annoys anybody at any time....but as I said in the Introductions I am just trying to learn.

I have just signed in for the first time on Graphic Design Forums in the hope somebody will be able to help me with a no doubt easy to resolve problem.... I am trying to solve by self teaching ..playing about and lots of online searching :)

I want to make a individual letter or number that contains text ...the kind of thing you have all seen many times before on leavers Hoodies etc... I can just about manage that ..but I cant seem to give the letter / number an outline or stroke.

I am obviously doing it wrong...or aproaching it in the wrong way..... I can put a stroke around a number / letter normally...but not once or before filling that letter / number with text.

Im not sure if it even is a stroke...or maybe an outline....and Ive stressed myself out so much Im getting stropy :-(

Without having Illustrator open in front of me I cant remember the exact route I took...but I know I had to Object ...expand...then back to Object ...compound path ..release ?..and it seems to be this point I am changing something thats stopping me being able to progress.

This is pretty much the first time I have tried anything with Illustrator...and I know I should start right at the beginning but this is just a little something I wondered about and dived in to for my first "lesson" ...I really would like some help figuring out what I have got wrong...or what I dont understand...just so I can put an answer to it.....Thank you.

Any help or advice will be very much appreciated.

Thank you

Daniel
 
This is what I have been playing around with but I have no idea if its the correct or best way of doing it ?

I converted the text to a shape by creating outlines...

then No Fill...and gave it a Stroke

then went to object - expand - expand Fill and Stroke... (No idea what this does)

then Compound Path - release... (No idea what this does either)

I had to then do No Fill and give it a Stroke again ?? (as it seemed to go back to original Fill with no Stroke or a Stroke I couldnt see ??)

I then clicked on the path with the Text tool....

which then seemed to get rid of the extra Stroke taking it back to the original Stroke weight ?

and I then was able to put text inside the shape.

I appologise for the question marks but although it seems to have worked.. I have no idea if what I have done is the correct way ...If it would actually print out as It looks on the Artboard or If I have done it completely wrong and theres a correct ..and no doubt easier way ??

Any help will be very much appreciated.

Thank you

Daniel
 
I would make the large number

Outline fonts

Copy paths made from the outline

Paste on top (cmd+f)

Path / offset path / minus 20mm (or to suit your scale)

Make this path that's created is your new text box

Paste in your text

Put a stroke on your original path which should still be there from earlier
 
Thank you ...

Just tried it your way and it works perfectly.....

Thats definitely the way to go compared with the long winded and obviously completely wrong route I took :)

I take it when you said "make this path that's created your new text box" I dont actually have to make it a text box.... just place the text within this path.... with the Area Text tool ?

Thanks again for your help
 
Thank you ...

Just tried it your way and it works perfectly.....

Thats definitely the way to go compared with the long winded and obviously completely wrong route I took :)

I take it when you said "make this path that's created your new text box" I dont actually have to make it a text box.... just place the text within this path.... with the Area Text tool ?

Thanks again for your help

Yep that's right, I just worded it badly!!
 
Yep that's right, I just worded it badly!!
I have another issue now.....when I try to do this over two numbers....like on the Leavers hoody pic....I can get the first number to work as you suggested...but I cant get the second number to behave after I have done the first one.
I go through the process with both numbers selected ...Ive tried ungrouping them....I dont get it sorry
 
I have another issue now.....when I try to do this over two numbers....like on the Leavers hoody pic....I can get the first number to work as you suggested...but I cant get the second number to behave after I have done the first one.
I go through the process with both numbers selected ...Ive tried ungrouping them....I dont get it sorry
Hmm try direct selecting the second number and cutting and pasting into place (cmd+x then cmd+f) that should break any grouping or compound masks that the numbers might share
 
No that doesnt seem to work....I tried Compound path - Release... and that worked... but I now have text running across the center hole of the number 9 ...if you know what I mean....any Ideas how I solve that lol ?
 
This isnt the right thing of what Im trying to do....and now I cant seem to get it working the way you originally said....just cant get text inside the letter at all now... and certainly cant get round this whole text over the hole in the number 9 problem......its doing my head right in......this has to be a simple problem to solve....which you did apart from the hole issue....so thank you for that ...but its just not working for some reason.....and Ive noticed its real hard to find answers online and on You Tube when you dont know the correct terminology lol.....grrrrr.
Im going to have something to eat and try again later.
Thank you very much for your help so far ...I appreciate it
 
Ok...After watching a video on You Tube I think....THINK !! I have found out how to do it..... but I still think there is another way ...like a proper way.

So .....Select the letter / number...in my case the number 9....with the problem hole in it lol....

Go to Type...select 'Create Outlines' ..

Copy and paste the Outlines on top... like you said ....

Now if you try and fill it with text you get the message "you must click on a non-compound path..." blah blah blah..

To get round this you select the Knife tool....

and whilst holding Alt... Cut a straight line through the letter / number (from outside the letter into the hole part of the letter if you know what I mean)

I believe this 'breaks' the Compound paths ..so to speak....and you can then paste in your text....

and it works.....

I still believe there is another way ...but this works well enough for me to go to bed now lol....

Thank you for all your help
 
This might seem obvious, I am no expert in Ai, but is it just a matter of doing each element on a separate layer?
Make sure each layer/word is locked before working on the next one.
 
Hello .... As soon as you said that I thought "yep...thats going to be the answer" ...so I just tried it and nope :-(
I can get it to work using the knife tool to cut the paths (think thats basically what it does ?) ...so Im happy it works but as you were no doubt thinking there must be simpler route ....annoying :-(
Thank you
 
I just double checked actually because I forgot to lock the layers ..but Im afraid it didnt change anything.
Its definitely to do with the Compound paths thing.... but how why and what etc... I dont know :unsure:
 
Just to be sure for sure... I just tried it with a different number ...without a 'hole' in it.... and it works fine new layer..same layer ..it works fine.
I had to ungroup everything on both numbers ..is that a normal thing you need to do a lot in Illustrator ?
 
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