hollow sound fx

[mikemodel]

Hello forum, I'd like to introduce myself as Mike Model but many that have seen my arts know me as Deacon ABSTRAKT. I'm branching out into comic book Lettering and am currently working on my first Book. My main insperation in lettering is the wonderful wizard of Orz. Throughout this task, I've been tugging on his sleeve for tips, pointers and any advise he was willing to lend, this forum being one of them. I've been strolling the threads, picking up tips as I find them. However, I've come to a point in the book where I need to add Some SFX (sound Fx). One page in particular is giving me some guff visually. After many different styles, I believe a Hollow Sound effect would work perfectly. My problem is figuring out a good way to achieve this. Does anyone know of any tutorials that would teach me how to drop the center out of the text? I know how to convert text to a outline and also offset the path. I'm just having a problem with figuring out how to actually get ride of the inner path. Any help would help greatly. Thank you for any and all help.

[mikemodel]

is it as simple as not selecting a fill color?

[SuperMonkey]

Don't know what program you're using. I'm not sure how to handle this in Illustrator or in any other program, but it should be fairly simple. In Inkscape it's "Inner Outline" under the "Morphology" menu in "Filters".

Of course, most people hate Inkscape, so there is that.

EDIT: Hmm. Apparently it actually IS as easy as not selecting a fill color, as long as have your stroke set at the color you want, just make the fill completely transparent and you'll achieve the same effect (or thereabouts).

Weird.

[SuperMonkey]

See what I mean by "thereabouts":



With no fill, you may end up with some unpleasant-looking overlap that may not be what you're looking for. That can probably be tweaked by adjusting the kern. If you apply a filter (at least, the filter I used), then the vector program treats it as a single object rather than as a series of characters, and you end up with something that looks more (to me, at least), like an organic whole.

At some point it becomes a matter of taste; in order to really get something that matches what you're going for, you'll have to play around with kerning and stuff. Just remember that if it looks right, it is right.

[Gonzogoose]

Originally Posted by mikemodel

is it as simple as not selecting a fill color?

In Illustrator, yes and no. Yes, it is as simple as not selecting a fill color. But no, that's not the final step. Like in SuperMonkey's first example, it would leave overlapping lines. So you actually need to ungroup the letters, then select them and click the add to shape button in your Pathfinder menu to get rid of that overlap.

[mikemodel]

thnaks guys, makes total sense. after posting, it kind of struck me to try. since the font is always set in true black, I never noticed this element. I'm sure this would work for anyone looking for the info. Not 100% if this is all the step but it'll be close. Type what your wanting, create outlines, ungroup and position/edit as you see fit (other steps involved in this), merge all the paths to one (much like you'd do to group the tail to the bubble), Select fill color to transparent, set your stroke and I think you'll end up with a tasty Hallow SFX. Hope that works because I'm on a time restraint here. was given 2 weeks to do final edits and I like to cut it in half if possible. If this does work, I'll be ahead by 2 days. Leaving a good amount of time to comb over for typos one last time before print. If those steps do work and it helps anyone else out, Glad I could be of assistance. haha

[Gonzogoose]

Originally Posted by mikemodel

thnaks guys, makes total sense. after posting, it kind of struck me to try. since the font is always set in true black, I never noticed this element. I'm sure this would work for anyone looking for the info. Not 100% if this is all the step but it'll be close. Type what your wanting, create outlines, ungroup and position/edit as you see fit (other steps involved in this), merge all the paths to one (much like you'd do to group the tail to the bubble), Select fill color to transparent, set your stroke and I think you'll end up with a tasty Hallow SFX. Hope that works because I'm on a time restraint here. was given 2 weeks to do final edits and I like to cut it in half if possible. If this does work, I'll be ahead by 2 days. Leaving a good amount of time to comb over for typos one last time before print. If those steps do work and it helps anyone else out, Glad I could be of assistance. haha

That's the basics of it, yeah. You could always add an extra stroke to give it a bit more flavor (like yellow or white stroke on top, with a black back stroke or offset), but that all comes down to styling preferences really.

[mikemodel]

yep!

[vartemis]

In Illustrator:

1)create the sfx you want with a stroke and no fill
2)turn the letters into outlines
3)turn them into 1 merged shape
4)convert the stoke into its own shape so it now becomes a fill
5)give the fill a complimentary stoke to make it pop

5 easy steps.

J

[Piekos]

~N

[vartemis]

Nate's dead on. Actions are your friend. It took me a second to remember the steps because all I've had to do is hit F5 for a while. I don't do it exactly the same as him, but you'll basically get the same results.

EDIT: some people cheat by just merging the letters and copying and pasting behind with a thicker stroke. This can work sometimes, but more often than not you'll find you run into issues with your corner threshold tolerance settings. By converting the original stroke into a fill, its stoke will fully wrap it, even of the corners aren't sharp.

[JimCampbell]

No need for the Offset and Minus Front steps, Nate. Per your diagram, go as far as the Pathfinder -> Add Shape To Area. Set Fill to None and Stroke to whatever value you find attractive.

Go Object -> Path -> Outline Stroke and the stroke will become an object in its own right, which you can then fill and stroke as you please.

Cheers!

Jim

[adityab]

@Jim: That's what I generally do too, but I notice that Nate's process gives a slightly different effect - like the word itself is represented in the blank space rather than in the stroke. I think I'm gonna be using both, depending on the situation.

[JimCampbell]

Originally Posted by adityab

@Jim: That's what I generally do too, but I notice that Nate's process gives a slightly different effect

You're right -- the effect is subtly different and, now that you've pointed it out, I find I like Nate's way better.

Ignore what I said in the post above, do it Piekos-stylee. :-)

Cheers!

Jim