can something like this be done with illustrator?

[njmitchel0]

i know this is a tutorial for a photoshop effect but i was wondering if anyone knew if it could be pulled off in illustrator

http://www.photoshopstar.com/text/sleek-arcade-style-text/

 

[opeter]

Off course, it's simple. You can make it out of vectors.

 

[njmitchel0]

i dont quite understand...illustrator doesnt have the same options as photoshop so do i make it in photoshop first then 'vectorize' it?

 

[diemos]

almost anything can be done in illustrator and ps.

 

[dmz]

Real advice

Really helpful advice guys... Not!

Yes, you can do this in Illustrator, and here's how... exactly...

1. Type your text in the font you want to use at, or close, to the size you need.
2. With the text selected, choose "create outlines" from the Type menu.
3. If you don't see the Graphic Styles palette, choose it from the Windows menu.
4. The Graphic Styles palette contains some pre-defined styles for you to start with - more are available in the Graphic Styles options menu.
5 You may also select from the options menu to over-ride character colours or not - allowing you to control the base colour used in the pre-defined style.
6. To see all the different layers generated by the application of a Graphic Style, or indeed to edit the different parts, open the Appearance palette and select the object if it isn't already selected - all the layers in the style are listed in top-down order, and selecting a layer in the palette also selects and isolates that layer in your drawing.

You can create your own styles and save them too, and of course, for use on a website you'll have to "export" your file to GIF, JPG or PNG format at 72dpi, but that's a horse of another colour!

dmz

 

[dmz]

Quick example

I whipped this together using Portago font and the styles are from 3D Buttons and Rollovers... with a copy of the original outlines placed behind the 3D ones and stroked with a thick black to give the shapes some outline... in Illustrator... and exported as JPEG. PNG works better for transparency, etc., te letters should be spaced a bit more, etc, but you get the idea.

dmz

 

[opeter]

Here you go, I prepared a small tutorial in 42 steps.
Here you have the first two screenshots, for the rest, dowload the .zip file below:
http://rapidshare.com/files/216568676/macrumors_opeter_arcade_tutorial.zip

The final version:

Some variations (without any drop shadow):

A have also included the original Adobe CS3 .ai files, sou you can use them as a reference...