#outlinetext

Learn to Make Outline Text Effect In Photoshop 2024!

Throughout our project, Max, Ricky, and I went through quite a few road blocks, one of which was making the stencils for our toast.  Due to our choice of medium for this final project (toast), we ended up with a less-than-impressive looking final product on the surface.  However, though our final product and the steps it takes to get there are fairly simple, it did take a fair amount of thinking and learning for the three of us to be able to determine that our method was the quickest and most-effective way to put images on toast, without actually changing the toaster.  One of the things we learned during our struggles with toast-art, was how to take an image and get illustrator to make it a format that the laser cutter can interpret.  

The first thing to keep in mind when using the laser cutter to vector cut, is that in order for the laser cutter to cut out what you want, you must put vectored images into the PDF.  Simply having text from a word editor, for instance, will not be processed.  If you are drawing images using illustrator, the vector input is already present, so you can jump to step 5.  

Steps for Text:

1. Using Adobe Illustrator, select the text tool, and type out the text you are interested in laser cutting.  Adjust the size and location. 

2. Then, using the selector tool, select the text you wish to cut out (do not have it highlighted, simply select it).  

3. With the text selected go to Type--> Create Outlines (if "Create Outlines" is greyed out, then make sure your text is properly selected).  

4. Adjust your fills so that you have a stroke color, and no fill on the text itself. 

5. Finally convert the stroke weight value to .001.  Anything else will be read as a raster, not a vector.