Hello, all you computer wiz-types! Hope someone can help......

I've gone thru this video tutorial:
http://www.layersmagazine.com/distressedtype.html

and can do this technique just fine - with a single letter - but when I tried it with a word, it didn't work. Yes, I turned the letters to outlines, then grouped them. All I got was the effect on the last letter to the right, the rest weren't even there! Where'd they go and why didn't they stay grouped?!

I love photoshop but need to get a grip on Illustrator, too.
Thanks in advance for any clue.

maybe this helps:
select the group of letters (or your word) and click into

Pathfinder
Shape Modes, first button (dont forget to commit on the right side)

then try again, it should be like a single letter now...

good luck

Thank you, yellopiggy....... but it's still not working.

Here's what I have done - made the word into outlines, then grouped them, then in the pathfinder palette, option-clicked on that first shape mode (to unite), then went thru the rest, getting the high contrast texture, deleting the 'whites' and sending the texture to the back, selecting all, then clicking on the 'minus back' in the pathfinder - and it still just gives me the last letter!

There is no place to 'commit' on the right, not sure what you mean... there is only an 'expand' button, but it's grayed out. What am I missing? I don't mean to be a pain, but this would be a nice technique to learn. Thanks for any suggestions, I'll check back later.

what you can try else, is to ungroup the letters before pathfinder, and just select them together...illustrator is a goat

ah, and you can use pathfinder for the black rests of wooden structure too. then you have ONE object above another ONE object, then it should work...I hope for you

omg, piggy vs. goat! hope the piggy wins!!!

illustrator does have some cool stuff it can do, but not nearly as cool as photoshop!

Thanks, will try that later, have an appointment for a project - using photoshop and InDesign - that's "do-able"!

wrestling with this goat for more than 5 years now, and still no three-count for me

When you convert the text to outlines, it creates a group of outlines. The pathfinder works on a single path - so it only applies the effect to the last path in the group (the last letter).

You need to ungroup the letters, create a compound path (Object - Compound Patch - Make) and then select the new compound path with the object in the back to apply the "Pathfinder - Minus back" effect

Success!!!!!!!! Thanks so very much, Yellow Piggy! and thank you, Vokaris, for your additional input - that made all the difference!

So, for better or for worse.....my attempt:

I used an image of rust for this..... will take some fine-tuning.

It's those little details that they don't put into these tutorials.......I hate when that happens.

Now, quick - I need a photoshop 'fix'!

That's so cool, vokaris - I don't even want to know how you're doing THAT!
Sometimes I feel like such a dunce.