Step 1
Create some text.

Open Adobe Illustrator. In the tutorial, we are using version 10, but any version that can save at least 3.0 format should work. You can also use Freehand, although the first few steps in this tutorial will have to be changed to suit that particular software.

Step 2a
Create outlines.

With the text selected, select the Type:Create Outlines menu item.

Step 2b
Create outlines.

The text should now look like this.

Step 3a
Save text.

Select the File:Save As... menu item.

Step 3b
Save text.

Name the file, choose a location and click the Save button.

Note: Steps 3b through 3d may be different if you are using an older version of Adobe Illustrator or if you are using Freehand.

Step 3c
Save text.

From the Compatibility pop-up menu, select the Illustrator 8.0 menu item and click OK.

Note: LogoMaker can read Illustrator 3.0 - 8.0, so any of these should work. I usually use 8.0 just because it is the most recent.

Step 3d
Save text.

Illustrator will warn you that this is an older format. Click OK.

Step 4a
Import the text.

Launch PiXELS 3D version 4.5. From the Special menu, select the LogoMaker:From Illustrator 5 File menu item.

Step 4b
Import the text.

Navigate to the Illustrator file we saved in step 3. Select it and click the Open button.

Step 4c
Import the text.

After a moment, the text should import and display in the 3D views. The camera view should look something like this.

Step 4d
Import the text.

In the attribute mananger, expand the logomaker.ai attribute group. There is a Settings attribute group nested in this group. Expand that as well. All of the controls for LogoMaker are inside this attribute group. Most of these are self explanatory, but there is one of particular interest - AI File Path. With this attribute you can change the file that LogoMaker uses to build your 3D text or relink to the same file if the client makes changes to the logo art.

Tip: if you create a cool flying logo animation, you can render that with any logo just by changing the AI File Path attribute.

Step 5
Change the settings.

Disable the Smooth Front Face and Smooth Back Face attributes, change the Breaking Angle to 33 and change the Flatness to 5.

Note: Breaking Angle controls the maximum angle between adjacent faces which will be smooth shaded. Higher values result in smoother shading text, which can look strange. Flatness controls the physical smoothness of the outlines used to generate the text. Lower values produce more control points and denser meshes. Experiment with the values. The 3D views will update to reflect your changes.

Step 6
Change the light type.

In the attribute mananger, expand the Light attribute group. Select Omni from the light type pop-up menu.

Step 7
Render.

Select the File:Render menu item to render the scene.