Can You Force Fit Type

[Iondesigner@adobeforums.com]

I am trying to force fit type into an object and was wondering if there was a cleaner easier way to do this besides moving the bezier points. Ex. I am designing an ad for the newspaper I work for for an Automotive Showcase Page, I have a clipart silhouette of a car and I would like to fit the words Automotive Showcase inside the car to take its shape but make the car transparent (Like forcefitting an object in Quark Express) so that the outside of the words resemble the shape of the car. Is this possible or do I have to do it the way I suspected. I tried a mask but some of the letters get cut off. Thanks.

[Paul_Cutler@adobeforums.com]

Try putting the shape in front of the text that you want it to force fit to, select both the text and the shape and use Object-Envelope Distort-Make with Top Object. I hope that's what you're looking for…
peace

[jonf@adobeforums.com]

In case the effect isn't quite what you wanted, after the envelope distort, you can then expand the object and fine-tune it to your precise needs.

[Iondesigner@adobeforums.com]

Can I do that in Version 8?

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

Sorry, Envelope Distort was added in Illustrator 10. Time to upgrade!

[Iondesigner@adobeforums.com]

Yeah, tell my boss that, Thanks.

[Cathie_Howell@adobeforums.com]

HEY! Thanks for the tip. I haven't ever used this. Cool....