SHAPE

Watch it being adjusted

How it works

The word's outlines are warped into a standard container shape before any other effect runs, so the face, extrusion, strokes, bevel, halftone and banner all inherit the shape. Amount sets how strongly the shape pinches or tapers, and its sign flips the family: minus gives a bowtie or applecore, plus a hexagon or football; for pennant, arch, chevron and heart it mirrors the direction. An optional container is drawn behind the shaped word with its own fill, stroke, corners and margins.

What you can adjust

Drag a slider to see what each control does to the type.

• Shapeframe 1 of 10
  /img/effects/shape/shape/1.png
  ShapePennant / Bowtie / Hexagon / Applecore / Football / Oval / Heart / Arch / Chevron / Trapezoid
  1 / 10
• Amountframe 1 of 5
  /img/effects/shape/amount/1.png
  Amount−100 to 100%, default 60; the sign mirrors the shape
  1 / 5
• Positionframe 1 of 5
  /img/effects/shape/position/1.png
  Position−10 to 10, Pennant
  1 / 5
• Container fillframe 1 of 6
  /img/effects/shape/container-fill/1.png
  Container fillNone / TC1 / TC2 / Black / White / spot
  1 / 6
• Offsetframe 1 of 5
  /img/effects/shape/offset/1.png
  Offset0–200 pt
  1 / 5
• Strokeframe 1 of 5
  /img/effects/shape/stroke/1.png
  Stroke0–20 pt with colour
  1 / 5
• Round cornersframe 1 of 5
  /img/effects/shape/round-corners/1.png
  Round corners0–100 pt
  1 / 5
• Margins L / Rframe 1 of 5
  /img/effects/shape/margins-l-r/1.png
  Margins L / R0–200 pt
  1 / 5
• Splitframe 1 of 5
  /img/effects/shape/split/1.png
  Split10–90%, Bowtie, Applecore and Trapezoid, with Split on space if two words
  1 / 5
• Fixed width / heightframe 1 of 2
  /img/effects/shape/fixed-width-height/1.png
  Fixed width / heighton/off, 5–2000 pt
  1 / 2

Still live text

Shape is applied as an Illustrator live effect, so the text stays editable. Change the word, the font, or any slider afterwards, and save the result as a Graphic Style to reuse it.