: Hard vector inset shadow I'm trying to re-create a hard inner shadow effect in illustrator, similar to the effect on the text in the Kit Kat logo: Heres another good example: Heres my attempt

@YK2262411

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This effect has been produced using Adobe® Illustrator® plugin called Oblique Projection 'opo’. I’ve written this extension to automate the creation process of parallel perspective effect (the inner shadow in your case). You can grab your free evaluation copy at 63mutants.com/subc/products/opo_m01/opo_m01.php
And here is how to create the ‘KitKat’ effect using ‘opo’:

1) create a new document (RGB color)

2) create ‘shadow’ layer, and two sub-layers ‘mask’ and ‘text’:



3) put your text on the ‘text’ layer (about 150pt height). Then select it and go to Object > Expand:



4) select text and go to ‘opo’ panel, choose XY projection with 8px for X and -8px for Y (my text is about 90px height). Set projection order to ‘Z-‘ and projection type to ‘solid’. Choose ‘Custom Projection Color’ option and set fill to RGB 204,204,204. Hit ‘Create Projection’:



5) this should produce:



6) copy all objects from ‘text’ layer into ‘mask’ layer. Then toggle off visibility of ‘text’:



7) select all objects from ‘mask’ layer and go to Object > Compound path > Make:



8) go to Layers panel, select ‘shadow’ layer, and hit Make/Release Clipping Mask button:





9) go to Layers panel, select all objects in ‘text_BZ-‘ layer and set its fill color to white:



10) create new ‘stroke’ layer (above ‘shadow’). Copy ‘text’ layer content into ‘stroke’ layer. Toggle of ‘text’ visibility:



11) select all objects in ‘stroke’, go to Objects > Ungroup and Objects > Compound path > Release

12) One more time Select all letters from the ‘stroke’ layer, go to Appearance Panel, hit Add New Stroke button. Set Stroke color to Brown, width to 8 px, align stroke to outside. One more time hit Add New Stroke button. Set Stroke color to White, width to 4 px, align stroke to outside:

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