[Tylor Larson]

Sometimes Apps have program pref files .. as well as user pref files . the program that always comes to mind is Maya.

Ty

[Tylor Larson]

have you tried trashing your prefs?

TY

[Tylor Larson]

no problem, as long as you are looking to put this over a white background.

1. make your white type with your word of choice.
2. open the appearance pallet. Window / Appearance
3. in the bottom left of the appearance pallet you will find the small Fx button.
4. once you click on this button it should bring up a context list.
5. look under stylize … you can mess around with outer glow… or drop shadow..
— please note that these effects have “Modes” make sure to change it to normal…
— you can always change this after the fact simple by accessing the appearance pallet and double clicking on the effect… as long as you have the right layer selected.

one other thing… if you look in the layers pallet you can see that once you apply an effect like drop shadow the hollow circle for that layer is now a solid circle… this indicates that they layer has an effect applied.

Also you never stated what Version of illustrator you were using. in the future make sure to include this info.

Ty

[Tylor Larson]

I don’t believe there is a way to do that.

[Tylor Larson]

that is strange… the only other thing i was thinking you could try is to save and reopen the file..

Ty

[Tylor Larson]

is the square grouped in with any thing else.. if you have something like an offset on another sub group which it will affect all the elements grouped inside. Also does this show up if you print the file. have you review your project in outline mode… the short cut for that is Command+Y hit it again to return. you might find that something is off in outline mode.

these are all things i use to trouble shot problems.

[Tylor Larson]

what operation system are you on?

[Tylor Larson]

if you are new to AI i would suggest learning the pen tool…
https://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tools-tips/illustrators-pen-tool-the-comprehensive-guide/
this will give you a broad understanding of how to create the shapes you need.

i would suggest looking at some tuts on the mesh gradient tool.
https://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/articles/20-tutorials-to-help-master-illustrators-gradient-mesh
this will aid in getting the metals to look right.

[Tylor Larson]

I see what you are trying to get at.. I have even tried doing that same thing… but trust me that will only cause a boat load of issues and result in a strange shapes. usually I use maya to make wireframe render so i can redraw the polygons in illustrator. sense you don’t have a 3d app, do a google search for wireframe sphere. a couple of the images I found look like they will give you the right angle you need to recreate the squares.

good luck.

Ty

[Tylor Larson]

i would suggest trashing your prefs. that usually solves most issues of this nature.

here is a link on the adobe site that should help

https://help.adobe.com/en_US/illustrator/cs/using/WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-630ca.html

TY