[Vincent Rosati]

Try Effect > 3D > Rotate.
After it’s created you can access the settings the Appearance palette.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

Please see the attached project file…

Delete Structure with Pathfinder project file >>

The steps listed in the project file are:

1
Live text.

2
Type > Create Outlines.

3
Add a stroke and increase weight in Stroke palette

4
Select the stroked object and Object > Expand

5
Use the Group Select tool to select the outer edge of the stroke. Then Copy, Delete. Edit > Paste In Back.

6
Use the Group Select tool and shift-select the T and the back object. Then Effect > Pathfinder > Minus Back.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

Right now you have 3 objects.
Duplicate the objects, to the side, so you have 6 objects – Two sets of 3 objects.
With the second set, do Pathfinder / Unite. You now have 4 object – the 3 main objects plus the 1 unified object.
Apply the gradient to the united object and arrange it beneath the main outlined objects.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

When you have to reset fonts or see what fonts are registered in your file, go into Type > Find Font.

When you see the brackets around a font name, I think it means there is a conflict/duplicate font on your system.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

After you select the text object click R to enable the Rotate Tool, then rotate. I was surprised to see this also. Maybe this is a ‘newer’ behavior.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

Naturally, there are a few ways you could potentially do it.

Some of the guesses here may not take into account any groupings or compound paths that exist in the art.

ONE WAY
One at a time, use the Group or Direct Select Tool, click on one of the red areas, then Copy and Paste in Front or Back, then Object > Arrange > Send to Back. Now with the the new window still selected you can shift select the Group Select Tool on the main body structure and Pathfinder > Minus Back.

You basically need to knock out the windows from the main structure.

ANOTHER WAY
Another approach might be to Group Select Tool select the main body structure and one of the windows and paste them off to the side, so they’re easier to work with.
From there , you can select both and Object > Compound Path > Make.

In both of these examples you’re making a compound path, just using different techniques.

ANOTHER WAY
Use the Group Select Tool and select all of the red objects, then Copy, then Delete, then Paste in front, then Object > Compound Path > Make.
Now, you can Copy / Paste in Front (Ctrl + F, instead of Ctrl + V) and you will have 2 sets of windows. Now you can make a compound path with all of the windows and the main body structure in one operation, instead of one window at a time.
After you have all of the windows in one compound path you could also use the Minus Back approach instead.

If you’ve never made a compound path, practice with a few circles or squares first:
1) Next to each other
2) Partially overlapping
3) Fully inset
Then you can further experiment by using the Group Select Tool, and repositioning one of the paths after the compound path is made.

ANOTHER OPTION
After you have the duplicate compound path of the windows, you could use that as a clipping mask. Probably not what you want, but just another thing you could do.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

I might try creating an expanded version of the text, that you hide below the live text, they apply the shadow to it as a single group or compound path.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

You could drag your group of symbols into the Swatches palette, to create a custom fill.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

I think your single quotes are curly. Try retyping them, single or double quotes, just not curly.

Vince

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[Vincent Rosati]

The linked file shows the steps you can use to create the clipping mask to get this:

Project File: 8987_laachtrident.zip

The steps noted in the project file are:

Create a compound path based on the original art.
It’s ‘compound’ because it has more than one object/path.
Here, it’s the negative shapes, the holes.
The letter ‘P’ is a compound shape/path. The letter ‘T’ is not.

Here, we align the objects and make sure the intended mask object is on top, as the top object becomes the clipping mask.

Finally, we select both object and select:
Object > Clipping Mask > Make.

Additional Notes:

Generally, you want to keep your raster art in a seperate file, as a TIF or PSD, and use Object > Place instead of pasting raster art into the Illustrator file. There are many benefits to this, like; A smaller AI file size, leaves the ability to make further adjustments to the raster file after it is in use. When you update a linked raster image in AI you can Window > Links > Update Links.

Id recommend cropping the raster star field down to exactle the size that you need. You’ll notice that when you paste or open the finished clipping mask object into Photoshop the artboard will be the size of the entire raster image. You can crop it, of course, but you’ll save in file size and eliminate or reduce the need for extra steps when you move the project to PS. It’s just better.

May the force be with you.

Vince

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