Punching a Hole Through a Pattern with Text

After text is converted into a path, it can be used just like a cookie cutter. By placing the converted text on top of another path abject, you can punch it out, leaving a see-through hole. You can produce some pretty neat effects with this process.

• Open a new document, 360 pixels wide and 500 pixels high, with a resolutions of 72; the canvas color doesn't matter.
• Select the Rectangle tool from the toolbar and draw a rectangle to fill the canvas. Place your cursor outside the canvas area and click and drag to cover the entire are.
• You will also need to place a copy of the image below in your student folder. You will use this as a patterned fill:

• From the Fill panel, select Pattern from the Fill category drop-down list, and then select Other from the Fill type drop-down list. Browse to your student folder and select the above picture. The canvas will be filled with water.
• The area is tiled and has four water images. Select the black arrow on tools bar and a black circle will appear in the middle of the picture. Select the circle handle and drag up to the top-right corner to fill with just one image of the water instead of four. If you still see a seam, open the Info panel and put in dimension that will cover the entire canvas.
• In the Layers panel, be sure the water object is highlighted with dark blue, and from your keyboard, copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V). You will see a copy of the water as a separate object on top of the first one. Keep this object selected.
• Place a copy of the image below in your student folder. You will use this as another patterned fill:

• From the Fill panel, select Pattern, then Other, and select the sand image above. You can't see the water, but that's OK. Adjust the tiles to make one large square as you did above.
• Next you will type the text that will appear. I used Seaside Resorts. The text will be used as a cookie cutter. Use a wide font and a size that will cover the area you want.
• Select the text and choose Text>Convert to Paths. With the Subselection tool (white arrow on the toolbar), Shift+click each letter.
• To use the text as a cutout to punch a hole, you need to ungroup the letters, and then combine them to form a composite path. To do this, with the text path still selected, choose Modify>Ungroup, and then choose Modify>Join.
• Shift+select the text and the rectangle, and choose Modify>Combine>Punch.
• The hole is punched through the sand object, and the water object below the sand is visible through the cutout. Click the water object by first clicking the water layer in the layers panel, then dragging the water on the canvas until you get the effect you want.
• Select the text object by first selecting the text layer then clicking on the text on the canvas. From the Strokes panel, choose:
  • Air Brush
  • Basic
  • Tip size 4 (Use the slider next to the tip dialog box)
  • Color CCCCCC (dark brown)
• From the Effects panel in the Add Effects, click the arrow which points down and choose Shadow And Glow>Drop Shadow. Apply the following to the effect:
  • Distance 4 (the top left scroll box)
  • Opacity 65 percent
  • Angle 315
  • Color Black

The final result should look like this: