Expert: Amy - 5/14/2003

Question
I use Mac OS 9.1.  and Ai v.8.0.

Do you know how to achieve the "worn look"?  I design t-shirts and want to create a filter (?) to apply the "worn look" to whatever object I'm working on.  The worn look is like an old t-shirt where the ink is cracking and splitting.  This has been in vogue in the past years and commonly seen on new designs.  Thanks for your anwers.

Answer
Hi Henry,

The only way I can think to achieve that look in AI is to apply either the Effect > Texture > Craquelure or the Effect > Texture > Mosaic Tile textures to an imported RGB file or a vector object.  

For text, you'd be better off to create Outlines first, then apply the Effect.  

It's actually better if you apply both of those effects - one after the other - looks really worn that way.

This only works in an RGB color mode environment, by the way, and I can't remember if 8.0 had the effects filters, but I think it did. I don't know about you, but I work in CMYK most of the time, so you'd have to create your worn object as RGB and convert - not always the best color results that way.

Good Luck
Amy Pace