Contouring/Stroking/Outlining a Set of Curves in Designer

[Nat20]

Hello again! Is it possible to add a stroke around a somewhat arbitrary group of items, perhaps by selecting them and using the contour tool? Specifically, I'd like to outline an entire word of text, rather than outlining each individual letter. Below is a screenshot of the specific effect I'm looking to emulate—you can see how the stroke follows the shape of the text, but only around the very outside—but I can think of a number of scenarios where the ability to select a few different items (images, for example) and slap a dynamic outline around them would be handy.

Alternately, is there another way to achieve this effect aside from drawing it by hand?

Thanks so much!

[Hangman]

Hi @Nat20,

Maybe something like this...

[Nat20]

Definitely gets me a lot closer than I was! Using individual letter contours to create a fill doesn't quite do the job if the letters are spaced farther apart, unfortunately (or if we want the overall outline to be thinner).

The Add and Fill Holes buttons are incredibly helpful, though. Thank you!

[Hangman]

Once you've created your main outline you can of course reapply the contour tool in the opposite direction to reduce the border thickness...

 

and likewise, apply the same principle even if your letters are further apart to start with...

 

though of course, a lot depends on the typeface you're using and the layout of the text...

[Nat20]

Oh, that is genius! Knowing I can reduce the contour afterward means I can make it big enough to fill the gaps between spaced-out letters and let the Fill Holes tool do the rest... thank you!

[Nat20]

One last question: how did you get the entire "Knife of Dreams," with the K and D a different size and differently aligned, to be one Artistic Text object? So far I've been creating those accent letters as separate objects, which is a pain in the butt.

[Hangman]

25 minutes ago, Nat20 said:

One last question: how did you get the entire "Knife of Dreams," with the K and D a different size and differently aligned, to be one Artistic Text object? So far I've been creating those accent letters as separate objects, which is a pain in the butt.

A combination of changing the font size for the smaller letters and then adding a bit of baseline shift in the Character Panel to raise the smaller characters up from their baseline...