Need help ASAP! How to do this in Illustrator instead of Photoshop (Burnt wood text)

[designer101]

Heh, heh, you grossly overestimate my Auntie Illy abilities. Truth is, I avoid Illustrator as much as humanly possible. I mainly use Xara Designer Pro, even on work that eventually has to go into Illy for final touches and or to save out so I can give a client an Illustrator file.

That said, I *think* how you began the middle layer is by using an inner glow and at some point made it into an opacity mask.

In the screen shot my version is the bottom one and the middle layer has an inner glow but to make it work appearance-wise, but uses a different transparency blend mode.

Take care, Mike

Attachment 100889

Once again - thank you - so glad I found someone who can answer my questions (and so timely too) - so so grateful, thank you!!

[AndFarr]

I don't have or use Illustrator, but this sounded like a fun challenge so I gave it a whirl in Xara Designer pro instead.
Note that I equalized the shadow on the wood as I felt that it was distracting from the text effect.
Here is my attempt.
- Andy