Launch Adobe® Illustrator® and start with the new document, let’s say 700 x 980 px, units: Pixels, RGB color model, 72ppi:

Note: Instead of digging through your hard drive searching for the file you have just saved (or file you have opened via Open Recent Files menu command) use Doc Revealer Tool* to quickly locate your document in Finder (mac users), Explorer (win users) or Adobe® Bridge®.

Create a new layer, for example muutxt. Make sure that muutxt is your current layer, go to Type Tool, type ‘muu’ and change its font to Arial Regular, about 240pt size:

Now we will divide the text object into multiple objects that make up its appearance:
[select the text] > Object > Expand… (expand Object, Fill).
[select the text] > Object > Ungroup.
Set the letters fill color to RGB 253, 233, 210 and stroke to None:

Now, go to Oblique Projection 'opo' Tool* > choose XY Transformation > type 200 for X, and 200 for Y > check Custom Projection Color + Blend Color option and set the fill color to RGB 247, 147, 30 and the stroke to 0, 0, 0 (black), either by creating a new, temporary art object with the correct color settings and copying its appearance (Copy Color Properties button) or specifying it directly by its numerical values:

Select all 3 letters (muutxt) > go to opo panel > and hit create projection button:

This gives you:

opo automatically creates two additional layers: one for the projection objects (muutxt_PZ-) and another for the back side objects (muutxt_BZ-):

Note that opo automatically calculates and creates extra tangent points (i.e. points at which the projection line 'just touches' the curve) if necessary. This way the new projection structure perfectly matches the front art path! No gaps and no approximations - the new point perfectly fits the curve at its local maximum. Take a closer look at the new ‘m’ letter stroke – 3 extra points have been added to the original path:

We don’t need the front art anymore. We turn its visibility off and… the glass effect appears!

Go to Layers Panel > add layer (name: bkgnd). Put it at the very bottom of the Layers Tree. Make sure bkgnd is active > go to File > Place… > and select your background image. For example:

That's it! Save your work: File > Export > JPG (Use Artboards)

// author: Pawel Kuc