Applying Effects to Text

Before you drop a layer, you can apply any of the effects available on the Text palette. The Text palette contains all the tools and controls you'll need to set text appearance and flow. You can change the text font, size, and position. You can also adjust the spacing between letters or lines. You can stretch, rotate, and skew text. You can apply a shadow to your text, and adjust shadow attributes.

Font

You can select a font on the Text palette.

To select a font

1. Choose Window menu > Show Text.
2. On the Text palette, choose a font from the Font pop-up menu.

• To display a list of all available fonts, choose Other Fonts from the Font pop-up menu.

• You can also adjust many text elements on the property bar when the Text tool is selected.

Point Size

The Point Size slider on the Text palette lets you adjust the size of text proportionally.

To change point size

• On the Text palette, adjust the Point Size slider.

Color

You can fill your text with color from the Colors palette.

To fill text with color

1. Choose the Text tool from the toolbox.
2. Click anywhere in the document window, and type.
3. Choose Window menu > Show Colors to display the Colors palette.
4. Choose a color on the Colors palette.

• You can also choose a color before you type any text.

• If the Text layer is not selected, the color will not be applied to the text. For more information about the Text layer, see "The Text Layer".

Alignment

A text block can be left, right, or center justified. The text baseline origin is used as the reference point for the text alignment. You can specify justification on the Text palette.

To align text

1. Choose Window menu > Show Text to display the Text palette.
2. On the Text palette, enable one of the following buttons:

• Align Left
• Align Center
• Align Right

Kerning Text

Kerning refers to adjusting the amount of space between letters. Corel Painter does this automatically with most fonts. However, you can fine-tune the spacing with the Tracking slider.

To kern text

1. Choose Window menu > Show Text.
2. On the Text palette, adjust the Tracking slider.

Drag left to decrease letter spacing or right to increase it.

Adjusting Leading

Leading refers to the amount of space between lines of text. You may want to change the Leading from the default. The default spacing between lines is set at 100%.

To adjust leading manually

1. Choose Window menu > Show Text.
2. On the Text palette, drag the Leading slider to the right to increase space between lines or to the left to decrease it.

Stretching, Rotating, and Skewing Text

Stretching text affects both the horizontal and vertical size. As you stretch vertically, the text appears thinner and taller. As you stretch horizontally, the text appears flatter and shorter.

Rotating text pivots the text from the end point of the text block. Depending on the alignment of the text, it pivots from the bottom-left corner, bottom-right corner, or center. You can also skew the text by slanting the text to the right or left.

To stretch text

1. Select text using the Layer Adjuster tool .
2. Drag the corner handles in the direction you want to stretch the text.

To rotate text

1. Select text using the Layer Adjuster tool.
2. Hold down Command (Mac OS) or Ctrl (Windows), and drag one of the corner handles.

Rotated text.

To skew text

1. Select text using the Layer Adjuster tool.
2. Hold down Command (Mac OS) or Ctrl (Windows), and drag one of the center handles on either side of the text.

• If the bounding box is not showing, click the Layers palette menu arrow and choose Show Layer Marquee.

Adding Shadows

You can apply a shadow to text and adjust the shadow position. You can select an external shadow, which places the shadow behind the text, or an internal shadow, which places the shadow inside the text.

To add a shadow

1. Choose Window menu > Show Text.
2. On the Text palette, enable one of the following buttons:

• External Shadow - creates a shadow that makes your letters look as though they're casting a shadow onto a sheet of paper held beneath them.
• Internal Shadow - creates a shadow that makes your letters look like cutouts, above a sheet of paper the color of the text.
• No Shadow - removes a shadow.

To move the shadow

• Select the Layer Adjuster tool and drag the shadow to where you want it.

Setting Opacity

Opacity controls the transparency of text or shadows. Your text's shadow should be semi-transparent. You can also use opacity to fade the color of text.

To adjust opacity

1. Choose Window menu > Show Text.
2. On the Text palette, move the Opacity slider to the left to increase transparency or to the right to increase opacity.

Adding a Blur

You can add either a focus or directional blur to text and shadows. Focus blurs make text fuzzy. You can use the Focus blur to soften the edges of text characters. Directional blurs lets you specify the direction in which the blur occurs.

To add a blur

1. Choose Window menu > Show Text.
2. Choose Window menu > Show Layers.
3. On the Layers palette, select the Text layer or the Shadow layer.
4. On the Text palette, adjust the Blur slider.

If you want to apply directional blur, enable the Directional Blur option, and adjust the Direction slider.

The first half of the slider adds a left-to-right blur on the text; the second half adds an up-and-down blur.

Composite Method

You can change the composite method for body text or shadow of a selected text layer by making a choice from the pop-up menu on the Text palette. You can specify whether you're modifying the composite method for the text body or the drop shadow. Refer to "Blending Layers Using Composite Methods" for more information about changing the composite method.

Curving Text

You can define a curve style and path (baseline) along which your text will flow. The baseline that a curve style creates is a Bézier curve, meaning that the shape can be controlled using control handles and anchor points.

Refer to "Working with Bézier Lines" for more information on working with anchor points and control handles.

There are four curve styles to choose from:

• The Curve Flat style flows along a straight line.

Curve Flat style applied to text.

• The Curve Ribbon style flows the text along a curve and keeps the letters in an upright position. When you apply the Curve Ribbon style, you can use Shift and the Rotate tool to control how the text moves around the baseline.

Curve Ribbon style applied to text.

• The Curve Perpendicular style places the text along the curve, where each letter is perpendicular to the curve.

Curve Perpendicular style applied to text.

• The Curve Stretch style actually changes the shape of the letters to fill in the space that would be left when the curve bends.

For example, if text is set on a circular path, Corel Painter makes the tops of the letters heavier and thicker to fill in space.

Distorted text on a circular path using the Curve Stretch style.

To set a curve style

1. Choose Window menu > Show Text.
2. On the Text palette, click a Curve Style icon:

• Curve Flat
• Curve Ribbon
• Curve Perpendicular
• Curve Stretch

3. Select the Layer Adjuster tool and drag the handles of the bounding box to adjust the text.

To change the path

1. Choose Window menu > Show Text.
2. Choose the Shape Selection tool from the toolbox.
3. Click an end point on the path.
4. Drag the handles to change the shape of the path.

Using Center on Baseline

You can control how the text is centered on the line. You can move the center point by dragging on the slider or by changing the alignment. Dragging the Centering slider also changes where the text starts and stops on a line. The Centering slider has no effect on the Curve Flat style.

To change centering

1. Choose Window menu > Show Text.
2. On the Text palette, choose a Curve Style icon.
3. Drag the Centering slider to the right or left.

The text moves along the curve.