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PSP Tutorials
THE TEXT TOOL
This
text tool psp tutorial will show you some of the various features of using the
psp text tool and some helpful hints to help you along your graphic design path.
Select
the text tool by clicking on the big letter 'A' in the Tools palette  .
Move the cursor over your document and it will turn into an cross with a letter
'A' next to it. The text will appear wherever you click. Click somewhere in the
image and the Text Entry dialog box (above) appears: NAME
Allows
you choose the font to use for your selected text from all of the fonts installed
on your computer. Size
Lets you select
the (vertical) size of the text in points, which are 72nds of an inch. If the
size that you want is not in the list, simply delete what is there and type your
required size in. Kerning
Controls the amount
of horizonal space between the letters of your selected text. Useful for stretching
a word to fill a whole line. (NOTE: You have to select some or all of your text
first!) If you want standard spacing, just check the Auto Kern box. Leading
Controls the amount
of vertical space between lines. Pronounced as in the metal "lead".
The name refers to the strips of lead used to add space between lines on printing
presses. A value of zero specifies the default, or normal, amount of space between
the lines. A negative value moves your lines closer together, while a positive
value moves your lines further apart. Styles
Styles
allows you to choose the colours and style you would like to use for the Stroke
(the outline of the text) and Fill (the inside of the text). To
change the style of the Stroke or Fill, click in the rectangle to the right of
Stroke: or Fill: to bring up the Color, Gradient or
Pattern dialog. (This depends on which style is selected - see below.)
Make your choice then click OK. By
clicking on the black triangles on the right of the Stroke and Fill
boxes, you can bring up a popup containing 4 styles.
From
left to right, they are: Solid (colour without any effects), Gradient
(use a colour gradient effect), Pattern (apply one of Paint Shop Pro's
patterns), or Null (don't use this style at all). Textures
Textures
allows you to apply a Texture effect to the Stroke and/or Fill portion of the
text. Click in the rectangle next to Stroke: or Fill: to bring up
the Texture dialog, where you can choose the texture you'd like to apply. If
a texture is not shown next to Stroke: or Fill:, click on the little
black triangle (as described in "Styles" above) to bring up the popup, and select
the left option (Texture).
Standard
text
Most
of the time, you won't want all these fancy textures and styles! In this case,
just click the Standard text button to revert to normal text - no stroke,
solid colour fill. Create
as Vector/Selection/Floating
There are
three ways that you can add your text to the image: Vector
creates the text as a Vector layer. This means that you can stretch and resize
the layer as often as you like without losing quality. It also means you can later
click on the layer with the Text tool selected, and re-edit the text (changing
the words, font, size etc). Selection
creates the text in the form of a selection marquee. You can then fill this selection,
use it to cut something out, etc. Note that the actual text is not placed on the
image; only a selection is created. Floating
creates the text as a floating selection. This places the actual text as a raster
(non-vector) graphic on your image, but it "floats" above your image, a bit like
a layer, so you can move it around. If you want, you can choose Selections
> Promote to Layer (Shift+Ctrl+P) to turn this floating graphic into a
proper layer. Placing
the text
When you're
happy with the text, hit OK to place the text in your document. If the text didn't
appear exactly where you wanted it, select the Mover tool from the Tools
Palette (the 4 arrows in a cross shape), click on your text with the left mouse
button (for Vectors and Floating Selections) or right button (for plain Selections),
and drag it around with the mouse. Re-editing
the text If
you have created some Vector text, and you decide you want to change the
words, font, colour or anything else about the text after you've placed it, find
the text layer in your Layers Palette and click on the little plus sign (+) to
the left of the layer. This will reveal the Text Object underneath the
layer (with the big letter 'A' to the left of it). Double-click
on the Text Object. This will reopen the Text Entry dialog and allow you to make
your changes. Tip:
Avoiding jagged type Yes,
it's the bane of webmasters everywhere - those little jagged edges around text.
You see it everywhere - on banners, headings and navigation bars - yet it's surprisingly
easy to avoid, if you know how to avoid it! The
jagged edges are called aliasing and are a feature of bitmap devices such as your
computer screen. Luckily, Paint Shop Pro gives you the option of smoothing, or
anti-aliasing, text by blurring the edge pixels slightly so that the aliasing
effect becomes unnoticeable. Just make sure you check the Antialias box
in the Text Entry dialog. Note
that anti-aliasing will NOT work on indexed colour images. This means that if
you're working on a GIF image, make sure you convert it to RGB colour first, using
Colors > Increase Color Depth > 16 Million Colors (24 bit). Tip:
Choosing a font Choosing
the right font can make the difference between a professional looking website
and an amateurish one. Make sure you don't use more than 2 or 3 fonts in a page,
and be consistent in their usage. For example, if you use Arial for headings,
don't create one heading using Times!
As a general
rule, non-serif fonts such as Arial and Helvetica are great for large
type, while serif fonts such as Times and Bookman are better when you
have lots of small type (as in body text).
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