583 CHAPTER Working with Text IN THIS CHAPTER Adding text to images Formatting text Applying layer styles to text Applying text to a path Controlling text flow Applying textual effects T ext can be an extremely important element to images, not only to add information but to contribute to the overall appearance. Photoshop provides the ability to add text to images as vector objects. This chapter discusses the tools used to add and edit text, as well as applying tex- tual elements to images in some creative ways. Photoshop’s tools allow you to configure and control the format and flow of the text and provide a way to edit the text right down to the character shapes. A Little Bit about Text Before jumping into adding text to images, let’s look at what text really means inside Photoshop. When you initially consider text, you probably think about letters, words, and paragraphs. Then as you apply the term text to a computer application, you start to include the concept of fonts or typefaces. Although the terms font and type- face are used synonymously, they are actually a bit different. A font consists of a set of letters, numbers, and/or symbols that have the same weight and style. A typeface is a collection or family of fonts that have the same overall appearance but different weights or styles. For example, many typefaces include regular, bold, and italic font versions. The following is a list of the different font types that you can work with in Photoshop: l PostScript: PostScript or Type 1 fonts were designed long ago by Adobe to be used with PostScript printers. These fonts have mostly been replaced by OpenType fonts, but you may run into them if you need to use an older font to match older material. 26_584743-ch18.indd 58326_584743-ch18.indd 583 5/3/10 10:39 AM5/3/10 10:39 AM Part V: Painting, Paths, Shapes, and Text 584 l TrueType: TrueType fonts were developed by Apple as a competitor to PostScript fonts. TrueType fonts are actually made up of vector paths and allow the text to appear crisp, even when it is resized. TrueType fonts also allow special characters or symbols to be included with the font as “glyphs.” TrueType fonts are still widely used, but they are being replaced by OpenType fonts. l OpenType: OpenType fonts were developed by Adobe to replace both PostScript and TrueType fonts. OpenType fonts also are made up of vector paths and allow some addi- tional glyph capability, including glyphs that are created by applying two letters together (such as ff), fractions, and superscripting suffixes, like the st in 1st. When working in Photoshop, you should adjust your thinking about text a little bit. In reality, Photoshop treats text as a group of vector shapes that represent letters, words, and paragraphs. Selecting a font simply means that you are changing the set of shapes that are used to represent the letters. Thinking about text in this way helps as you start to use some of the more advanced fea- tures and apply artistic effects with text. Using the Text Tools to Add Text to Images Photoshop provides several tools that give you lots of flexibility and control when adding text to images. This section discusses setting up preferences for these tools and using them to add and edit text in your images. Setting type preferences Before you get started working with text, you may want to set the preferences for text in Photoshop. To set the text preferences, use Ctrl/Ô+K to bring up the preferences dialog box and select the Type option, as shown in Figure 18.1. Then use the dialog box to set the following options: l Use Smart Quotes: When this option is selected, Photoshop detects the open and close quote characters in the text and treats them differently so they point in the direction that they apply. l Show Asian Text Options: When this option is selected, additional options for the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text symbols are visible in the Character and Paragraph panels. If you are not working with these language sets, you should leave this option unselected. l Enable Missing Glyph Protection: If you open a file in Photoshop that contains a font that is not included on the system, you see an alert and the font is substituted by one that is on the system. When this option is selected, Photoshop automatically selects an appro- priate font if you enter text that results in incorrect or unreadable characters. l Show Font Names in English: When this option is selected, the font names appear in English, even if the font is for another language such as Chinese or Japanese. This is useful if you need to add characters from another language font but do not actually read the language. 26_584743-ch18.indd 58426_584743-ch18.indd 584 5/3/10 10:39 AM5/3/10 10:39 AM Chapter 18: Working with Text 585 l Font Preview Size: When this option is set, an example text in the actual font style is dis- played next to the font name when you are selecting fonts from the lists in the Type tools or the Character menu. You have the option of having the example text appear small, medium, large, extra large, or huge. Enabling this option costs some additional processing time, so you may not need to enable it, and even if you do, you should keep the preview size as small as possible for your needs. FIGURE 18.1 Setting the preferences for text in Photoshop Using the text tools to add text Photoshop provides the four tools shown in the Toolbox in Figure 18.2 that allow you to add text to your document. The two Type tools add text as a vector text layer either horizontally or verti- cally. The great part about adding text as a layer is that you can go back at any time and edit or apply effects to the layer. The two Type Mask tools create a selection mask using the text you type that can be converted to a vector or pixel mask or used as a simple selection. 26_584743-ch18.indd 58526_584743-ch18.indd 585 5/3/10 10:39 AM5/3/10 10:39 AM Part V: Painting, Paths, Shapes, and Text 586 Note If you add text to a document that does not support layers, such as bitmap, the text is applied as raster pixels and not as a vector layer. n FIGURE 18.2 The Type tools allow you to add text to your documents as a vector text layer and to create selections from the text you type. When you select one of the Type tools, a Type tool options bar similar to the one in Figure 18.3 is available. The options in the Type tool options menu are applied to any text that is currently selected or to new text being typed into the document. From the Type options menu, you can set the following options: l Orientation: Allows you to toggle the text between vertical and horizontal orientation. l Font Family: Allows you to select the font family from a drop-down menu. l Style: Allows you to select a typeface style such as italic, bold, hard, light, strong, and so on. The available options depend on the font that is selected. l Font Size: Allows you to set the size of the font used when displaying the text. 26_584743-ch18.indd 58626_584743-ch18.indd 586 5/3/10 10:39 AM5/3/10 10:39 AM Chapter 18: Working with Text 587 l Anti-aliasing: Allows you to set the anti-aliasing method that Photoshop uses to render the edges of the font onscreen. Anti-aliasing tries to smooth the square edge effect by fill- ing in the sharp edges and blending the text with the background. The more anti-aliasing you do, the smoother the transition, although anti-aliasing that’s too aggressive can pro- duce artifacts around the edges of the text. You can select the following anti-aliasing options: l None: Applies no anti-aliasing. l Sharp: Displays type in the sharpest fashion. l Crisp: Displays type somewhat sharp. l Strong: Displays type with a heavier appearance. l Smooth: Adds the most amount of smoothing around the edges. Tip Too much anti-aliasing can result in some color artifacts around the edges of the font and may produce incon- sistent results when producing low-resolution images such as those used on the Web. To reduce the inconsis- tency, deselect the Fractal Width option in the Character panel menu. n l Alignment: Allows you to set the alignment of the text to left, center, or right for horizon- tal text and top, center, and bottom for vertical text. l Color: Launches the Select Text Color dialog box, which allows you to set the color used to fill in the text. l Warp: Allows you to apply Warp effects to distort the text. l Toggle Paragraph/Character Panels: Allows you to quickly open and close the Character and Paragraph panels. You use these panels frequently when working with text, so this is a great option. FIGURE 18.3 The Type tool options bar allows you to set options for selected text or text you are typing into the docu- ment. Presets Font family Font size Alignment Warp Text Orientation Style Anti-aliasing Color Toggle Paragraph/Character Panels Text can be added to using the Type tools either as point type or as paragraph type. Each of these options provides different advantages that are discussed in the following sections. 26_584743-ch18.indd 58726_584743-ch18.indd 587 5/3/10 10:39 AM5/3/10 10:39 AM Part V: Painting, Paths, Shapes, and Text 588 Note While you are adding text, Photoshop is in Text Edit mode, so many of the menu options are not available. To exit Text Edit mode, press Ctrl/Ô+Enter and select another layer or another tool in the Toolbox. n Adding text as point type When you add text as a point type, the text flows from a point that you place on the screen. The text flows from the point based on the alignment setting in the Type options menu. For example, if the text is aligned left, the text flows to the right; if the text is centered, the text flows in both direc- tions away from the point. This option is useful if you want to create unbounded text in the image, but it does not provide as many features as paragraph type. To add text to an image as point type, simply select either the Horizontal Type or Vertical Type tool from the Toolbox and click the document. A point is displayed, and you can type text from that point, as shown in Figure 18.4. Notice that a new vector text layer has been added to the Layers panel. FIGURE 18.4 Adding text as point type After you have added text as a point type, you can use the Move tool to select and change the posi- tion in the newly created layer. Adding text as a paragraph type When you add text as a paragraph type, the text is placed inside a bounding box. The bounding box limits the flow of text. This has the advantage of forcing the text to fit into a specified area. As text hits the side of the bounding box, it is wrapped down to the next line. 26_584743-ch18.indd 58826_584743-ch18.indd 588 5/3/10 10:39 AM5/3/10 10:39 AM Chapter 18: Working with Text 589 However, you do need to be careful. If the flow of the text exceeds the bounding box dimensions, some of the characters are hidden below the bottom of the box. This can result in missing text in the image if you do not increase the size of the bounding box or decrease the font size. When text is hidden below the bottom of the bounding box, the bottom-right control handle displays a plus sign. To add text to an image as paragraph type, select either the Horizontal Type or Vertical Type tool from the Toolbox and drag the mouse diagonally to create a bounding box, as shown in Figure 18.5. A bounding box is created, and you can type text into the box as shown in Figure 18.5. Notice that a new vector text layer has been added to the Layers panel. Tip If you hold down the Alt/Option key while dragging to create the paragraph type bounding box, a dialog box is displayed that allows you to set the height and width of the box. The values in the box are in pixel/point units denoted by pt. However, you can specify the size in inches by using inches as the unit—for example, “3 inches.” n You can change the size of the bounding box by dragging with the mouse the control handles at the corners and sides. The bounding box provides another useful feature when working with text in that you can use the rotation controls in the corner to rotate the text, as shown in Figure 18.5. FIGURE 18.5 Adding text as a paragraph type creates a bounding box that limits the flow of the text. You can use the rotation controls on the bounding box to rotate the text. 26_584743-ch18.indd 58926_584743-ch18.indd 589 5/3/10 10:39 AM5/3/10 10:39 AM Part V: Painting, Paths, Shapes, and Text 590 Editing vector text layers After text has been added to your document as a vector text layer, you can still edit it at any time by selecting one of the Type tools and clicking the text in the document window. With the text object selected, you can use the mouse to select a portion of the text by dragging over it just as you would in any text editor. Note If you have vector text layers that overlap each other, clicking them selects the top layer. You may need to change the order of layers in the Layers panel to select text in a vector text layer that is underneath another one. n It is important to keep in mind that while you are editing text, some of the changes, such as font size and color, apply only to the selected text, while other changes, such as alignment or kerning, apply to the entire paragraph, regardless of the what text is selected. Each time you press Enter in a paragraph type text box, a new paragraph is started. That means you can make different format changes for each paragraph in the same paragraph type bounding box. Tip When you are in Edit mode, Photoshop displays selection guidelines and other editing aids. This can make it difficult to follow the text. While you are in Edit mode, you can use the Ctrl/Ô+H hotkey to toggle displaying the guidelines and editing aids and even turn the selection highlight on and off. This makes it easier to read the text and see the effect of making edits. n Photoshop provides a number of options to format and edit the text and to format and affect vector text layers. Some of these options are located in the Type tool options menu we discussed earlier. Some of them are found in the Character and Paragraph panels, which are discussed later in this chapter. Several options are available by using one of the Type tools to right-click the text to bring up the Text Edit pop-up menu, shown in Figure 18.6. If the text is already selected when right-clicking, a slightly different menu will be displayed with options for the selected text. The following sections cover the options available in this menu. Note You should be aware that when in Edit mode, not all these options are available. For example, you cannot ras- terize the text or convert between point type and paragraph type. Also, many of these options are available from the Layers panel menu when the vector text layer is selected. n Edit Type The Edit Type option puts Photoshop in Text Edit mode in the vector text layer that was clicked. While in Edit mode, you can adjust the settings in the Type tool options menu or in the Character and Paragraph panels to edit and format the text. 26_584743-ch18.indd 59026_584743-ch18.indd 590 5/3/10 10:39 AM5/3/10 10:39 AM . 26_584743-ch18.indd 5832 6_584743-ch18.indd 583 5/3/10 10:39 AM5/3/10 10:39 AM Part V: Painting, Paths, Shapes, and Text 584 l TrueType: TrueType fonts were developed by Apple as a competitor. work with in Photoshop: l PostScript: PostScript or Type 1 fonts were designed long ago by Adobe to be used with PostScript printers. These fonts have mostly been replaced by OpenType fonts,. file in Photoshop that contains a font that is not included on the system, you see an alert and the font is substituted by one that is on the system. When this option is selected, Photoshop