In this tutorial I'll demonstrate two ways to make text that follows a path in
PaintShop Pro. You can do this either by changing existing text to fit
a curve or creating new text that automatically follows an existing curve.
We'll show first how to change existing text.
I have PaintShop Pro open in the Edit workspace and I have my Organizer open
which you can do in the Palettes menu. I'm searching in PaintShop Pro sample
images. These can be found in the folder called Samples where you have PaintShop
Pro installed. I'm dragging this one Rock into the editor then I'll click the pushpin
to minimize the Organizer. I'm going to create a string of text up here in the
sky. Here's the Text tool icon and I'm clicking the Preset icon so I can grab
one of the text presets. I'll use this one called Gold. Here's the font size,
fill color which is a color gradient and there's a zero stroke width so no text
edges will show. I'll add in a thin stroke and make the text edges black.
I'll click up in the sky and write my text and I'll double click when finished
then increase the size of it. This text was automatically placed on its own
vector layer and I'm going to turn off this layer for now to clear the display
a bit. Then I'll click the New Layer icon and add a new vector layer for the shape
I'm about to create. The outline of this shape is the path the text will follow.
I'm going to my Preset Shape flyout and choosing Ellipse. I'll change the ellipse
stroke color to black and make its width so that it'll be easy to see. I'm also
adding a solid fill color to make it easier to select and move the ellipse.
Now I'm clicking and dragging to place the ellipse. Now I'll bring back the text
layer. I'm dragging the text layer above the ellipse layer so that the text will
always appear on top of the ellipse. With the Pick tool I'm pressing Shift and
clicking the ellipse and the text to select them both then I'm choosing
Objects > Fit Text to Path. The text adjusts to follow along the top of the
ellipse. Now back in the Text tool with only the text selected I can make some
adjustments like changing text size. The More Options icon brings up additional
options such as offset, which is negative if I want the text to be inside the
curve, or kerning to increase the spacing between letters. I'm double clicking to
end the editing. Now my text isn't quite centered but I can move it along the
curve and it updates to follow wherever the curve is. If I move the text down
here it's upside-down. Paths are defined as clockwise by default so if I want the
text along the bottom of the ellipse I have to change the path direction first.
Using the Pick tool to select only the ellipse,
I'm choosing Objects > Convert to Path. The text is no longer following the curve.
It's straight again and was moved down here but we'll fit it to the ellipse
again after the path is reversed. Reversing the path is done with the Pen
tool. I'm right-clicking inside the ellipse and choosing Edit > Reverse Path.
Now I need to refit the text to this new path by selecting both again with the
Pick tool and using Fit Text to Path.
Now with only the text selected I can move the text into place, this time
facing the right way. To move the text to a different spot in the image I have to
move the ellipse.
Now I can turn off the layer with the ellipse to show just the text. The second
path-fitting technique is to start with a vector path, either curves or lines,
then create text that automatically fits to it. In addition to preset shapes, you
can also create your own curves for the path. I'm deleting the ellipse by
deleting its layer and now the text is straight again and now I'm deleting the
text layer as well since I'll create new text after drawing the new curve. Curves
are created with the Pen tool and they will automatically go on a new vector
layer. I'm choosing the Bezier curves option and checking all three of these
options: Connect Segments means that I can create one curve after the other and
I want Nodes to show so that they can be changed. I'm changing the fill to
transparent, using a thick stroke and setting a stroke color that will be easy
to see against the sky background. I'm going to create curves that follow the
arch line. I'm starting here and dragging towards this direction for a short
distance then releasing the mouse button. My next segment is dragged here, then one
here,
and another one here. Double click to finish. To smooth out the curve I first
need to right-click and switch to Edit mode. Now I can move nodes by dragging
them to adjust curvature of the segments. I can click a node and adjust the
tangency.
Finally I'll click Apply. Now I'll add a new text string. First I'll add a new
vector layer for the text. This time I'll use the Desert text
preset
and again giving it a solid black stroke. With the previous text string I clicked
in the background and typed a straight line of text but if I move my cursor
carefully along the curve it tells me when it's in path-following mode. This
little curve appears so I'm clicking here and typing something long enough to
take up the curve. Turning off the layer with the curve leaves just the curvy
text. I can reduce the width and move the text to fit. If I want to move the text
to a different location I need to move the curve. I can do this by selecting the
curve layer even if the layer itself is turned off, and while the text is
selected I can add effects to it. If I choose Effects > 3D Effects > Chisel, I'm first
prompted that the layer needs to be converted to raster before the effect
can be applied. This brings us to the end of this tutorial on fitting text to a
path. If you're watching this video on YouTube you'll find a link in the
description below that will take you to our tutorial page
on the Discovery Center. Here you can download a written copy of this tutorial
to follow along plus many other helpful tutorials for Corel PaintShop Pro.