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updated : sun 05 may 2002 5:29pm bst
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Basic Text Handling


Photodesk offers basic text handling through the Drawing tools window, but if you want anything fancier than a couple of words it's better to prepare your text first in Draw or ArtWorks and import it or use it as a stamp; drag-and-drop between applications works very well with this. A particular lack is control over kerning (spacing between characters), which becomes important when you're preparing logos or using large point sizes.

Also remember that Photodesk uses the RISC OS font manager to render text, which won't anti-alias text larger than 255pt. Again, the way round this is to prepare your text in Draw or ArtWorks first and import (making sure the Anti-alias option is ticked in the import dialogue). All Draw objects are normally anti-aliased when rendered into a Photodesk image.

A general tip is to use a separate layer for text. This allows much easier experimentation and helps when you decide that you've used a really awful font. Only merge the layers when you need to.

There are some examples of using text in the tutorials and how-to sections:

fill text with a pattern >>>
ghosts >>>
drop shadows >>>
burning words >>>
halftone text >>>

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