Photoshop
Type
Type Options
There are numerous options for setting up and formatting type. In this lecture, we'll look at the basic options contained in the Tool Options bar when the Type tool is selected.
Type Tool Variations
The Type tool has a keyboard shortcut of T. There are four variations of the Type tool:
- Horizontal Type
- Vertical Type
- Horizontal Type Mask
- Vertical Type Mask
The first two variations create vector type on separate type layers. (However, if the image is in Multichannel, Bitmap or Index Colour mode, the type will be added to the background because layers aren't supported in those colour spaces.) The mask variations create selections of the shape of the text on the current layer. These selections can be moved, filled, stroked, and saved as channels.
The variations appear in a fly-out menu that is displayed when you hold the mouse button down on the Type tool.
Font Family
The Font Family pop-up menu is located in the Tool Options bar.
Font Style
This pop-up lets you select from the styles available for the chosen font family. Examples of styles are: bold, italic, demi, book, oblique. If the pop-up control button is greyed out and Regular is displayed, there are no styles built into the font you've chosen.
Font Size
The font size can be selected from the list of preset sizes or you can type a value into the text entry field.
Anti-aliasing
This setting determines how anti-aliasing will be applied to the type.
This image has been magnified by 200% to show the different effects of the anti-aliasing options. Most fonts display poorly if no anti-aliasing is applied (None option) but Verdana Regular is one that can be used successfully. Crisp can tend to apply a blocky look, as shown here. While not apparent in this example, Strong usually creates more bold colouring. It's quite useful when using small, light text against a dark background. Otherwise, the other anti-aliasing options tends to blur light text too much for it to be readable.
The effects of anti-aliasing will vary depending on the font family, style and size you use.
Alignment
This setting determines if text will be aligned against the right margin, centred, or left margin.
Colour
This colour well is linked to the foreground colour displayed in the Toolbox. You can set the text colour using either of these controls. Changing the colour in one control will automatically change it in the other.
Warped Text
Clicking on this button opens the Warp Text dialog. It contains 15 styles plus settings that let you customize each style. The Warped Text effect is applied after text has been created. View examples of the different Warped Text effects.
Type Options Summary
- There are four variations of the Type tool: Horizontal Type, Vertical Type, Horizontal Type Mask, and Vertical Type Mask.
- The Horizontal and Vertical Type tools create vector shapes on special type layers.
- The Type Mask tools let you create type in a quick mask which is then converted to selections.
- Commonly used options such as font family, font style, font size, colour and alignment are located in the Tool Options bar.
- There are several settings you can choose from for anti-aliasing type including None which removes anti-aliasing.
- The Warp Text option lets you create special effects with type.
Type Options Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Type tool: T
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