Distorting and Curving Text Using FontWork

See also Formatting Text With Bitmaps, Gradients, and Hatches on page 772.

Choose Format > FontWork. FontWork is an add-on program that lets you apply extensive formatting to text, shown in Figure 30-33. Select text and choose Format > FontWork to use it.

Figure 30-33. FontWork window and effects

Curving Text to a Preset Curve

FontWork has several preset curves you can use to curve text; you can also apply shadows and control alignment.

1. Type or paste the text you want into a drawing.

2. Deselect the text, then click again on the text frame so that green handles appear. Drag the text frame so that the text fills it entirely.

   

3. Choose Format > FontWork. In the FontWork window, make the appropriate selections, as shown in Figure 30-34.

   Figure 30-34. Formatting curve on a preset curve and additional options

   

4. Adjust the shape of the curve by dragging the green handles, and format the text if necessary.

   

   The text size will vary as you change the curve; you can't prevent that.

Curving Text Along Any Curve

You can make text follow any curve, not just the ones predefined in FontWork. Just follow the steps in the next procedure, Aligning Text to a Curve or Object on page 820, and click the Contour icon shown in Figure 30-34 to make the line invisible.

Aligning Text to a Curve or Object

Draw has the power of advanced drawing programs such as Illustrator to align text with any Bezier curve, or object such as a rectangle, that you choose. The effect works with any object, but is most effective with polygons, lines, and curves, shown in Figure 30-35.

1. Draw a curve using the Bezier curve tools, or draw a polygon using the rectangle or oval tools. A curve is shown in Figure 30-36.

   Figure 30-36. Creating a curve to align text to, and the Curves tearoff menu

   

2. Deselect the curve, then select it again and double-click on the curve. When the cursor appears, type or paste the text you want to align to the curve. Deselect the text, then select the whole object so that green handles appear as shown in Figure 30-37.

   Figure 30-37. Typing or pasting text into an object you will align the text to

   

3. Choose Format > FontWork. In the FontWork window, click any of the four circled icons to align the text to the curve.

   

4. Make any additional selections in the window; refer to Figure 30-34 on page 819.

5. The text appears aligned to the curve or object, as shown in Figure 30-38. Format it as you would normally; you can change the text or line formatting.

   Figure 30-38. Text aligned to a curve

   

Figure 30-35. Aligning text to a curve or object

Moving Curved Text Within the Drawing

Once you've curved text in FontWork, you can't move it around with the mouse anymore like usual. You can, however, select it, either by clicking on it or drawing a box around it with the pointer tool, then use Shift or Alt and the arrow keys to move it around the drawing.