Chapter 7: Using Type andType Effects

An important aspect of working in Photoshop is making your type as effective and dramatic as the myriad effects you can create with images. In this chapter you will discover how to create and edit type on images, with typical formatting, hyphenation, and justification. You will see how to perform the commonly needed tasks of spell check and find and replace. Then, with the mundane but critical tasks out of the way, you will see how to play with your type, warping it, transforming it by rotating, skewing, and resizing. You will find out how to use layer styles that let you create special effects like drop shadows, beveling and embossing, inside and outside glows, and gradient fills. Finally, you will learn how to mask your type, enabling you to copy images as fill for type, and how to make a selection of type, which can then be manipulated just like any other selection.

Create and Edit Text

When you enter text, it creates its own text layer, which is available to be edited until you rasterize it. Initially, text is vector-based; however, when you rasterize it, it becomes a bitmap object. At this point, it can no longer be accessed as editable text. However, some of the special tools and effects, such as the paint tools and filter effects, can be used once the text is rasterized.

When you select the Type Tool, the Options toolbar becomes a formatting toolbar. Figure 7-1 shows the tools available to you for creating and editing text.

Figure 7-1: The Options toolbar contains formatting tools when you select the Type Tool.

Create Text

You can enter text in two ways—as point type or as paragraph type. Use point type when you have only a word or so to enter. Use paragraph type when you are working with more than a few words.

Enter Point Type

Point type becomes a new type layer. As you are entering text, it doesn’t wrap to the next line; it continues on the same line.

1. Set attributes for the text. See “Format Type with the Character Palette.”

2. Select either the Horizontal Type Tool or the Vertical Type Tool.

   

3. Click in the image area and the pointer will morph into an I-beam pointer. Place it where you want the text to begin. For horizontal type, the small intersecting line marks where the bottom of the type will appear. For vertical type, the intersecting line identifies the center of the type. Figure 7-2 shows vertical text entered onto a photo.

   

   

   
   Figure 7-2: Point type entered using the Vertical Type Tool creates a useful label for photos.

4. Select any formatting you want from the Type Options in the Options bar, or the Character palette, or the paragraph palette (see “Edit Type” later in this chapter).

5. Type your characters. Press enter to begin a new line.

6. Click Commit on the Options bar. (See “Committing Type.”)

   

Enter Paragraph Type

You type a paragraph of text into a bounding box that contains the text and creates a separate text object on its own

layer. Set attributes for the paragraph. See “Format Paragraphs with the Paragraph Palette.”

1. Select either the Horizontal Type Tool or the Vertical Type Tool.

2. Drag the pointer diagonally so that a bounding box is created.

3. Select any formatting you want from the type options in the Options bar, or the Character palette, or the Paragraph palette (see “Format Type with the Character Palette” later in this chapter).

4. Type your characters. Press enter to begin a new line.

   

5. Click Commit on the Options bar. (See “Committing Type.”)

   

   Note

   You can resize the bounding box using the handles on the perimeter of the bounding box. Or, if you press alt as you drag to form a bounding box for paragraph text, the Paragraph Text Size dialog box will be displayed. Type in the Height and Width for the bounding box, and click OK.

   

Edit Type

To edit your text, you can change the font, text color, font size and style, leading, and kerning. Much of this can be done with the toolbar shown in Figure 7-1. All can be done with the Character or Paragraph palettes.

Note

You can change from point type to paragraph type or vice versa. Select the type layer (not the text itself), click Layer | Type | Convert To Point Text or Convert To Paragraph Text.

QuickSteps—Committing Type

After your text has been entered and you are satisfied with the results, you commit the text to accept the changes. Do one of these to accept or commit the changes:

• Click Commit in the Options toolbar.

  

• On the numeric keyboard, press enter.

• On the main keyboard, press ctrl+enter.

• Select another tool, or select a menu option.

• Choose an interface palette.

Format Type with the Character Palette

The Character palette allows you to edit the most common text attributes.

1. If it is not already showing, display the Character palette by selecting Window | Character. The Character palette will open, as shown in Figure 7-3.

   
   Figure 7-3: The Character palette contains tools for editing text.

2. Click the text layer, and then select the text by highlighting it

3. Select from among these options:

   • Font to change the name of the font used.

   • Font Style to change to Bold, Italics, Bold Italics or None.

   • Font Size to change the point size of the characters.

   • Leading to change the space between lines of text. Auto is the default. Usually you want to select a leading larger than the size of the text. So if the point size is 20 points, you might use leading of 24 or larger. You can use this to overlap lines of text for special effects.

     

   • Kerning changes the space between two characters. Place the pointer between the two characters you want to manipulate. You can squish characters close together or set them farther apart.

     

   • Tracking changes spacing for selected characters. Using a higher number increases space; a negative number decreases spacing.

     

   • Scale Vertically adjusts the height of selected text.

     

   • Scale Horizontally adjusts the width of selected text.

     

   • Baseline Shift moves the selected characters above or below the baseline, such as in subscripts and superscripts

   • Text Color sets the color of text.

   • A line of character attributes can be chosen for selected characters: Faux Bold (when your font has no bold typeface), Faux Italics (when your font has no italics), All Caps, Small Caps, Superscript, Subscript, Underlining, and Strikethrough.

   • Language establishes the language being typed.

   • Anti-aliasing adjusts the smoothness of the letters, from the least adjustment of None, to the most of Smooth.

QuickSteps—Hyphenating and Justifying Type

Hyphenate Words

On the Paragraph palette, place a check mark in the Hyphenate check box to have Photoshop automatically hyphenate words.

Set Hyphenation Rules

1. Open the Paragraph palette, and click Hyphenation. The Hyphenation dialog box will open.

   

2. Select from among these options.

   • Words Longer Than __ Letters will hyphenate only words longer than the given number of letters; default is 5 letters.

   • After First __ Letters requires a given number of letters before hyphenating.

   • Before Last __ Letters requires hyphenation to occur at least that many letters from the end.

   • Hyphenate Limit __ Hyphens limits the number of hyphens in adjoining lines; 0 provides no limit.

   • Hyphenation Zone defines the distance from the end of the line that hyphenation will occur.

   • Hyphenate Capitalized Words allows/restricts the hyphenation of capitalized words.

3. Click OK.

   Specify No Break

   To prevent a group of letters from being broken during word wrap:

4. Select the letters that are not to be broken.

5. Open the Character palette, and click No Break.

   

   Set Justify Rules

   You can set the spacing between words, letters, and glyphs (any characters or symbols in a font including nontext characters, such as Wingdings font characters).

6. Open the Paragraph palette, and click Justification. The Justification dialog box will open.

   

7. Set the values to define the spacing between words, letters, and glyphs as described in Table 7-1.

8. Click OK.

Format Paragraphs with the Paragraph Palette

When you type a paragraph into a bounding box, you have a Paragraph palette available for formatting line and paragraph spacing. Figure 7-4 shows the tools available with the Paragraph palette.

1. Click Window | Paragraph to display the Paragraph palette if it is not already showing.

2. Set your paragraph parameters before typing text by clicking the attribute or by filling in a text box.

3. Create paragraph text by selecting the Horizontal Type Tool or Vertical Type Tool and dragging a bounding box.

4. Begin to type the paragraph.

5. To change paragraph settings, select the paragraph and move your pointer over the option, such as Indent Left Margin. When your pointer becomes a pointing hand with a two-headed arrow, click and drag to change the value. (Dragging horizontally seems to work better.)

   
   Figure 7-4: The Paragraph palette allows you to define paragraph attributes such as alignment, spacing and indentation.

Use Check Spelling

To check whether the words in your paragraph are correct, use Check Spelling.

1. Select the text to be tested.

2. Open Edit | Check Spelling.

3. If a word cannot be found in the Photoshop dictionary, the Check Spelling dialog box will be displayed, as shown in Figure 7-5. If the word is not in the dictionary, Photoshop thinks the word has been misspelled. Choose among these options:

   • Ignore to skip the word identified as a mistake.

   • Ignore All to skip all occurrences of a word.

   • Change to replace the word under Not In Dictionary with the one in Change To.

   • Change All to replace all occurrences of the identified word with the one in Change To.

   • Add to add the word in Not In Dictionary to the dictionary.

     
     Figure 7-5: The Check Spelling feature identifies all words that are not in the Photoshop dictionary as potential misspellings.

   1. Click Done to close the dialog box. Or if the spelling checker finds no more misspelled words, it will display a message that the Spell Check Is Complete.

QuickSteps—Transforming Type

You can transform type by manipulating the bounding boxes:

Select a Bounding Box

To display the bounding box with handles for rotating and resizing:

• In Edit mode, select the Type Tool and click the text.

• Select the Type Tool, select the layer with the type, and click in the text.

  Resize a Bounding Box

1. Place your pointer over the bounding-box handles until you see a double-headed arrow.

   

2. Drag the handles until the bounding box is the size you want.

3. To change the size proportionally, press shift while you drag.

   Rotate a Bounding Box

4. Place the pointer outside the bounding box until the pointer morphs into a curved double-headed arrow.

   

5. Drag the pointer in the direction the box is to be rotated.

   

6. Press shift while you drag to change the rotation in 15 degree increments.

7. Press ctrl while you drag the center point to another place, even outside the bounding box. Then you can rotate the bounding box around a wider circle.

   Skew a Bounding Box

   Press ctrl while you drag a corner handle. The pointer morphs into an arrow that can be used to skew the shape of the bounding box.

   

   Flip the Text

   To flip the text, simply drag the bounding box across itself to the other side. For example, click the right handle, and drag it to the left until the text flips.

   

Find and Replace Text

To find text and replace it with other text:

1. Click File | Find And Replace. The Find And Replace Text dialog box will open.

2. Under Find What, type in the text to be searched for and replaced.

3. Under Change To, type the new text.

4. Click options if they apply:

   • Search All Layers to search for the text in all layers of an image

   • Forward to search forward from one text object to another

   • Case Sensitive to restrict the search to the case in the Find What text box

   • Whole Word Only to search only for whole words that match the Find What text

   • Find Next to search for the next occurrence

   • Change to change the found text to the Change To text

   • Change All to change all occurrences of the Find What text

   1. Click Done.

      Tip

      You can tell when you are in Edit Mode by looking for the Commit and Cancel Transform tools in the Option toolbar. If these tools are there, you are in Edit Mode.

      

Warp Text

You can create interesting effects with text by warping it.

1. In the Layers palette, click the layer containing the text to be warped.

2. Select Layer | Type | Warp Text. The Warp Text dialog box, shown in Figure 7-6, will open.

   • Open the Style drop-down list, and select a warp style.

   • Click Horizontal or Vertical to orient the text horizontally or vertically.

   • Drag the Bend slider to exaggerate or lessen the warp of the text. Alternatively, you can type a percentage of Bend to set the degree of warp.

   • Drag the Horizontal Distortion slider to increase or decrease the horizontal warp, or type in a percentage in the text box.

     

   • Drag the Vertical Distortion slider to increase or decrease the vertical warp, or type in a percentage in the text box.

     
     Figure 7-6: The Warp Text dialog box presents options for the style of warp you want.

   1. Click OK when the warp effect is as you want.

Create Text on a Path

You can type text along a path, such as seen in Figure 7-7. First you create a path and then type text, pulling it along the path.

1. Create a layer for your path and text.

2. Select a tool, such as the Pen Tool or Freeform Pen Tool, to create a path. (See Chapter 5 for additional information on creating paths.)

   

3. Click Paths on the Options toolbar.

   

4. Select the Horizontal Type Tool, for text parallel to the path, or Vertical Type Tool, for text perpendicular to the path.

5. Place the pointer above the path until it morphs into an I-beam. Click the path and an insertion point will appear.

6. Type your text.

   
   Figure 7-7: Type text on a path for special effects.

Edit Text on a Path

To edit the text on a path, inserting and deleting letters and making formatting changes:

1. Select the text layer that the text to be edited is on.

2. Click either the Horizontal Type Tool or the Vertical Type Tool.

3. Click the text string to place the insertion point, or highlight the text.

4. Make your changes.

   Caution

   If your text does not conform to the path or if the path disappears, make sure you are on the right layer.

   Note

   If your letters seem to disappear as you type, you may need to pull the text string along the path. Select the Path Selection Tool, and where the text disappears, drag an anchor point along the path in the direction the text is to flow. As you release the Path Selection Tool, the missing letters will appear.

   Tip

   The text will appear in the direction that the path is drawn; so if you draw a line left to right, that is how the letters will be inserted. Also, if the path is too short or the text comes to the end of the path before all letters are on the path, the letters will follow the path and curve around the end of it.

Create Text within a Closed Path

To type text with a closed path, such as a circle or ellipse, you create a path around a shape and type text, dragging the text where you want it.

1. Select a shape tool, and draw a shape, such as the oval in Figure 7-8.

   
   Figure 7-8: You can type text around a closed path to create unusual effects.

2. Click Path to make it into a path.

3. Click the Horizontal Type Tool or the Vertical Type Tool, and place the insertion point on the shape.

4. Type the text.

5. Adjust the positioning by using the Path Selection Tool or the Direct Selection Tool to pull the text string one way or the other. You will also want to rotate the text, format it, or apply layer styles to it before you finish.

Add Special Type Effects with Layer Styles

You can apply special effects to your text with options from Layer Styles. Photoshop has several predefined, or preset, styles that can be used to create drop shadows, embossing or beveling, inside and outside glows, gradient coloring, patterns and more. Figure 7-9 shows examples of some effects described in this section. Three commonly used styles are described next.

Figure 7-9: Examples of effects that you can create using layer styles.

QuickSteps—Finding and Using Layer Styles

Preset Layer Styles can be found in a couple of places.

Use the Styles Palette

1. Click Windows | Styles to display the Styles palette. This contains thumbnails showing what the style effects will look like.

   

2. Select the text layer to which the layer style will be applied.

3. Click the style, or drag the style to the selected text.

4. Press shift while you drag to add the styles already applied to the selected text. Without shift, the style replaces any styles currently applied.

   Use the Layer Style Dialog Box for Precise Style Settings

5. Select the text layer to which the style will be applied.

6. Click Layer | Layer Style, and click an option to display the dialog box for layer styles.

7. Complete the setting for the option you chose. The options will vary, depending on which style you chose. Refer to “Add Special Type Effects with Layer Styles” for specifics on the common styles used.

8. Click OK.

Drop Shadows

To create a slight shadow on the type:

1. Select the text to be given the drop shadow.

2. Select Layer | Layer Style | Drop Shadow. The Layer Style dialog box will appear with the Drop Shadow options, as shown in Figure 7-10. (You can also click the Layer Style button on the Layer palette, and then click Drop Shadow to display its options on the Layer Style dialog box.)

   
   Figure 7-10: The Drop Shadow options allow you to control the shadowing very precisely.

3. Experiment with the options and view the results in the Preview box. If you have a question about what the options are, refer to Chapters 4 and 6 for additional information.

   • Blend Mode is by default Multiply. The default color is black.

   • Opacity, because of the Blend Mode, makes the shadow lighter or darker.

   • Angle is the direction of the light source. Global Light places a light source on all the type.

   • Distance is how far the shadow is offset from the type.

   • Spread relates to the percentage of thickness a shadow has, and it is related to Size.

   • Size is how sharp or fuzzy the shadow is.

   • Contour opens a submenu of shadow curves or shapes.

   • Anti-aliased specifies whether the jaggedness of letters is to be smoothed.

   • Noise makes the shadow smoother, clumpier, or noisier.

   • Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow pertains to whether the shadow will be visible on a semitransparent layer. When the option is checked, the type layer knocks out the shadow, so if you turn the layer fill down, you can still see where the type cuts the shadow. If unchecked and you turn the layer fill down, as the type disappears, the shadow still shows fully—a shadow with no type. It is similar to a stencil.

   1. When you are satisfied, click OK.

      Tip

      To open the Layer Style Dialog box, you can click the Layer Style button at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Bevel and Emboss

To create either beveling or embossing on the type:

1. Select the layer containing the text to be given the special effect.

2. Select Layer | Layer Style | Bevel And Emboss. The Layer Style dialog box will appear. (You can also click the Layer Style button on the Layer palette, and then click Bevel and Emboss to display the Layer Style dialog box.)

3. The options for controlling the beveling and embossing are displayed on the dialog box, as shown in Figure 7-11. As you select options, you can view the results in the Preview box. If you have a question about the options, refer to Chapters 4 and 6 for additional information.

   • Style displays a menu of styles you can use: Outer Bevel bevels the edge of the type; Inner Bevel gives a more rounded look to the bevel; Emboss makes the type look as if it were stamped, or standing apart from the background; Pillow Emboss is a more rounded look; Stroke Emboss adds an edge to the outline.

   • Technique displays three options: Smooth blurs the edges; Chisel Hard makes it look very crisp and defined; Chisel Soft is less sharp than Chisel Hard but more defined than Smooth.

   • Depth sets the depth of the bevel or embossing.

   • Direction determines whether the surface of the type is Up and rounded, or Down and indented.

   • Size determines the size of the shading, how deep into the text it is.

   • Soften blurs the shaded part of the bevel or embossing.

   • Angle establishes the degree of the light source and whether all the type has the same light source.

   • Altitude determines how high the light source is.

   • Gloss Contour displays a menu of options for the shape or contour of the bevel.

   • Anti-aliased smoothes the edges of the contour.

   • Highlight Mode is applied to the highlights of the bevel or embossing. By default it is Screen blend mode and white in color.

   • Opacity is connected to Highlight Mode and varies it. Drag the sliders to set the values.

   • Shadow Mode is applied to the shadows of the bevel or embossing. By default it is set to Multiply blend mode and is black in color.

   • Opacity can be varied for the Shadow Mode. Drag the sliders to set the values.

     
     Figure 7-11: Bevel And Emboss can give your text depth and a more professional look.

   1. When you are satisfied, click OK.

      Table 7-1: Defines Justification Rules

      Element	Minimum	Maximum	No Effect
      Word Spacing	0%	1000%	100%
      Letter Spacing	−100%	500%	0%
      Glyph Spacing	50%	200%	100%

      Tip

      To copy an effect from one layer to another, arrange both layers so that you can see them. Select the layer containing the effect. From the Layers palette, drag the layer containing the effect to the layer to be copied to. When you release the pointer, the effect will be applied to the text on the layer.

Make Type Glow Inside and Out

Inside Glow and Outside Glow make your type look as if there were a light source inside or behind the type:

1. Select the layer containing the text to be given the special effect.

2. Select Layer | Layer Style | Inner Glow. The Layer Style dialog box will appear. (You can also click the Layer Style button on the Layer palette, and then select Inner Glow to display its options on the Layer Style dialog box.)

3. The options for controlling the inside and outside glow are displayed on the dialog box, as shown in Figure 7-12. As you select options, you can view the results in the Preview box. You can see that many of the options are the same as either Drop Shadow or Bevel And Emboss. Here are the options unique to Inner Glow:

   • Noise makes the glow harsher, more clunky.

   • The fill for the glow can be solid, or you can select a graduated color scheme from the drop-down list.

   • Technique can be Softer or Precise for keeping or blurring the detail.

   • Source locates whether the source of light will be coming from the center of the type or from the inside edges.

   • Choke increases or decreases the perimeter of the matte of the glow.

   • Size defines the size of the glow.

   • Contour pertains to the pattern of the fading of the glow.

   • Range describes where the contour will be applied to the glow.

   • Jitter increases and decreases the variations around the layer.

     
     Figure 7-12: Inner Glow makes your type look as if there were an inside source of light.

   1. When you are satisfied, click OK.

Create Text Masks

You can use a text mask either to create a selection of type or to fill type with the background from one image or layer that you want to use on another image or layer. It is like making a cutout of one image to use in another.

1. In the Layers palette, select the layer that contains the image you want to use.

2. Select the Horizontal Mask Type Tool or the Vertical Mask Type Tool.

3. Set your formatting the way you want, as described previously in this chapter. Click the image to set the insertion point. The canvas will be filled with a protective red masking layer.

4. Type the words you want to mask, and then click Commit.

5. You can do several tasks:

   • Copy and paste the masked type to place it on its own layer without removing or cutting the type from the background image. While the type mask is selected, it can be moved, copied, filled, or treated like another selection as shown in figure 7-13.

   • Move the masked type using the Move Tool, and it will remove or cut the type pattern from the image so you have a cutout of the text. You can stretch the selection box and otherwise distort the type, but it cannot be edited as type.

     
     Figure 7-13: The words “Puget Sound” were first cut out of the sunset part of the picture, using a type mask, and then enlarged and are now available to be moved to another image.