Moving and Arranging Text and Objects

Once you have items within the boundaries of your drawing area, you can select them using the click-and-drag method (Shift-click to select multiple items). After selecting items, you can move them around.

With the Properties panel's Transform controls you can adjust an item's opacity, position, overall size, and rotation (Figure 10.23). If you have multiple items selected and are using the Selection tool, the cursor updates to illustrate whether you are making a position (arrow) adjustment or rotation (Rotation tool) adjustment. This is the same as the selection behavior for modifying selected text or objects.

Figure 10.23. With both the text and object selected, you can still resize, rotate, and reposition the selected items as if they were one. Additionally, you can right-click on the selection to change the position of the selection within the drawing area

With one or more items selected, you can right-click on the selection and access the Position submenu's three options:

• Horizontal Center. Leaves the vertical position of your selection the same but centers the selection horizontally

• Vertical Center. Preserves the horizontal position of your selection and centers the selection vertically

• Lower Third. Preserves the horizontal position of your selection and moves the selection down to the lower third of the frame

If you have two items created on top of each other or you have text that you want to appear on top of an object, you may need to change the stacking order of these items. Right-click the item and choose Arrange > Send to Back to send it to the bottom of the stack, or right-click and choose Arrange > Bring to Front to bring it to the top of the stack. To bring an item forward (closer to the top) by one position, right-click and select Arrange > Bring Forward. To send an item backward one level (farther from the top), right-click and select Arrange > Send Backward. If you prefer working with the Title menu, select the item, then choose Title > Arrange and the direction you want to go.

If all of the manipulating, shifting, and adjusting is too much, the Titler does offer some helpful ready-made templates that you can load and modify in a few simple steps.

Notes

Lower third refers to the lower-third portion of your frame. Typically news casts include a title that introduces a person with their name. This title resides in the lower third of the frame.