7 Type Tools
Used for adding
type to images
Found at #24 in the Toolbar diagram at left
The type mask, vertical type, and vertical type mask tools have returned
to the toolbox after being evicted to the options bar in 6. To choose
the one you want, click and hold on the type icon and pick the one you
want from the menu that appears.
When you select the type tool in the toolbox, your cursor will change to an I-beam pointer. A small line across the I beam marks the location of the type’s baseline. For vertical type, it marks the center axis that the type will be created along.
The type tool’s options bar will appear as soon as you select the tool. You can set the type’s options before you click in the image to add type.
Click in the image to add point type. Paragraph type is entered by clicking and dragging a bounding box, and then adding text inside it. While you are adding or editing type, the options bar will change to be in edit mode. Type may be edited by drag-selecting and applying new options. If you move the cursor a little ways away from the type you’ve added, the pointer becomes the move tool, and type can be repositioned.
Each time you use the type tool, a new layer is created with that text on it. Any of the layer styles, or other layer options can be applied to type layers.
Point type enters the text in a line from the point where you first click. Line breaks may be created by pressing Enter, but otherwise, the type does not wrap. If you have difficulty positioning point type exactly where you want it, apply it (click the big check box) and then move it with the move tool. To do this, be sure you’ve selected the type layer which has the type you want to move, then choose the move tool in the toolbar. Drag, or press the arrow keys to move the text layer in one pixel increments.
Paragraph type is entered in a bounding box. Text will wrap to stay within the box. If you add more type than will fit within the box, it will be indicated by an overflow icon, and the overflow type will not show in the image. Resizing the text box by dragging a corner will allow the overflow text to show. Pressing Enter creates a new paragraph, not a line break, in paragraph text.
The type mask tool creates a selection outline in the shape of the letters typed. You can do anything with that outline that you can do with any other selection. Unlike the regular type tools, this one does not appear on its own layer. The type is added to the current, active layer. It is preferable to use this tool on an image layer, and not any type layer that you may have added previously.
You can do anything with a type layer that you can do with a regular layer such as duplicating it, changing the stacking order, applying layer effects and styles, and changing layer opacity. However, some of the Photoshop features will not work on a type layer. For example, if you want to apply filters to your type, you will need to first turn the type layer into a regular layer. After you’ve done this, the type becomes part of the image and cannot be edited as type any more. To turn a type layer into a regular layer, select the layer in the Layers palette, and then choose Layer > Rasterize > Type.
Tip - The default setting for type is to use fractional character widths. This is best in most cases. However, when using type sizes smaller than 20 points for online uses such as web sites, fractional character widths can make your type look terrible. The spacing will be inconsistent with some of the letters running into each other, and others too far apart. Turn off fractional widths by going to the Character palette, and clicking on the little arrow in the upper right corner to access the palette menu. Click on Fractional Widths to toggle it off. Turning this setting off will affect all text on the currently selected layer.
To change type attributes (such as color and size) on multiple layers all at once, see this tip on the How Do I ... page.
Please note that the type tool doesn’t work very well on 1 bit Bitmap mode, or Index color mode images since they don’t support layers. If you add type in these modes, it will be added directly to the image and cannot be moved or edited.
Special note - a lot of people seem to be having problems with
having all their text suddenly be in italics (or bold), even though they
haven’t selected italic (or bold) text in the font style drop down
menu. If this happens to you, go the the Character palette, and click
on the appropriate button at the left end of this group. Or look in the
palette menu. If Faux Italic (or Faux Bold) is checked, select it to toggle
this feature to off.
In Photoshop 6, if you tried to warp Faux Bold text you got an error
message,“can’t complete request because type layer uses faux
bold style.” Since the option was buried in the Character palette
menu and many people had no idea how the faux style got applied, they
couldn’t figure out how to get rid of it. In Photoshop 7, the kind
people at Adobe® have included the cure in the error message.
In addition to the warp problem, you cannot use the “include vector data” option when saving EPS files if your document includes any faux bold text. Remove the faux bold style from your text if you need to include vector data when saving an EPS file.
If you are working with very large documents (400 MB or larger) text may be cut off or not appear on type layers. There are four possible solutions. Solution 1 is to change anti-aliasing in the type layer by double-clicking it and then selecting None, Crisp, or Strong anti-aliasing. Solution 2 is move the type layer with the move tool until all of the text is completely off the image (out of the image window). Then double-click the type layer in the Layers palette. Click the big check mark on the type options bar and then use the move tool to bring the type back onto the image. Do not use History to bring it back. Solution 3 is to create your text by filling text selection outlines rather than by using real type. Do this by using the type mask tool instead of the type tool. Fill the selection with the desired color. Since this is a filled selection and not real text, you won’t be able to edit it as type. Solution 4 is to create your type in another application and import it into Photoshop.The type tool cannot create anti-aliased text larger than 8192 pixels on the image canvas in Photoshop 5.x or later, although it can in earlier versions. The type mask tool, however, can create selections that exceed this limit. [Note that these solutions are paraphrased from information in the Photoshop (Win) FAQ in the User to User forum at Adobe.com. I have not encountered the problem, or tested the solutions.]
The first illustration below is the type tool’s options bar shown as it appears when the tool is active—when type is being added or edited (the bar is split in two because it’s so long). When the tool is not active, click on the tool’s thumbnail at the left end of the options bar to find any tool presets that have been made for this tool. Their is an entire palette of type tool presets that ship with Photoshop 7. To reset the tool to its default settings, right-click on the tool’s thumbnail and choose Reset Tool from the menu that appears.You can set font characteristics, and alignment before you add the text.
The first icon after the tool icon on the left end of the options bar
will change horizontal type to vertical or vice versa.
The box showing Courier is your font family menu, next to it is the style menu for choosing regular, bold, italic, etc. Next, is the text size box.
The box titled aa and showing an entry of Crisp is for choosing
an anti-aliasing option. It’s shown with menu activated in the second
illustration. This will smooth the jagged edges on curvy parts of text.
See the Anti-aliasing page for more information
on what this does. You should try out all the options to see which you
like best. Different fonts, image resolutions, and type sizes will look
best with different settings for anti-aliasing.
To the right of anti-aliasing options are the alignment buttons, then the color box, with the color black selected. To pick another color, click on the color box and the color picker will appear. Next is the Warp text button, and last is the Palettes button (see next section, below).
To accept your added type, you must click the check mark at the
right end of the options bar to exit edit mode. You can also press Enter
in the numeric keypad, or press Ctrl-Enter on the regular keyboard
to accept the type. To get out of edit mode without adding type or applying
edits, click the round cancel button, or press the Esc key on your keyboard.
Below the options bar illustrations, you see the Warp text dialog
box. Clicking on the warp text icon on the options bar will open this
box, where you choose a warp Style, and tinker with the way that
style is applied by playing with the sliders. Note that, when you first
access the Warp dialog box, all options will appear to be grayed out.
As soon as you choose an option from the Style menu, the options will
become active.
Type warping affects the entire type layer to which it is applied. It can be edited or removed at any time. Bitmap fonts, and type layers which include Faux Bold formatting can’t be warped.
Shown below are the Character, and Paragraph palettes in which type options can be set. Find these palettes by clicking the Palettes button on the type tool’s options bar.
Numbers have been added to both palettes for ID purposes. In the Character
palette shown first below, the items labeled are:
1) font - drop down menu of all the fonts you have installed on your computer
2) type size - use the menu, of enter your own value
3) kerning - adjusts the space between letter pairs
4) vertical scale (distorts text vertically)
5) baseline shift - move type above or below the type’s baseline;
used for creating superscript and subscript
6) faux bold, faux italic, all caps, small caps, superscript, subscript,
underscore, strike through
7) language
8) style (as offered by the chosen typeface)
9) leading (horizontal space between lines of text)
10) tracking (spacing between all letters in a line of text)
11) horizontal scale (distorts text horizontally)
12) type color (click to open the color picker)
13) anti-aliasing choices
The numbered items in the Paragraph palette, center, below,
are:
1) alignment
2) left indent
3) first indent - applies to the first line of each paragraph
4) space before- adjusts the space before a new paragraph
5) right indent
6) space before - determines how much space is left after a paragraph
Hyphenation and justification have been moved out of the palette and into their own dialogs. Find them by going to the paragraph palette menu and choosing the option. You can see the two dialogs at the bottom of this page. For type perfectionists, these will be useful.
Photoshop Tips | 7
Palettes | Effects
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Shadows and Light
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