Working With
Type - Intro
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Up until version 6 of
Photoshop, type features in Photoshop were fairly limited. In version 5,
scalable type layers were introduced, allowing you to scale and edit type
without starting over from scratch, and in version 6 type features were vastly
improved with the introduction of on-screen type entry, character and paragraph
formatting, and type warping.
Scalable type layers are
vector-based, meaning they can be scaled and edited without a loss in quality.
Some functions-such as filter effects-cannot be performed on type layers without
converting the vector data to pixels. This process is known as rendering or
rasterizing the text. Once text is rendered it is no longer scalable and
editing must be done on the pixel level.
While the type features in
Photoshop 6 have been greatly expanded, Photoshop was never meant to replace a
dedicated page layout or vector-based illustration program, so there are some
text features still not available in Photoshop-such as type that flows along a
path.
| Notes
for Version 5.0 |
| In
Photoshop 5.0, anti-aliasing for type is either on or off. You do not
have a choice of varying levels as you do in Photoshop 5.5 and up. |
The majority of type
features are quite different between Photoshop 5.x and 6.0, but one of the
things they have in common are the
anti-aliasing options. Although text within Photoshop behaves as vector
type, when the type is output, it is generally still output as raster data. (The
exception is text layers when output from Photoshop 6.0 to a PostScript device.)
Anti-aliasing blends the edges of your type so that it appears smoother.
Photoshop 5.5 and higher offers various degrees of anti-aliasing for type: none,
smooth, crisp, and strong.
- None - No
anti-aliasing. Use this option for very small text, under 10-12 points.
- Smooth - The average
setting to make text appear smoother.
- Crisp - Results in
slightly sharper edges than the the smooth option.
- Strong - Makes text
appear heavier than the smooth option.
There are also some common
typography formatting options you'll want to understand when you begin working
with the type tool in Photoshop. They are leading, kerning, and tracking.
Experienced desktop publishers and designers will probably be familiar with
these options which allow you to fine-tune the line and letter spacing of type.
We won't be discussing them in detail in this course, but you can learn more
about them with these links and resources on About's Desktop Publishing site:
Letter and
Line Spacing - Understanding and effectively using linespacing and
letterspacing. Kerning headlines. Setting leading. Using tracking.
| Tip:
If you have certain fonts that you generally only use in your Adobe
software, you can install these fonts in the Adobe font location instead
of the standard font folder for your operating system. On Windows
systems, the Adobe font folder is located in:
Program Files\Common
Files\Adobe\Fonts. On Macintosh systems, it is located in:
System Folder\Application
Support\Adobe\Fonts. Fonts installed in these locations will be
available in most recent versions of Adobe software, but they will non
be available in other applications. It's a great way to make more fonts
available to your creative applications without having them loaded along
with the operating system. |
In the lessons that
follow, you'll not only learn how to create and format text, but you'll also
begin to explore some type effects and nifty type tricks as well.
|
