Setting Text on a Curve
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Setting Text on a Curve
From The Painter 7 Wow! Book, by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis
Overview Set the text; choose a Curve Style; use the Shape Selection tool to finesse the length and shape of the path; adjust the text on the path.
It's a snap to set text on a curve in Painter. The Text controls in Painter 7 allow you to create a Bézier path for the type baseline right in the image window. Here's a quick method, applied to a comp for an advertising layout.
1 Setting the type and applying it to a curve. For this technique you can begin with a new blank image, or start with a photo, as we did. Choose the Text tool in the Tools palette and open the Text section of the Objects palette by clicking the left triangle on the Text section bar. In the Text section of the Objects palette, choose a font and size and set your type. We chose the typeface Sand, because its organic shape and playful feel would work well with the Curve Stretch curve style we planned to use.
Figure 1a We set type using the Sand font and used the Tracking slider to tighten letterspacing.
Click on the Curve Stretch button in the Text section and you'll see the text curving around the baseline of a newly generated path in your image. The Curve Stretch curve style distorts the letters to fit the spaces in the curve. The slight distortion added to the ripply underwater effect. To reposition the text layer on the image, use the Layer Adjuster tool.
Figure 1b Choosing the Curve Stretch style
2 Adjusting the path. To change the shape of the path, choose the Shape Selection tool in the Tools palette (it's the hollow arrow that's nested under the Layer Adjuster), select the text layer in the Layers section of the Objects palette and click on an end point. Pull on the end point to lengthen the path. To change the shape of the curve, drag a control handle in the direction that you want the curve to go. As you manipulate the path, aim for gentle curves so the type will þow smoothly.
Figure 2a Using the Shape Selection tool to pull an end point, and lengthen the curve
To add more anchor points (for instance, to make a gentle wavy line, like we did), choose the Add Point tool in the Tools palette and click the baseline curve. To remove a point, choose the Delete Point tool in the Tools palette and click the anchor point. Use the control handles on each anchor point to finesse the curve. To adjust the position of the text on the path, use the Centering slider in the Text section. We set Centering at 2%.
Figure 2b With two more points added, the curve is taking shape.