Stylize Text

Stylize Text

This submenu is used to apply special effects to text graphics.

Bezier and Punch will change the text graphic to a special group of Bezier Paths. After the conversion the graphic will still looks like text. But the converted graphic is not text and may not be edited as text. So you want to complete all revisions of wording and spell checking before applying these special effects.

Reverse, outline and stroke effects are text effects that are applied directly to the text. Text editing is still possible after these conversions are applied. Undo will return the original text, however the new graphic may not be converted back to the original text.

The colors and style attributes used with the Outline and Stroke special effects are accessed on the graphic details Inspector , on the Style Tab. The effects may be applied directly from the Graphic Details Inspector or from these menu commands.

The Normal menu command will return stylized text to the normal state, black solid letters. This does not apply to text that has been converted to Bezier paths with the Bezier or Punch menu command.

The Punch command will create a black background and punch the text letters out of the background. The punched text is in effect a clear or voided area of the background and allows other graphics behind the text to be visible through the text. The result is a Join Group with an Even-Odd winding rule. Follow the highlighted links to learn more about the punching technique.

The Reverse menu command will convert the text to white letters on a black background. The background color may be changed using the Style palette fill color. The text color may be changed with the Color Well or on the Graphic Details Inspector.

The Bezier menu command will convert the text to a group of Bezier paths. Details of this process are provided on the Outline Text help page. This command converts the individual text glyphs (characters) to Bezier paths and forms a Group with these paths.

The Outline command changes the style of the text to apply a black outline stroke and white fill to the individual paths. Unlike the Bezier command, the text remains a text graphic capable of editing, spell checking and other text actions. The stroke width and color of the text may be changed using the Font Palette or Graphic details Inspector.

The Stroke command is similar to the Outline command, except that different colors are used for the stroke and fill of the text.

The Bezier or Punch text conversions may be ungrouped to work with the individual paths. If the group is reformed, the Join form of the group is required for the Punch effect, and the even-odd winding rule must be applied to achieve this effect.

The graphic details Inspector - style tab provides access to the effects as applied to the conversions that do not convert the text to Bezier paths, Reverse, Outline, and Stroke.

Text graphics accept Fill, Stroke, and Gradient Fill (or Shade) effects. These may be applied to any Text Graphic, it is not necessary to perform one of these conversions to apply these effects.

Colors other than black may be applied to any Text Graphic. The text does not need to be converted using these commands in order to change the text color. The system color picker is used to directly change text color of any selected editing text.

The Punch and Bezier groups are formed with Fixed Group Edit state. This allows resizing of the group. The Group Edit state may be changed (perhaps to Solid Group Edit) using the Graphic Details Inspector.