Sometimes you want to create a mat for your individual letters or for your welded words. With Inkscape is very easy! Just do the following:
- Type your text.
- Go to Outline View: View, Display Mode, Outline.
- Click on Edit, Duplicate.
- Click on Path, Outset. Viola! you have a mat. You can repeat the process as many times as you want if you want the mat bigger.
- Now your mat is going to be in front of the original word. So, you need to click on it to select it and choose Object, Lower to Bottom.
Congratulations! You did it!
Tags: How to Make a Mat for your Letters or Welded Phrases with Inkscape
Sometimes you want to see all the characters from different fonts without opening each font. One option is to use Character Map, which enables you to view the characters that are available in a selected font.
Using Character Map, you can copy individual characters or a group of characters to the Clipboard and paste them into any program with the Paste command.
Where do you find Character Map?
Click on the Start Button or the Orb if you have Vista. Then, choose Accessories, System Tools and Character Map.
Tags: Add new tag, character map, fonts
Everybody knows that I love fonts and I like to collect them. The internet is a great source for downloading fonts. Resist the temptation to download the thousands available. But, when you find one that you like, follow these easy steps to install them:
- From the web site where you found the font, click on the Download button for the specific font.
- Save the font to a designated file that you can create and call Downloaded Fonts. You can create this file in any location, even on the Desktop.
- Right-click on the folder that contains the font and select Extract All.
- A new folder is going to be created automatically with the same name as the original zipped folder. Click on that folder and look for the file that contains the font. Right-click on it. Select Install.
- Now your font is installed and ready to use.
- You can delete the .zip file.
Another way to install a new font is:
- From the web site where you found the font, click on the Download button for the specific font.
- Save the font to a designated file that you can create and call Downloaded Fonts. You can create this file in any location, even on the Desktop.
- Right-click on the folder that contains the font and select Extract All.
- Press the Start button.
- Choose Control Panel.
- Choose Appearance and Themes (for Windows XP) or Personalization (for Windows Vista).
- Choose Fonts.
- Open the File menu, and choose Install New Font.
- Locate the folder that contains the saved font file(s).
- Select the font(s) that you want to install, and select Install.
- The font(s) is now installed and ready for your use.
Tags: download fonts from the internet, how to install fonts in my computer
Layer styles are a great way to put some cool effects on shapes, text or any graphic. In order to add a style to your layer, follow these steps:
- Click on the layer where the text or graphic is located.
- Click the Add a layer style button at the bottom of the Layers Palette, it’s the second icon and looks like an fx. When you click on that button, you are going to see a menu with the different styles available. Click on the one of your preference.
OR
- Click the Layer menu, Layer Style and click on the style.
This is a list of the different styles with the description of each one.
|
Layer Style |
Description |
|
Drop Shadow |
Adds a shadow behind the layer. |
|
Inner Shadow |
Adds a shadow inside the edges of the layer. |
|
Outer Glow |
Adds a glow outside of the layer. |
|
Inner Glow |
Adds a glow inside of the layer. |
|
Bevel and Emboss |
Adds depth by adding shadows and highlights. |
|
Satin |
Adds shading to the interior of a layer that reacts to the shape of the layer. |
|
Color Overlay |
Adds a color overlay to the layer. |
|
Gradient Overlay |
Adds a gradient overlay to the layer. |
|
Pattern Overlay |
Adds a pattern overlay to the layer. |
|
Stroke |
Outlines the object on the current layer. |
Now, it’s time to play around with different styles. If you like what you can achieve with these styles, you can download different ones from the Internet; just search for Photoshop styles and you will find many for free.
The extension for the style files are .asl and once you download them, you have to put them under the Preset, Styles in your Photoshop folder.
Then go to your Styles palette and Load Styles to access them. Once they are loaded, you are going to be able to access them any time.
Tags: layer styles in photoshop, layers, photoshop
If you want to rotate one or more characters using Inkscape, the square bracket is the solution.
- Write your text.
- Select the character/s you want to rotate.
- Press Alt and [ or Alt and ] to rotate the character/s.
Viola!
Check out this video, Amazing Grace performed by Il Divo. Just click on the link and enjoy it!
Tags: amazing grace, il divo
Ok, now you want to move or adjust the space between characters. Remember, the ALT key is the key.
Position your cursor between the characters whose spacing you want to modify. Then, press Alt+Left Arrow or Alt+Right Arrow, depending on if you want to decrease or increase the space in between.
To move to the next letter, just press the arrow key and apply the new space.
Digital designers use this multiple times because it makes your design look more professional and different from any other.
Tags: manual kerning using inkscape, moving letters using inkscape, type and inkscape
If you want to combine text and any shape so they look like one, follow these steps:
- Type your text. Any kind of font would work, but I prefer a thicker one. As I always say, experiment!
- Click on Path and select Object to Path. Now your text is a path and you can see it as an outline.
- Draw any shape that you want: a star, flower or anything that you can create.
Copy and Paste, Resize or change the shape if you want to use it more than once. - Select the shape/s and position it over the letter/s.
- Select the text and the shapes, everything that you want to combine.
- Click on Path, and choose Union.
- The shapes are going to be part of the letters.
- If you make a mistake, use Ctrl+Z to undo and start again.
This is easy to do and you can apply it to so many different shape combinations, not just with fonts.
Tags: Inkscape, Inkscape tutorial, text and shapes using inkscape
If you want to move one or more characters upwards or downwards from their position, follow these steps:
- Create your text.
- Select or highlight the character you want to move.
- Press Alt+up arrow or Alt+down arrow to move your character up or dowm from the baseline.
According to the Inkscape website www.inkscape.org, the new release of Inkscape is going to be on June 15, 2009. I can’t wait to upload it to my computer and start playing with it.
This new release is going to bring new and improved tools. Imagine creating swirls and controlling the size of the brushes in a more flowing way!
Tags: Inkscape new release
