Consistent titles in v.5

[alrobin]

I just spent several hours importing and resizing titles from Photoshop into an Introduction show, and having to resize each one in order to place them properly onto the main slide. This is the effect I was getting:

The problem was that even though all title images were the same height, all were of varying widths, so were "fitted" to the main slide as different sizes in O&A.

I had completely forgoten about the "Original" setting, which would have saved me considerable time and effort:

As long as the titles are placed as "children" of the main slide, and as long as it is made to "fit to slide", the titles themselves will remain consistently scaled onto the main image.

I'm posting this just in case someone else out there is experiencing the same problem.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Al,

Excellent tip! Just a clarification. The "text" must be a png or "rasterized to PNG" or you won't get the "mode" indication. That is if you just choose "add text" you can't see the "mode" choice when highlighting the child "text".

Best regards,

Lin

I just spent several hours importing and resizing titles from Photoshop into an Introduction show, and having to resize each one in order to place them properly onto the main slide. This is the effect I was getting:

The problem was that even though all title images were the same height, all were of varying widths, so were "fitted" to the main slide as different sizes in O&A.

I had completely forgoten about the "Original" setting, which would have saved me considerable time and effort:

As long as the titles are placed as "children" of the main slide, and as long as it is made to "fit to slide", the titles themselves will remain consistently scaled onto the main image.

I'm posting this just in case someone else out there is experiencing the same problem.

[alrobin]

Excellent tip! Just a clarification. The "text" must be a png or "rasterized to PNG" or you won't get the "mode" indication. That is if you just choose "add text" you can't see the "mode" choice when highlighting the child "text".

Lin,

Just a further clarification. The text files are transparent "GIF's", so they are treated just like "normal" files - not text, per se.

[Igor]

Al,

Thank you!

I only would like to recommend use only PNG for text. Because high quality text has smooth edges and only 32-bit PNG image can keep partially semi-transparent edges of a text.

Transparent GIF is a very limited storage for a text and it gives such artefacts as aliasing on edges, especially noticable when you use animation.

[jevans]

You two have me puzzled. In the first instance, Al is preparing text in Photoshop and presumably importing the resultant png file into a PTE image. In this case "text" is not being added but an image and the ability to rasterize the "text" is not valid or available. If you create text in Photoshop to add to an exiting image, you should create a blank transparent image in Photoshop which has the same pixel dimensions as the image you are going to add it to. You then create the text and size it to your required size. Next you save as a png - keeping the ORIGINAL pixel dimensions - do NOT crop. Now if you add the text image as a child to the main image, the text will be the same size and in the right place and any changes to the main image in the O&A window will apply to the text as well.

Lin - if you use the "add text" function in the O&A window, you can of course rasterize it. But added as a child to the main image, only some of the properties of the main image (e.g. pzr) are imherited, opacity is not.

AL - Why are you creating text in Photoshop instead of just using the text function in the O&A window. Then you can size and position it to whatever you want. Admittedly the text function is somewhat limited compared to Photoshop but it is a much quicker action.

Jeff

[Lin Evans]

You two have me puzzled. In the first instance, Al is preparing text in Photoshop and presumably importing the resultant png file into a PTE image. In this case "text" is not being added but an image and the ability to rasterize the "text" is not valid or available. If you create text in Photoshop to add to an exiting image, you should create a blank transparent image in Photoshop which has the same pixel dimensions as the image you are going to add it to. You then create the text and size it to your required size. Next you save as a png - keeping the ORIGINAL pixel dimensions - do NOT crop. Now if you add the text image as a child to the main image, the text will be the same size and in the right place and any changes to the main image in the O&A window will apply to the text as well.

Lin - if you use the "add text" function in the O&A window, you can of course rasterize it. But added as a child to the main image, only some of the properties of the main image (e.g. pzr) are imherited, opacity is not.

Right - it's good to not have opacity inherited because one would assume that the text might not "stay" for the full duration of the slide and setting a fade via opacity would be useful.

AL - Why are you creating text in Photoshop instead of just using the text function in the O&A window. Then you can size and position it to whatever you want. Admittedly the text function is somewhat limited compared to Photoshop but it is a much quicker action.

If you use the text function in the O&A window without the text being imported as an "object" then you don't have the ability to set the "mode" for the text as an independent object. If you try this - create text in the O&A and look for the "mode" feature you won't find it. But create the text and rasterize it as PNG or create it in Photoshop, etc., as a PNG then import it as a child and you have the "mode" feature to assign it the desired attributes per Al's original post.

Best regards,

Lin

Jeff

[alrobin]

You two have me puzzled. In the first instance, Al is preparing text in Photoshop and presumably importing the resultant png file into a PTE image. In this case "text" is not being added but an image and the ability to rasterize the "text" is not valid or available. If you create text in Photoshop to add to an exiting image, you should create a blank transparent image in Photoshop which has the same pixel dimensions as the image you are going to add it to. You then create the text and size it to your required size. Next you save as a png - keeping the ORIGINAL pixel dimensions - do NOT crop. Now if you add the text image as a child to the main image, the text will be the same size and in the right place and any changes to the main image in the O&A window will apply to the text as well.

Not quite - only if you choose the "original" mode - otherwise the size of the text is affected by the size of the image, which may not be the same for all labels being added. Of course if you keep the image size the same when you are adding text and saving the files, the labels will all be the same size when imported into O&A - however, they may not be the size that you want (as per my example in a previous post), so the best way to import them may be to use the "original" mode option. Otherwise you may have to resize them in O&A, which, if you have a lot of labels in a tight space, could be messy.

............... AL - Why are you creating text in Photoshop instead of just using the text function in the O&A window. Then you can size and position it to whatever you want. Admittedly the text function is somewhat limited compared to Photoshop but it is a much quicker action.

Right, that's why. I'm not worried about the speed of the action - only the ability to obtain the text font and characteristics that I want, and to ensure that these will be the same for all viewers. I prefer to "rasterize" in Photoshop where I have more options and more control.

[alrobin]

I only would like to recommend use only PNG for text. Because high quality text has smooth edges and only 32-bit PNG image can keep partially semi-transparent edges of a text.

Transparent GIF is a very limited storage for a text and it gives such artefacts as aliasing on edges, especially noticable when you use animation.

Igor, would you please make up your mind - I remember one time you recommending that I use "GIF's" instead of jpegs for my PTE tutorial - now you're recommending "PNG's" instead!

But, all kidding aside, you are right, as usual - I should have saved them as "PNG" files, as that way I would have avoided all the little bits of fluff on the edges. However, in my actual application I had a very light background, which blended in with most of the light artifacts. And, I also wanted to keep the file sizes small and still be able to use my preferred fonts and blending options.

[jevans]

Not quite - only if you choose the "original" mode - otherwise the size of the text is affected by the size of the image, which may not be the same for all labels being added. Of course if you keep the image size the same when you are adding text and saving the files, the labels will all be the same size when imported into O&A - however, they may not be the size that you want (as per my example in a previous post), so the best way to import them may be to use the "original" mode option. Otherwise you may have to resize them in O&A, which, if you have a lot of labels in a tight space, could be messy.

Al, I am sure we both know what is happening so this is not an attempt to prolong the argument. However I think it does not matter which mode you use as long as it is the same for the image and the text. Your post started with the point that you had different sizes of text from Photoshop and I wondered whether you were adding text produced from different size original masters. I have been caught out with this before. You make up some text and produce an image with a certain pixel dimensions and then, later, produce some more text but with a changed pixel size. although you may have used the same font size, then end result will be a different size of text.

Jeff

[alrobin]

....I have been caught out with this before. You make up some text and produce an image with a certain pixel dimensions and then, later, produce some more text but with a changed pixel size. although you may have used the same font size, then end result will be a different size of text.

Precisely! I used exactly the same height for each title file, and exactly the same font. The lengths were different because there were more letters in some titles than in others. Importing these into O&A produced some wildly different results due to the "fit to screen" option. If I had made each file the same length as well, all results would have been consistent - consistently too large for them all to fit on the screen. However, choosing "original" mode solves the problem.

[jevans]

Lin,

Re inserted child text not adopting the same parameters as its parent, I understand your comment about the need to vary opacity, but it seems a little illogical that the O&A "text" object is the only one that does not inherit opacity from its parent. All other objects, including the rectangle and button objects inherit all parent parameters. There is no problem in this, it just does not seem logical to me.

Jeff