STEP 1
Opening Notes: In this tutorial, I will often give keyboard shortcuts for activating tools or commands. These shortcuts save a lot of time, and I use them constantly! When I give keyboard shortcuts, they will follow the tool or command names, and will be in parentheses.
For simplicity and clarity, the bounding boxes have been omitted from most of the screenshots of vector objects in this tutorial!
Lastly, in this tutorial, I make the assumption that all vector objects are drawn from the top left to the bottom right! You really don't have to draw them like that, but if you do, things will be a bit simpler. So let's draw them from top left to bottom right:
When one talks about placing text on a curve, whether it be an ellipse or a circle, there are 4 possible places for the text. Here are those 4 locations, with an example of each:
Text on top,
outside curve |
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Text on top,
inside curve |
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Text on bottom,
inside curve |
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Text on bottom,
outside curve |
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With lines, the text can either go above the line, which corresponds to text above the ellipse, or below the line, which actually corresponds to text on top, inside the curve!
Note: Though all the examples in this tutorial use ellipses, circles, and rounded curves, you are not restricted to round shapes when writing text on a curve. Everything in this tutorial works just the same on angled lines and other shapes, as long as they are vectors!
So, let's learn how to do each of these!
STEP 2
Let's start by adding text to the top outside of a vector curve. Open a new transparent image 300 x 300 pixels. Set the foreground style to solid, the background style to null. Set the foreground color to whatever you want to use for the ellipse, and the background color to what you want to use for the text. I used dark blue for my ellipse, and black for the text.
Draw an ellipse using the Preset Shapes tool (/) with the following settings:
Shape Type (Ellipse), Retain style UNchecked, Create as vector CHECKED,
Antialias CHECKED, Line width (1), Line style (#1 Solid)
Once you've drawn your ellipse, choose Objects...Align...Center in Canvas to center the ellipse. Alternately, activate the Object Selector 
tool (Q), right-click on the ellipse, and choose Align Object...Center in Canvas from the context menu.
Here's my ellipse:
Set the background style to solid. Activate the Text tool (X) and move your cursor to the curve - notice that it changes to the Curved Text cursor
as you touch the line, signifying you are about to write text on the curve! Click on the curve to bring up the Text Entry dialog box:
Choose the font Name (1) and Size (2) for your text. For this tutorial, I chose the Flubber font, Size = 24. Make sure that the Kerning (3) and Leading (4) are both set to 0, and click the Center Alignment button (5) to center your text.
Notes on Alignment: With text aligned on a vector shape, left-justified text is centered on the midpoint of the left or left side of the shape, center-justified (or centered) text is centered about the midpoint of the top or upper side of the shape, and right-justified text is centered on the midpoint of the right or right side of the shape, as illustrated below:
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Left-
Justified |
Center-
Justified |
Right-
Justified |
On a closed path (shape), if the text is longer than the existing closed path, the extra text wraps around itself:
On an open path, if the text is longer than the path, the extra text hangs from the end. The angle of the last segment determines the direction it hangs - it just sort of continues in the direction of the curve:
In the "Create as:" panel, choose Vector as your text mode (6), and be sure the Antialias check box (7) is also selected. Type your text into the text entry box (8).
You have the option of making text aligned on a shape either vector or floating, but there are several advantages to using vector text! For one thing, you can easily change its properties, including size, style (color, pattern, or gradient), line thickness and type, etc., without re-creating the text! You can even change its position relative to the path or curve! We'll get to this later.
Let's type in some text, so we can see some other advantages of using vector text! I typed "PSP is fun!":
Because I used vector text, if I now decide I want to change the color or style of the text, I can access the Vector Properties dialog box and make the changes. One way to do this (see the Glossary for other ways) is to select the text using the Object Selector tool (Q), click on the Properties button in the Tool Options palette, and make the changes! No need to delete the text and do it over in the new colors!
I think this text is too large, and I want to make it smaller! All I have to do is activate the Text tool (X), bring the cursor over the text until it changes into the Edit Vector Text cursor
, click on the text, and up pops the Text Edit dialog! Now I'll change the size of the text to 16. Oh, yes, that's much better!
Note: Another way to open the Text Edit dialog box for vector text is to expand the vector layer on the Layer palette by clicking the plus sign to the left of the layer button. Then double-click the text Layer Name button, and the Text Entry dialog box opens with the current settings for the text.
Personally, I find using the Edit Vector Text cursor more efficient! Just remember to hover your cursor over the text until it changes into the Edit Vector Text cursor - otherwise, you'll be adding a new line of text!
Suppose you decide the shape of the ellipse is not just right, and you want it to be narrower and taller! Just select the ellipse with the Object Selector tool (Q) and adjust its shape by pulling/pushing the handles on the bounding box:
And notice that the text shape is adjusted right along with the curve - no need to do it over again! With non-vector text, this does not happen. If you change the shape of the curve, you will have to do the text over!
Now the letters in the word "fun" look a little too close together! We can fix that! Activate the Text tool (X) again, bring your cursor over the text, and when it changes into the Edit Vector Text cursor, click on the text. In the Text Entry dialog, we can adjust the Kerning, which specifies the distance between individual letters of text.
Note: Kerning is measured in 1/1000th of an em - an em being the width of the letter "m". Thus, kerning adjustments are font-dependent, and are determined by the font size! Not just trivia!
We initially set kerning at 0 before we typed in the text. Let's select just the last word (with the exclamation point) in the text by highlighting it in the text box:
Because kerning and leading changes are not reflected in the text box, you will need to move your Text Entry dialog screen to the side so you can see the changes in your image on the workspace. Enable Auto Proof by clicking on the Auto Proof 
button (in lower left corner of dialog panel next to Proof button).
Now watch the letters in the word "fun" as you change the kerning to about 30 - or more, as needed! Isn't this neat! Once you have what you want, click OK. Here's mine:
When you've made all the adjustments you think you'll need to your text, and you want to make additional enhancements using other PSP or plugin effects, just convert the layer to raster, and have at it! If all you want is a drop shadow, check out Tips & Tricks for adding a drop shadow to a vector object!
Note: Bear in mind that the text and curve share the same layer when you use vector text for text on a curve, so you'll be converting the entire layer to raster, not just the text! Be sure to hide the curve BEFORE you convert the layer to raster, if you want it to be invisible! If you convert the layer with the curve still visible, it's there to stay!
Instead of converting the text/curve layer to raster, you can duplicate the vector layer and convert the duplicate layer to raster, applying the effects on the duplicate layer! Then you still have the vector layer should you need further adjustments! I always save my images in PSP format with the original vector layers hidden, just in case...!!!
And there you have the essentials of writing text on a curve!
STEP 3
Now let's move on to placing that text at another location! The easiest one to show you is text in position 2 on the original list - that is, text at the top of the curve, but just below the curve line. I'm starting out with the text from the last step, and I'll move it below the line! This is really very simple - we can do it by merely adjusting the Leading parameter in the Text Entry dialog.
Note: Leading (pronounced "ledding" - just a bit of trivia!!) specifies the amount of vertical space between lines of text, and is measured in either positive or negative points.
By adjusting the leading value, we can effectively move our text either up or down! In this case, we want to move it down, so activate the Text tool, click on the text, and let's see what happens when we make these adjustments! I changed my leading value to 13, which moved the text just below the curve:
With a Leading value of 10, the top edge of the lower case letters was just below the curve, which might be what you want. You'll have to experiment with your text until you get it just where you want it! Again, working with Auto Proof enabled, and your dialog box positioned so you can see the changes on your canvas, helps tremendously!
Note: Use positive leading values to place text below the path, and negative values to place text above the path.
You might notice the letters have become a bit crowded, so click on the text again, and this time, adjust the Kerning to space them out a bit better. I changed my kerning to 194 for the whole line, and then further adjusted kerning on the last word to 254:
Suppose you need text both above and below the curve! A single curve can only support one text line! If you need other text above the line, just duplicate the layer you have, adjust the leading on the duplicate layer back to 0, or perhaps even to -5 (negative 5) to leave some space between the lines. I also adjusted the kerning back to 0, as I didn't need all that extra space between letters, and changed the text to "Let's do graphics!":
Another way of getting a second curve for the 2nd line of text is to highlight the ellipse sublayer in the Layer palette (or select the ellipse with the Object Selector tool), right-click, and choose Copy, then right-click again and choose Paste New Vector Selection. You can do this either on the Layer palette, or on the image - either way works! The new ellipse is "stuck" to your cursor now! Move it over the first ellipse and click to drop it in place!
To get the 2nd ellipse positioned EXACTLY over the first, activate the 2 ellipse sublayers in the Layer palette, holding down the SHIFT key. Now choose Objects...Align...Center in Canvas.
If your first ellipse is not in the center of the canvas, and you don't want it moved to the center, you can still align the 2 ellipses perfectly! Choose Objects...Align...Vertical Center, and then choose Objects...Align...Horizontal Center, and they're lined up perfectly!
Note: The first object you select becomes the "target" image - the other objects move until their edges or centers are aligned to the edges or centers of the target! So, be careful which sublayer you select first when you activate the ellipse sublayers! Of course, there's always the UNDO function if you get it wrong!
Now, with the second ellipse selected, add your text!
You might be thinking you could have created this effect more simply just by typing 2 lines of text originally! But, no, this won't work with text on a curve! You can only type one line of text per curve! Try it, and you'll see!
STEP 4
Now let's learn how to get that text to the bottom of the curve, either inside or outside the curve. By now you know that if you can get it down there, you can adjust it using leading, right! But how do we get it down there? Let's use the same image as we've been using right along. Delete all but the original layer with the ellipse on it, and delete the text sublayer from that layer as well! You should have only the original ellipse visible now. I'm going to show you 2 ways to set the curve up so the text displays along the bottom of the curve, above the curved line.
Here's the easiest way - just flip your ellipse! That's right, just choose Image...Flip! Now, activate the Text tool again, click on the curve, and type in your text, remembering to reset both Kerning and Leading to 0! This time I typed in "Text on bottom!":
Oh, dear, this does look weird, doesn't it! Not to worry - just select the text, flip it, and then mirror it, and voila - its readable!
Looks like it needs some adjustment in kerning, but it's where we want it!
To move the text below the curve - you guessed it - just adjust the Leading parameter! I used a leading value of 13 to get this:
The second - and perhaps more sophisticated - way to get text on the bottom of a curve is to reverse the contour of the curve (instead of flipping it) before applying the text. To do this, enter node edit on the curve, select any of the nodes, right-click to get the context menu, and choose Edit...Reverse Contour (CTRL + R). Notice that when you do this, the direction of the node handles reverses:
Exit node edit after reversing the contour of the curve, add your text, resetting kerning and leading to 0, and then flip and mirror the text as before!
STEP 5
That just about covers everything, except what to do when you have the text already there, and you decide you need to get that text formatted along a curve. Do you need to delete the text and start all over with a shape, to which you add the text? Not if you've been using vector text!
Let's look at an example! Suppose I have this text, and I'd like it to follow the shape that's below it:
No problem! Since both the text and curve are vector objects! Press the SHIFT key, and using the Object Selector tool, click on both the text and the curve to group them:
Now choose Objects...Fit Text to Path (or right-click on the group and choose Fit Text to Path from the context menu), and look what happens!
Amazing, isn't it! Now with some adjustments to the kerning in the word "cherries", we've got it!
Note:The text will be oriented on the curve as it was when you originally created it - left-, center-, or right-justified. But you know how to change that, really easily, right!!!
Should you decide to retain the curve as part of the design, use a small negative leading value to raise the text above the line. In this image, I used a leading value of negative 5, widened the curve, and applied a kerning value of 169 to the word "cherries":
STEP 6
That just about does it for text on a curve! There are other things you can do with the text itself, but those adjustments involve vector editing, and are beyond the scope of this tutorial! But there is one more thing you might want to do that involves curves and text.
Suppose you want to add text to a vector shape, but you don't want it to run around the shape! If you try to add the text, your cursor automatically converts to the Curved Text cursor. But if you activate the Text tool (X) and press the ALT key while selecting the location for your text, you won't get the Curved Text cursor and you can add text that will run straight over, not around, the shape!
For instance, if I attempt to add text starting in the center of this shape, my cursor converts to the Curved Text cursor:
But if I press the ALT key while hovering over the shape, I can enter regular "straight" text:
Who knows, maybe this fact will come in handy one day!!!
That's about it! I won't even attempt to summarize, as this tutorial contains a wealth of information! Hope you've discovered the wonderful flexibility, simplicity, and variety writing text on a path offers!
If you have any problems, comments, or questions, please do not hesitate to Email me.
