The Framers Forum

Here is one to get started.

We do a fair number of mounts with lettering. I am not too familiar (yet) with Corel Draw so I like the text tool.

However, when using Arial font (Caps) there always seems to be a problem with letter spacing when an A is in the word. The next or previous letter is unevenly spaced when compared to the rest of the letters. To get over this we nudge the letter forwards or backwards until it looks right.

Anyone else noticed the same thing?

John.

Hi John
Thank you for the first real post into this section.
An interesting observation and one that I had not noticed before either. Likewise we do a lot of letter mounts.

Arial - Capitals and small letters - is not the only Font that it happens with either.

Probably one reason why I have not noticed it before is I only place a 1 (one) in the 'Character Spacing' box and hit the Green Tick.
The text is grouped so I prefer to space on the Mount with the 'Set Spacing Distance' tool and use the mouse to finalise position.

Maybe a long winded way and really no excuse but that was the way I was shown.

Not having a cmc but interested would have thought that if the software handles text it would have a kerning setting to do away with the problem of A and T and likewise letters falling together to automatically bring them together a little, perhaps the setting is in the background somewhere.

.....this was just a thought........

Ian

There's a quick and easy way that I use to fine tune text character spacing in Corel, but before I launch into it, I'll just post a quick suggestion for a default template.

Creating a Metric Template

1. Create a new Corel document.
2. Make sure your rulers are displayed (toggle display is under View menu).
3. Double click the ruler to set the defaults.
4. Set default units to millimetres, Nudge to 1, Super Nudge to 10 (1cm), and Micro Nudge to 10 (0.1 mm).
5. Save the document as a Corel Template (choice is available in File Type drop down list in the Save File dialog box), and use this as your base for new work.

Fine Tuning Text Position

1. Create a new document using your metric template.

2. Type in and size your text.

3. Select the text object, and use the "Break Apart" function to split up the text. (I think the default keyboard shortcut for this is CTRL-K, but the function is available on the Arrange menu.

Note: If there is more than one word in the text object, CTRL-K will break the original object into separate text objects. e.g. "MR & MRS" as single object will break apart into three separate "word" objects.

To break a word apart into separate letter objects, select the word and use the Break Apart function again.

4. Select the letter that you wish to move, and use the cursor keys to "nudge" it into the desired position. With the metric template settings described above, the following will give the movements.

Cursor key only - moves the letter by 1mm
SHIFT + Cursor key - moves the letter by 10mm (Super Nudge)
CTRL + Cursor key - moves the letter by 0.1mm (Micro Nudge)

It's a good idea to marquee select all the letters when finished, and use CTRL-G to group them. That way, you can move them around in the design space as a single entity.

silvercleave wrote:Not having a cmc but interested would have thought that if the software handles text it would have a kerning setting to do away with the problem of A and T and likewise letters falling together to automatically bring them together a little, perhaps the setting is in the background somewhere.

It certainly does, Ian (Text - Format Text - Paragraph - Character Spacing), but it alters the spacing between all the letters in a word, not just the 'problem' ones. It's also possible to use the Shape tool to tweak spacing with the mouse, but one doesn't have the ease of fine control that the cursor key method offers.

This just goes to point out that the Valiani software is dealing with shapes - not fonts. The subtlety in the way fonts are handled just isn't present in the software. I would think in severe cases you would have to treat the offending letter as a separate entity. Having to use Corel to create the wording is a solution - but long winded by comparison to just typing it out within the dedicated sofware. Hopefully having this new forum will prompt Valiani to look at this sort of niggling problem.