Editing Text Basics

Use the Basics panel to edit the most common text features, such as font, size, alignment and spacing. These options are global to the entire Text object.

Note: The Basics options with gray buttons, such as Font, Style, Direction, and Small Caps, are not animatable. The Basics options with sliders, such as Font Size, Baseline and Tracking, are animateable.

Font

Selects the font for the text object from the Font list or the Font Browser.

Font List

Selects a font from the Font list. The list shows all the fonts installed on your workstation in alphabetical order. The font at the top of the list is the default.

You can use the "type-ahead" feature when selecting a font from the Font list. After you click to open the list, start typing the first few letters of a font name. The list automatically scrolls to the place where that font is.

If you pause between letters, you reset the type-ahead feature. For example, if you type "Ti" quickly, the list shows "Times". If you pause, the list first shows Times for "T", then shows Impact for "I" (or a font that starts with "H" if no "I" fonts are installed).

The list also has a scroll bar, and it scrolls automatically as you drag down the list.

Font Browser

Opens the Font Browser dialog. The Font Browser displays thumbnails of the available fonts on your workstation. Click a font thumbnail to select that font.

When Preview is enabled, the selected text object (in the viewport) is displayed in the font selected in the Font Browser.

Note: Since the Font Browser dialog appears in the center of the viewport, move the dialog so you can view the text in the viewport when selecting a font.

To change the font size displayed in the thumbnails, enter a value in the Font Size field. To preview specific letters or words, type in the Text field.

The text entered in the Text field appears in the browser thumbnails.

Style

Selects the style variations specific to the selected font. The list also includes the "faux" Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic options (depending on the font).

Align

Sets the alignment for the selected text block. The Align options correspond to the character Direction settings. For text with horizontal character Direction (Left to Right or Right to Left), the Align options are Left, Right, Center, and Distribute.

For text with vertical character Direction (Top to Bottom or Bottom to Top), the Align options are Top, Center, Bottom and Distribute.

Direction

Determines the direction of a line of text. Normally used for languages such as Arabic or Japanese, Direction can also be used for special typographic effects. The Direction options are Left to Right, Right to Left, Top to Bottom, and Bottom to Top.

Lines

Determines the direction of the lines of text. The available line direction options are dependent on the selected character direction. When Direction is set to Left to Right or Right to Left, the Lines options are Top to Bottom or Bottom to Top. When Direction is set to Top to Bottom or Bottom to Top, the Lines options are Left to Right and Right to Left.

Auto Kerning

Enable to use the built-in kerning for the character pairs of the chosen font.

Monospace

Enable to use a fixed amount of space between each text character.

Font Size

Sets the font size. Enter a size directly in the field, or scrub the field to change the font size.

Small Caps

Enable to force the selected text to display in all uppercase. A smaller font size is used for lowercase characters.

Size

Use when Small Caps is enabled to determine the size of the small caps font. The default size is 80% of the initial uppercase characters.

Baseline

Use to adjust the baseline of the characters.

Leading

Use to control the spacing between lines of text.

Tracking

Use to control the spacing between characters in a Text object.

Slant

Adds a slant to the characters to simulate italics.

Kerning

Determines the spacing between individual characters when Auto Kerning is disabled.

Note: Whereas Tracking determines spacing between all characters in a text object, kerning determines the spacing between two adjacent characters.

Adjusting Kerning

Since the default kerning of most fonts requires adjustment (because the space between the pairs of characters is uneven), you can kern the individual characters of a text object.

To adjust kerning for individual letters, do one of the following:

• In the Text Editor, place the cursor between the characters you want to kern, and scrub in the Kerning value field.
• In the Toolbar (F2), click the Text tool . In the text box in the viewport, place the cursor between the characters you want to kern, and scrub in the Kerning value field.

To manually adjust kerning for individual letters:

1. Select the Text object.
2. In the Toolbar (F2), click the Text tool .

The text box appears in the viewport.

3. Use the Left Arrow and Right Arrow to move the cursor between the text characters.
4. When the cursor is between the characters you want to kern, press Ctrl and:
• Press the Left Arrow to reduce the spacing between the characters one pixel at a time.
• Press the Right Arrow to increase the spacing by one pixel at a time.

Note: You can also adjust the leading of the individual letters by pressing the Ctrl+Up Arrow or Down Arrow.