Curving Text with Photoshop (ImageReady!)
I know lots of Photoshoppers have coveted the ability PSP users have to create warped text by fitting text to a curve, so I figured I'd chime in with a vague tutorial on achieving a similiar effect in PS/IR. I don't think this has been covered in the memories -- but feel free to smack me if it has -- and I thought other Photoshoppers should know we can curve text; it's not just for PSP!
That said, I made this icon:
In ImageReady, the version that came bundled with PS7. I don't know how the ImageReady versions vary from PS to PS, so this tutorial only promises to work for Photoshop 7. Lemme know if it works with other versions?
And
Me, I do everything in ImageReady, and only use Photoshop for Brushes and when I need more control over filters and effects like "blur" and "sharpen." This strategy is not necessarily advised, because Photoshop has a good deal of features ImageReady doesn't, I just personally find ImageReady easier to use. Which is how I stumbled upon the WARP TEXT feature.
So, you make your icon in PS or IR or wherever, then come over to IR and type your text. You have your text unrasterized in a separate layer. Then, doubleclick the T in the text layer:
Which will reconfigure your menu bar at the top of the workspace to the text menu command bar. Which looks like this:
And if you'll notice the little curve on the far right, circled, that there is the "Warp Text" button. Click that, and you get a dropdown menu with a variety of effects (fisheye, bulge, etc) and some faders to set percentages. I chose the "Arc" effect, at 31 percent, for this icon:
Then, to move the text so it'd fit where I wanted it to go, between Giles and Buffy, I used Edit >> Transform >> Rotate and rotated the curved text until it was where I liked it. Dropped the opacity to give it a more muted look, and voila! Tipped text!
This icon's free to anyone who wants it, credit's nice, sharing's nice too, and let me know if there's any questions or if you've got other methods of warping text in PS/IR.
Hope this was helpful!
That said, I made this icon:
In ImageReady, the version that came bundled with PS7. I don't know how the ImageReady versions vary from PS to PS, so this tutorial only promises to work for Photoshop 7. Lemme know if it works with other versions?
And
Me, I do everything in ImageReady, and only use Photoshop for Brushes and when I need more control over filters and effects like "blur" and "sharpen." This strategy is not necessarily advised, because Photoshop has a good deal of features ImageReady doesn't, I just personally find ImageReady easier to use. Which is how I stumbled upon the WARP TEXT feature.
So, you make your icon in PS or IR or wherever, then come over to IR and type your text. You have your text unrasterized in a separate layer. Then, doubleclick the T in the text layer:
Which will reconfigure your menu bar at the top of the workspace to the text menu command bar. Which looks like this:
And if you'll notice the little curve on the far right, circled, that there is the "Warp Text" button. Click that, and you get a dropdown menu with a variety of effects (fisheye, bulge, etc) and some faders to set percentages. I chose the "Arc" effect, at 31 percent, for this icon:
Then, to move the text so it'd fit where I wanted it to go, between Giles and Buffy, I used Edit >> Transform >> Rotate and rotated the curved text until it was where I liked it. Dropped the opacity to give it a more muted look, and voila! Tipped text!
This icon's free to anyone who wants it, credit's nice, sharing's nice too, and let me know if there's any questions or if you've got other methods of warping text in PS/IR.
Hope this was helpful!