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About formatting options


    You can adjust the following formatting options for text:

    Font

    Specifies the complete set of characters--letters, numbers, or symbols--that share a common weight, width, and style. When you select a font, you can select the font family and its type style independently. The font family is a collection of fonts sharing an overall typeface design. A type style is a variant version of an individual font in the font family (for example, regular, bold, italic). The range of available type styles varies with each font.

    If a font doesn't include the style you want, you can apply faux (fake) versions of bold and italic. A faux font is a computer-generated version of a font that approximates an alternative typeface design, used only if no corresponding font for a given faux treatment is available.

    Size

    Determines how large the text appears in the image. The default unit of measurement for text is points, which is approximately 1/72 of an inch in a 72 pixels per inch (ppi) image.

    The physical size of the font depends on the resolution of the image. For instance, 72-point text is approximately 1-inch high in an image that is 72 dots per inch (dpi). Higher resolutions reduce the effective size of a given text point size because the pixels are packed tighter in higher resolution images.

    Outlining

    Displays text as an outlined, rather than filled, object. The Outline option works with vector (TrueType® or PostScript®) fonts only, not bitmap (screen) fonts. If you select a bitmap font, this option is disabled.

    Leading

    Specifies the spacing between adjacent baselines. It is measured as a percentage of the point size.

    Tracking

    Applies uniform spacing between characters in the text object.

    Positive tracking values move characters apart; negative values move characters together. Tracking values are measured in units that are 1/100 of an em space. The width of an em space is equal to the width of the lowercase letter "m" in the current font and text size.

    20-point text
    20-point text
    20-point text with 200% leading and a tracking value of 40
    20-point text with 200% leading and a tracking value of 40

    Alignment

    Controls the orientation of characters and lines of text. Horizontal orients characters next to each other, with each new line below the previous one. Vertical orients characters in a vertical line in a composition. Alignment affects all text in a text flow--you cannot align some characters, but not others.

    Baseline Shift

    Sets the amount a character is offset from the baseline.

    Kerning

    Sets the space between specific letter pairs. You can adjust this to increase or reduce the space between selected letters. Kerning is available only when you are editing inline text.

    Anti-Alias

    Smooths text by partially filling the edge pixels. As a result, the edges of the text blend into the background. Anti-aliasing can make small text sizes appear more readable when viewed online. Text in LiveMotion is automatically anti-aliased.

    TipWhen creating text for online use, consider using larger text than you would for printed works. Because the resolution of monitors is low, larger text can be easier to view online.