WindyDayGal Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I've been using PDN for a few years now and, needless to say, I love it.. I do a lot of graphics, though I'm hardly a professional, and I recommend PDN to all my friends.. I find it far easier to use then PSP, which boggles the mind with it's over-the-top features and complexity.. However, I do find that PDN seems very limited in it's ability to create unique text which I feel it should be able to do.. I have a good 150 fonts used for my cards and scrapbooking loaded onto my computer and I would like to be able to do more with them using PDN.. When I create a name I often overlay a couple of different colors for an outline effect but then find, when I use the magic wand tool to make the BG transparent, the edging on the letters are very ragged.. Not very attractive on a card for sure.. Why can't I place text over a transparent BG? I've tried doing this by making my first BG transparent and then try to make a second layer with my text, but it hasn't worked.. The text just disappears.. I'd also like to create transparent text that I can then overlay on a solid or textured BG and have not been able to figure out how to do this either.. I would sure appreciate any help on these 2 problems.. I do have an old copy of Microsoft's Picture It, which allows me to create some nice effects with text, but I just feel as though I could use PDN more for creating unique text if I knew what I was doing.. Thanks in advance for any help you could give me on this.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarkut Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Always put your text on transparent layers. When you overlay the text, put each new text overlay on a new layer of its own. If you copy/paste, always paste into a new layer. Don't paste into a layer with pre-existing content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ego Eram Reputo Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 This: Always put your text on transparent layers. Quote ebook: Mastering Paint.NET | resources: Plugin Index | Stereogram Tut | proud supporter of Codelab plugins: EER's Plugin Pack | Planetoid | StickMan | WhichSymbol+ | Dr Scott's Markup Renderer | CSV Filetype | dwarf horde plugins: Plugin Browser | ShapeMaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountnman Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 When I create a name I often overlay a couple of different colors for an outline effect but then find, when I use the magic wand tool to make the BG transparent, the edging on the letters are very ragged.. Not very attractive on a card for sure.. Why can't I place text over a transparent BG? I've tried doing this by making my first BG transparent and then try to make a second layer with my text, but it hasn't worked.. The text just disappears.. assuming that you have the latest version od PDn and that your comp is not totally obsolete, i dont understand why the text would vanish... you are putting the overlay colors on a different layer then setting the layer properties to overlay yes? but trying this i cant create an "outline effect" do you have an example of what you are trying to make? and this tranparent text you want to make- do you mean a semi transparent text that you can see thru? or are you wanting to 'skin' your text with the background texture? Quote SARCASM- Just one of the many services I offer free to the public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WindyDayGal Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 assuming that you have the latest version od PDn and that your comp is not totally obsolete, i dont understand why the text would vanish... you are putting the overlay colors on a different layer then setting the layer properties to overlay yes? but trying this i cant create an "outline effect" do you have an example of what you are trying to make? and this tranparent text you want to make- do you mean a semi transparent text that you can see thru? or are you wanting to 'skin' your text with the background texture? Yes, I may be old but my computer and PDN is the latest and greatest.. lol And you just solved both my problems with this one bit of information.. What I was doing was forgetting to set my first layer to transparency by un-checking the visible box.. Then I was able to add the text as my second layer and it worked beautifully.. No frayed edges this time.. Hooray! I'll play around with it now and see what I can create.. I'd love to be able to shade in more colors on the font, but I think I can do that with just using a BG of preferred colors.. Thanks all of you for your quick and timely help.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehalflifedude Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Unchecking the visible box doesn't do anything other then just that, make a layer invisble. What are you talking about? So, your problem was selecting the second layer before adding text? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountnman Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 if text is your thing, there is a whole section in the tutorials forums devoted to it Quote SARCASM- Just one of the many services I offer free to the public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WindyDayGal Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 (edited) Unchecking the visible box doesn't do anything other then just that, make a layer invisble. What are you talking about? So, your problem was selecting the second layer before adding text? Well, I just know when I tried to write text on a transparent BG the print never showed up, but after reading what Mountainman wrote, I searched for, and found, under layers, a prompt I had never used before called layer properties and there I saw that on the first BG I had 'visible' checked, so I unchecked it, added a second layer and was able to see my text.. What I had been doing was choosing a new BG, simply making it transparent and then trying to write on it, which didn't work.. See? Edited March 28, 2011 by WindyDayGal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ego Eram Reputo Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 There is a 'visible/hidden' checkbox beside each layer in the layer window. You don't need to search for it Quote ebook: Mastering Paint.NET | resources: Plugin Index | Stereogram Tut | proud supporter of Codelab plugins: EER's Plugin Pack | Planetoid | StickMan | WhichSymbol+ | Dr Scott's Markup Renderer | CSV Filetype | dwarf horde plugins: Plugin Browser | ShapeMaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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