>>>Text Effects for Small Basic Fonts<<<

[RBClarke]

Hello All,

 

I am brand new to using paint.net. Prior to this the ONLY program I have ever used for any kind of drawing or image editing is Microsoft Paint. Your program came highly recommended by the staff at www.dominating12.com for making new maps. That website is for playing an online game most closely associated to the board game RISK.

 

Anyway on that site, users are encouraged to create and submit maps for the site to use. However, they mush be high quality in design and appearance. So as you can see, Microsoft Paint would not be sufficient for producing high quality images.

 

I AM SO IMPRESSED WITH YOUR PRODUCT!!! It has not been too difficult to use and there are plenty of tutorial on here and on YouTube when I get stuck.

 

Now here is my question: I have browsed the "TEXT EFFECTS" category looking for some advice or tips on making interesting looking text effects on small fonts. I am talking about a font size of 8 to 10, maybe 12 at the absolute most. I need to be able to "label" all of the territories on a map and some of the spaces are small. That's why the font size needs to be small.

 

Most of the designs in this topic are for larger fonts. I am not looking for anything too extreme, just wanted to do a little something to my small text to make it a bit more interesting than the plain font.

 

THANKS FOR THIS AMAZING PROGRAM & ANY ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE!!!!!

 

Sincerely,

 

Richard

[david.atwell]

This isn't a tutorial.  The forum you posted it in is very clearly labeled "Publishing only."  I'll move it over to the questions forum.

 

Your best effect would probably just be a simple drop shadow.

[RBClarke]

I apologize for the faux pas. I have no idea what Publishing Only means. I simply selected the text effects forum since that was the topic of my question and I was hoping for somone to provide a tutorial on the topic.

 

Thanks for moving my post to the proper place.

[pdnnoob]

When working with small text, the effects are more for visibility than they are for appearance

For example, looking through most of the maps, light colored text generally had dark outlines and/or drop shadows to darken the surroundings for the purpose of increasing contrast. Dark colored text had light colored glow around them, again, to increase contrast.

My tip to you is this: don't go for anything too fancy. Small fancy text is hard to read. When you're done, ask a friend to tell you how easy it is to read. You'll have been looking at it a while, so you won't have any trouble at all.

Download pyrochild's outline object plugin and see what you can come up with using that. It has a wide variety of settings, so there's a lot you can do with just the one plugin.

[RBClarke]

Thank you so much pdnnoob for that terrific reply. I think I will keep it simple as you suggested. I will also have others weigh in on my work once complete.

[BoltBait]

How about downloading a fancier font at http://www.dafont.com ?

[Ego Eram Reputo]

I would make the map 2x the intended size for editing/creation purposes.  You will be able to work at twice the resolution and use a larger font.  Resize to the final dimensions when you've finished editing it - but keep a copy of the 2x size file in case you need to make some changes.

[RBClarke]

Hey Ego Eram Reputo> That is a great idea as well. I am already nearly completion on the current map, but when I begin my next map I will do exactly what you suggested. THANKS!!!!