Floater help!

[Spearmint]

Hello folks!

Well, I've puzzled myself over this one for an hour or so, can't work it
out . . . .

under P5, if I created a floater, I could increase the floater size via
Objects> Floater> Floater size . . . . which I used a lot to create the
effect I like most with text.

Now, under P6.1, I can't find the option to increase the "layer" size,
all the objects I now group and collapse become layers. I've gone
through everything I can think of, short of finding the manual and
looking it up.

What I would like to do is create the layer comprising text and then
feather it by between 10 and 30 pixels. Without increasing the size of
the layer, the feather gets chopped off, before with floaters I could
get around this problem by increasing the size. I'd prefer to use P6.1,
seems a backward move to use 5.5 to do what I want and then switch to
6.1 to finish off with features not available in 5.5.

Thanks for any suggestions!

TTFN
Gavin

[rap]

The Floater Size dialog was a casualty of the upgrade.
Too bad because it was very useful. I use 5.5 for
the this feature almost daily. Hopefully it will be in
version 7.

Richard

[Peter Ward]

Gavin
Select a layer
Choose Effects menu>Orientation>Free Transform
Select the reference layer
Drag a corner handle or a side handle
Hold down the Shift key as you drag to maintain the layer proportions
Peter

"Spearmint" <ne...@spearmint.plus.com> wrote in message
news:3A73777D...@spearmint.plus.com...

[Jinny Brown]

Gavin,

Have you tried turning your text into a selection, feathering the
selection, then filling it? I wonder if that might give you the result
you're looking for. Here's a way to do it:

NOTE: In the following steps, when the text is converted to a Selection,
the Selection will appear on the Canvas. When the Selection is then
filled and lifted to a Layer a residue of pixels will be left on the
Canvas.

1. To avoid damaging whatever may be on the Canvas, use Ctrl/Command-A
to select the Canvas, then Alt-Click the Canvas with the Layer Adjuster
tool to lift a duplicate to a temporary working Layer so your Selection
can be loaded onto that Layer and worked on there instead of on the
Canvas. This is "Layer 1".

2. Type your text, then use Ctrl/Command-G to group it. This is "Group
1".

3. With "Group 1" highlighted in the Layers list, in the Shapes menu,
choose Convert to Selection.

4. In the Select menu, choose Feather and type whatever number of pixels
you want feathered.

5. In the Select menu, choose Save Selection. The Selection is saved as
"New Mask 1".

6. Use Ctrl/Command-D to deselect (remove the "marching ants").

7. In the Layers list, highlight the duplicate Layer, "Layer 1".

8. In the Select menu, choose Load Selection and choose "New Mask 1".

9. In the Effects menu, choose Fill (or paint inside the Selection),
then apply any other Effects you want.

10. Click the Layer Adjuster tool, then Alt-Click inside Selection to
lift it to a Layer. This new Layer will appear as a sub-Layer below the
duplicate "Layer 1". This is "Layer Floating Object".

11. Click the new text Layer, "Layer Floating Object", and drag it to
the top of the Layers list.

12. Hold down the Shift key and highlight the duplicate Layer, "Layer
1", and the now empty "Group 1", then click the Delete button.

You should see two items in the Layers list: "Canvas" and "Layer
Floating Object".

At any point in these steps, or when you've completed them, you can
double click "Group 1", "Layer 1", or "Layer Floating Object" and the
Layer Attributes dialog box will open. You can then type a more
descriptive name.

Jinny
http://www.pixelalley.com
_________________________

[Gavin Wrigley]

All that does is resize the whole image, I just want the layer area to be
resized while keeping the image the original size.

[Gavin Wrigley]

Jinny Brown wrote:

> Gavin,
>
> Have you tried turning your text into a selection, feathering the
> selection, then filling it? I wonder if that might give you the result
> you're looking for. Here's a way to do it:

Jinny!

Thanks for the suggestion, I've tried it, think I might try it again, I ran
this up in less than 5 mins in 5.5, its the effect I'm trying to create, I'd
love to know if you could get something similar using your method!

Basically, text tool> group> manipulate> increase floater size by 50 pixels
each side> copy> paste> align> feather one floater mask by 20 pixels, fill
with pattern> fill other floater with same pattern, apply surface texture>
add shadow.

http://www.coolmint.co.uk/feather.jpg

TTFN
Gavin

[Douglas Frost]

The only way I know of to increase the size of a layer is to add to its
contents. Here's how to do it with minimal fuss...

Select a simple brush (like chalk). Adjust the grain to max, drag the
size slider down to the smallest it will go, and set opacity to 1 (0
won't work).

Now, select the layer you want to expand. (If you have the layer
marquee off, you might want to turn it on.) Visualize a rectangle that
you want to enlarge to. Then you click twice: once in the upper left
hand side, and once on the lower right. Painter will expand the layer's
active area. Any effects work you do to the layer probably won't show
up in the two dots you placed because they have such low opacity. But
you can always go back and opaque the mask there manually if needed.

Doug Frost