HP CN088A - Serif PosterDesigner Pro Operation instructions

Poster Designer Pro 1
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to:
·Work with artistic and frame text.
·Create, edit, and format text.
·Apply shadows, reflections, and other text effects.
·Create shaped text (or text-on-a-path).
·Edit user details information.
·Wrap frame text around pictures.
Working With Text

Working With Text
Poster Designer Pro
2
Working With Text
Poster Designer Pro offers frame text and artistic text. You can use the
same methods to perform operations such as selecting, editing, and
formatting both types of text. However, there are a few differences, as
outlined in the following table.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to create and manipulate both types of
text. We’ll be working with one of the design templates included with
Poster Designer Pro.
To open a themed layout:
1On the File menu, click New from Startup
Wizard.
In the Startup Wizard, click the Use Design
Template option.
2In the Create New Poster From Template
dialog, in the Templates list on the left, select
the Education - Primary category.
Frame text: Artistic text:
·Lets you flow text between
frames.
·Allows you to wrap text around
pictures and shapes.
·Can be shaped to page objects.
·Is generally used for longer
passages of text, or non-
decorative text such as contact
details, product information, etc.
·Lets you stretch or squash the
text by dragging its container.
·Allows you to create shaped
text effects by putting the text
on a path.
·Is especially useful for titles, pull
quotes, and other special-
purpose text.
Artistic
text
Frame text

Working With Text
Poster Designer Pro 3
3In the center pane, select
the Green Fingers
template and then click
Open.
The template opens as a
new poster in the
workspace.
To begin, we’ll show you
how to select, edit, and
format text.
The methods described in
the following sections are applicable to both artistic and frame text.
To select and edit text:
1Using the Pointer
Tool, click to select the
text object located in the
upper-right corner of the
poster.
In the lower-left corner of
the workspace, the
HintLine toolbar tells us
that this is artistic text.
2Click and drag to select the first three
letters of the word ‘Monday.’
The selected text is highlighted in blue.
3Type ‘Friday.’
4Move the insertion point to
the end of the word ‘Friday’
insert a space and then type
‘1pm to 3pm.’

Working With Text
Poster Designer Pro
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To format text:
1Triple-click anywhere on the line of text you’ve just edited to select
the entire line.
2At the top of the workspace, on the Text context toolbar:
·Click to expand the
Point Size drop-down
list and set the point size
to 72 pt. (You can also
type a value directly into
the box and press the
Enter key.)
·Remove the bold
formatting from
the text by
clicking Bold.
3With the text still
selected, on the
Swatches tab,
click a white
swatch.
Now let’s create a
new artistic text
object...
Formatting text
For greater control over character and
paragraph formatting, use the Text Style
dialog.
To open the Text Style dialog:
·Select some text and then on the
Format menu, click Character or
Paragraph.
- or -
·Right-click the text and then click text
Format > Character or Paragraph.

Working With Text
Poster Designer Pro 5
To create artistic text:
1On the Tools toolbar, on the Text flyout, click the Artistic
Text Tool.
2Click anywhere on your page to set a text insertion point.
3On the Text context toolbar:
·In the Font drop-down list, select Galeforce BTN.
·In the Point Size drop-down list, select 48 pt.
4In the lower-left corner of the
Swatches tab, the five numbered
swatches indicate the color scheme
currently applied to this poster.
Click swatch number 2 to apply it to
your new text object. (Notice that
the Text button on the swatches tab
updates with the selected color.)
5Type ‘Children’s parties and after-
school clubs also available.’
6With the new text object
selected, drag it into the
lower-left section of the
poster, keeping it inside the
blue background area.
To do this, drag the
Move button located just
above the upper-left
corner of the object, or
click and drag on the
object’s border.
7With the text object still
selected, drag the right
resize handle inwards so
that the text sits inside the blue area.

Working With Text
Poster Designer Pro
6
Now let’s make our poster title a little more interesting. In the following
sections, we’ll apply a different font, a gradient fill, and a reflection effect
(all of these procedures work equally with artistic and frame text). Finally,
we’ll fit the text to a curved path (only applicable to artistic text).
To change font:
1Triple-click on the poster title, ‘Green Fingers,’ to select both words.
2On the Text context
toolbar, in the Fonts drop-
down list, select a bold, fun
font.
We chose Apple Boy BT
and increased the font size
to 144 pt.
To apply a gradient fill:
1With the text still selected, go to the Swatches tab.
2Expand the Gradient Fills flyout and select Linear.
Click the Linear Fill 12 swatch to apply it to the text.
This gradient fill works well with our poster, so we don’t need to
change it. However, if required, you can edit both the fill path and the
colors used in a gradient fill.
The following procedure is optional.

Working With Text
Poster Designer Pro 7
To edit a gradient fill:
1Select the text object and then on the Tools toolbar, click the Fill
Tool.
The object’s fill path is displayed.
2You can adjust the fill path:
·To change the color
spread, click and drag
the fill path nodes.
·To change the color of a fill
path node, select it and
then on the Swatches tab,
click a color swatch.
In our example, we applied
the color scheme 5 swatch
to the rightmost node.
Next, we’ll fit our title text to a curved path.
To put text on a path:
1Select the poster title text object.
2On the Text context toolbar, expand the Path Text flyout and click to
apply the Path - Top Circle preset.

Working With Text
Poster Designer Pro
8
3Resize the text
object by
clicking and
dragging the
top and side
edge resize
handles.
4Drag the text
back into
position on top
of the white
background area.
5Stretch out the text path slightly by
dragging the Start and End nodes.
6(Optional) To adjust the slope of the
path, click on a Start or End node and
then drag the curve handle.
When you’ve finished adjusting your
text path, it should resemble the
illustration below.

Working With Text
Poster Designer Pro 9
Let’s now apply some filter effects to our text. Poster Designer Pro
includes a wide range of preset filter effects, which you can apply from the
Styles tab with a single click .
To apply filter effects:
1Click on the ‘Green Fingers’ text object.
2On the Styles tab, in the upper
Categories drop-down list, select
Shadows.
3In the Drop Shadow subcategory,
click the first preset—Offset
Bottom Right . (Hover over a
preset to display its name.)
The drop-shadow effect is applied to
the text object.
4Triple-click on the ‘garden club’ text object to select both words.
5On the Text context toolbar, click the Bold button.
6Drag a left or right resize handle inwards,
‘squashing’ the text to fit inside the curve of the
‘Green Fingers’ text.
7Drag the upper center resize handle
upwards, ‘stretching’ the text slightly.

Working With Text
Poster Designer Pro
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8On the Styles tab, select the
Reflection category.
9Scroll down to the Artistic Text
Reflections subcategory and click
Text Reflection 02.
Well done, your title text is complete!
Now let’s turn our attention to the contact details at the bottom of the
poster. If you click on this text object, the HintLine toolbar tells you that
this is a text frame.
The information contained in this frame is derived from the User Details
dialog. You can update this information with your own contact details, and
even add your own custom fields if required (see online Help for details).
To update user details:
1On the Tools menu, click
Set User Details.
2In the User Details
dialog, on the Business
tab, type your own contact
information into the text
boxes.
3Click Update.
The text is automatically
updated on the page.