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View Full Version : Corel Text Size problem - can you help ?



Chris J Anderson
12-01-2014, 10:12 PM
Hi to All...

I use metric for everything in Coreldraw X6, including text size.

I have attached an image of what happens with text height, which is incorrect.
You can see the text height setting is 100, but it is actually 71.6mm high.

I would much appreciate if somebody could try the same on their system with X6 Corel to see if its an issue with my system or Corel...
Just draw text, then set the text height to 100mm, and see what height it actually is on your system.

I have re-installed Corel, and latest updates, problem is still there.

Any held appreciated enormously...

Cheers,
Chris

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Scott Shepherd
12-01-2014, 10:22 PM
I don't work in Metric, but I do not believe that a 100mm font is ever going to be 100mm tall. Font's don't work like that. The 100 mm is based on the overall size of the font, including ascenders and descenders. I suspect if you put in "Ag" or "Ay", then you'd be closer to the 100mm size. Or better yet "Cp".

Casey kerner
12-01-2014, 10:26 PM
Why not convert the text to curves, select and manually set to 100mm? That is my approach and has never failed me.

Chris J Anderson
12-01-2014, 10:38 PM
Thanks Scott,
Didn't think of that, my understanding of fonts etc needs more work...
Just tried that, yes it goes up to 92mm with Cp.

Thanks Casey,
Having to manually convert - resize etc is not an option. I import lots of text from csv files using a macro I've written.
The text size is set in the spreadsheet, so at the moment I just resize it by multiplying the text size by 1.something
Actually - thanks for the thought, I can probably resize the actual size in the macro on the fly...

Cheers,
Chris

Mitchell Tutty
12-01-2014, 10:45 PM
Hi Chris.

Type out what you need, in the standard 24pt text or what ever it is.
Convert to curves, note that the size percentage will be %100
Resize to the height you require, take note of the percentage value for the size, copy and paste it probably easiest.

Rewrite the same text, but don't convert to curves, paste percentage value in the box provided and take note of the font size.
Copy and paste that font size, and set that as the standard font size to be imported in your macro.

Cheers,
Mitchell

Chris J Anderson
12-01-2014, 10:59 PM
Hi Mitchell,

Thanks for that, the problem is I have several different plate sizes / font sizes all in the same spreadsheet.
See attached a small one I've done this morning, I have done 200 plus plates in one spreadsheet at times, and regularly do 50 or so per batch.

I've just solved it though, I've just reset the text object size in the macro after creating it, works perfectly.

Cheers,
Chris

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Glen Monaghan
12-02-2014, 1:08 AM
Scott Shepard was correct that letters in a 100 mm font will not be 100 mm tall, but it's actually more than just ascenders and descenders.

Fonts (I'm not going to dither over whether it should be fonts or typefaces since the distinction is almost completely blurred in the computer world) can be measured in various ways such as mm, inches, picas and points, but the principles are the same. The standard explanation typically uses the commonly used typography measurement know as the "point". We usually say there are 72 points in 1 inch (typography nerds know it's actually 0.996264 inches but most of us just round off to 1 inch). A line of type set at 72 points will take up (approximately) 1 inch of vertical space _when you include the blank areas above and below the line that are considered part of that font's "character box"_.

If you have ever seen one of those old type "slugs" used in early printing presses, the slug could be thought of as that character box, which would have a bit of space above and below the character, and the slugs for a 72 point font would be about 1 inch high. That's usually not quite the distance from the baseline of one line of text to the next because typographers could insert a spacer to spread lines apart to fill a given space or make for a pleasing appearance. The distance between baselines is known as line spacing or leading, and frequently is 12/10 of the font size. So, while a 72 point font could have an approximate minimal line spacing of 72 points or 1 inch, it would often have line spacing of 86.4, or rounded to 86 points, about 1.194 inches.

Kev Williams
12-02-2014, 1:55 AM
I have over 1200 fonts on my computers, and a great many follow no rhyme or reason as to their size basis- I found these differences and only barely made it thru the C's... ;)

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/fonttest2.jpg

---------------------

I've always used "points" for my sizes. The main reason, I usually use Arial or Times New Roman, and those font's point sizes nearly perfectly mimic inch sizes-- As in, the 24 point Arial font above measured .244" high. Times 24 point comes in at .236". Also, if I change over to Inches, the .244" or .236" actual size is shown as .333" in the font menu-- that's not even close!

The only way I've found to keep the actual font sizes "actual", especially with different fonts, is to adjust on the fly...

Chris J Anderson
12-02-2014, 4:46 AM
Thanks Glen and Kev,

Thats interesting font info.

Any suggestions on available font tutorials to increase my understanding ?

Thanks again, Glen your info was really well written...

Mike Null
12-02-2014, 8:19 AM
The computer fonts have a built in space around them which is, I believe used for auto kerning. That's why there is a dimension difference between some typed characters and those converted to curves. Glen has explained how that was done in typesetting. An Arial TTF, which is set to be my default font is nearly 1" at 100 pts. (99.4")