TIP #1: (Continued)

d. With the rectangle selected and the Mask tool in Normal mode, Mask>Create from Object (Ctrl+M).

e. Mask>Shape>Reduce, Width=8.

f. Object>Create>Cut Selection (Ctrl+Shift+UpArrow). You should now have one object which looks like a frame, and another object, a rectangle which fits inside that frame.

g. Next, left-click on any palette swatch which contrasts with the two objects already in place, so that you can see what you are doing in the next step.

h. Select the Text tool, with the Render to Mask button undepressed (would that make it happy, then?), and type the word "CHOCOLATE." For this example, we used Humanist 521 Extra Bold Condensed at 72 points, with Character Spacing set to 5 to allow plenty of room between characters. You can choose whatever typeface you wish, but best results are achieved from heavy fonts. Figure 4.

Figure 4

i. Obviously, the text needs to be reshaped so that it fits within the boundaries of the small rectangle. Now would be a good time to turn on the object marquee and select the rectangle object so that you can see just what that boundary actually is. (Ctrl+Shift+H)

Now that you have an idea of the area in which the text should fit, select the text and drag the control handles until it fits withiin the boundary of the rectangle object, with a bit of room to spare at the edges. When you are satisfied with the transformation, click the Apply button on the property bar to render the changes. (Or you can doubleclick inside the object boundary.) Your image should now look like Figure 5.

Figure 5