Photoshop Tutorials: The Type Tool Part 1

Who says Photoshop is only about images, vector art, and illustrations? Who says that text is in no way important in Photoshop? Now, we are to learn about the basics of the type tool and how you can use it for your own benefit.

Before, we discussed about the different tools we will see at the toolbar which is located at the left side part of the panel once we are on a project in Photoshop. It is the letter “T” tool and yes the shortcut for this tool is by pressing the letter T. There are four (4) options if you try and utilize the type tool and they are:

• Horizontal Type Tool – Choosing this option enables you to create a standard horizontal text in the most standard way (left to right; top to bottom)
• Vertical Type Tool – Choosing this however will make you create text vertically (top to bottom; right to left). This is useful in writing things in Japanese, Chinese or if you are playing with text design.
• Horizontal Mask Tool – This creates a quick mask using the Type shape as selection horizontally.
• Vertical Mask Tool – This creates a quick mask using the Type shape as selection vertically.

We’ll have a closer look on the mask tools a little bit later.

The Type Layer

In Photoshop, users can create text layers that can be used in different ways. There are two types of text layers namely: Point Type and the Paragraph Type.

The Point Type layer option allows you to create text in a single line only. The break points must be created by you and this is by hitting Return/Enter from the keyboard. To create this type layer, make sure that the Type Tool is selected and click anywhere within the canvas in your project. After you have finished and you are happy with the results, click the commit button or the check at the options bar to finish.

The Paragraph Type layer option however allows you to create a text layer with text wrapping into a box that has ends. This is useful if you want a limited text that you wish to appear in paragraphs; this is useful for web design. To create this layer type, you need to first create the box where you want your text to reside. To do this, make sure that the Type Tool is selected, click and drag the cursor diagonally until you have got the size of the box that you want.