Is it just me or is the text tool screwy in X3??

[pdxrjt]

Admittedly I am not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to text as I usually use PSP only on photos. However, I have used the text tool a few times making covers for my travel books. I tried this in X3 and it did not want to work. I selected text tool, typed my text, resized it, placed it where I wanted and..... nothing. I wanted to add another piece of text elsewhere..... everything I tried to do said I had to "apply" the text.... which I take it is the green button with the check mark. However, that is greyed out and doesn't do anything. No other tools can be activated when the text is not "applied." I can close the pic.... a box asks if I want to save changes... and then when I reopen it.... everything is fine and I can do what I want to. Okay... what am I doing wrong???

[LeviFiction]

I've never had it not allow me to apply the text before. The green check mark is always available after I've made a change to the text I'm working on.

So....no clue as to what you're doing wrong. Assuming it's you in the first place.

[pdxrjt]

Levi...thanks for the reply....seriously, Corel should pay you for all of your help on these boards (and a few other members too!) It seems I had finally learned how to put text on in X2 and now X3 is making life difficult again. Will continue to work on it!

[Chromenut]

I did have this problem for a while, but it seems to be gone or I can't duplicate it. What I had to do was scroll out away from the photo and double-click in the gray areas around the photo and it would apply the text and let me be free to do other things. I had to max the photo first in the editor window so I could even get to the outlying areas, but once done it worked fine. Now I can't seem to dup the problem....

[pdxrjt]

Oddly, as I was frantically and frenetically clicking around the program to see if I could do anything, it magically "applied" the text.... now, if I could only figure out what I actually did!! Sounds a little like what happened to you clicking in the gray area.

[davidh202]

The HELP files in X3 are quite good and explain how to work with TEXT and most of the other features.
It is really a great idea to spend some time in and go through the HELP contents when you have a specific question on how a tool or feature works.
Trial and error is just wasting time. The more you use the program the more proficient you will become.

[Chromenut]

The HELP files in X3 are quite good and explain how to work with TEXT and most of the other features.
It is really a great idea to spend some time in and go through the HELP contents when you have a specific question on how a tool or feature works.
Trial and error is just wasting time. The more you use the program the more proficient you will become.

Appreciate the advice but now even Corel has admitted there is an issue with the text tool. Trial and error is what Corel is doing by releasing this prior to it's being ready. These bugs are so large that I wouldn't mind seeing them in a beta version, but the commercial version? Seems X3 was rushed to the counters a bit early, just my opinion.

I use this software every day, literally, and wouldn't mind being on their beta test program, and would be if I knew how to sign up. I have to flip back and forth between X2 and X3 constantly when I encounter issues in X3 and it's pretty frustrating. Add to it, X3 only seems an improvement on X2, not a new release, and to me it's just not worth the price they are asking for it. I mean they could have fixed X2 with some patches and got X3 out of it. Should have put some real big "bang for your bucks" items in X3 if they wanted to call it a new version.

[pdxrjt]

Well davo.... thanks for all your HELP..... unfortunately, the HELP files weren't all that helpful when I read them prior to posting and added nothing when I read them again. I am luke warm on trial-and-error and have been since I first purchased this program from JASC.... many years ago. (Looked for stuff in those HELP files too!)

[marty2010]

Hi,

" I selected text tool, typed my text, resized it, placed it where I wanted and..... nothing. "

So I did this:
Text, "apply", resize, "A".

At this point I select the PAN tool (A) and all is ok.

After a text / text edit an [A] will appear with the cursor arrow as a hint what to do next , absence of "apply" being active.

[davidh202]

Didn't mean to sound snippy about the help files, but I couln't figure out the text thing since it is different than before and found exactly what to do in the Help files.I do believe they are more comprehensive than previous versions
A couple of you made no indication that you actually tried it.

I really feel sorry for those of you who think you've been ripped off by Corel for the outrageous price of US$59.95 (or many of you who took advantage of their mistake at $19.95 during the introduction).if I had paid $200-$700 I'd truly be upset if it was really bugged.
Corel did a pretty quick job of getting X3 stabilized once they got enough feedback, and other bugs (the text tool) have been noted and are being worked on.
I do agree that in the future it would be nice if Corel offered a beta version to existing users that would help develop the program and pinpoint bugs prior to release.
I read a responce by one of the program developers to a member on the PSPUG forum said that they were working on a way to better address user feedback.

[pdxrjt]

Marty, will try that next time I open PSPX3.... have a couple of things to do now. I thought I had tried it several ways.... applying right after I typed and applying after I resized it. In any event, after I did ??whatever?? wrong, there seemed to be no way to fix it. Thanks

Dave, I always read the help files first and it bugs me when people ask "basic" or "obvious" questions that are in the help file. I had finally figured text out somewhere before X2 and now they changed it!!! Aaaarrrggghh. I think Marty is saying to apply very early..... anyway, I (greedy soul that I am) would like a few more bells and whistles from PSP re: the update, but, if they got this working better, I would be okay with it. All programs have some bugs, but there seem to be quite a few this time around. Not to mention the "feature" of not having a photo palette and getting to use the organizer or media tray instead (I get to leave a folder open and drag pics into PSP now.)

[LeviFiction]

I too would expect a little more from Corel in an update.

True most of the updating in this case was compatibility and a re-working of the innards of the program. Which are fine. "Clarify" is now "Local Tone Mapping" and they have half-way decent tools inclusions. Changing of a tool to meet consumer requests was nice for the Text Tool. So I'm not disappointed with this update in the sense of the actual work done. On the contrary it's phenomenal. But something truly substantial would have been nice as well.

At the very least if they were updating tools they could have fixed one of the more requested fixes since version X2. Layer Style control. Honestly letting us save presets is nowhere near what was requested, and while I don't know I also can't imagine it being very difficult to do this.

If someone from Corel sees this might I give an example of how presets will fail to satisfy in special circumstances?

Imagine if I had several items I wanted to add an outer glow to. Now imagine that I wanted each of them to have a special size glow and a special colored glow.

Colors are semi-easy as we are allowed to sample from the image so we can set up our colors ahead of time and get exact values that way. But sizes are not.

What's more is the presents are for all of the layer styles. So setting a specific size and opacity using layer styles is impossible especially if we have other layer styles attached to some of these objects.

The only real way is rather convoluted as we would have to have multiple copies of a single layer, merge the layer with an empty layer to solidify our style settings so the addition of presets won't destroy what we already have. It doesn't work for the greatest flexibility.

[Chromenut]

Corel did a pretty quick job of getting X3 stabilized once they got enough feedback, and other bugs (the text tool) have been noted and are being worked on.

Maybe so, but have you heard of a company called "Toyota" lately? See, it's only $60usd so no biggie? Here's snippy for you - if it ain't ready, don't sell it! I don't even think my copy of X2 had gone cold before they were selling X3 publicly, and by that I mean sending me email after email after email, ad nauseum, telling me I should spend MORE money already?

No, you can take the attitude that it's not wrong, that's fine, we're all entitled to our opinions. But that doesn't make it right, if this were a Land Cruiser, there'd be lawsuits filed and a ginormous recall initiated. See, Corel just let it out too soon. That alone hurts your rep as much as anything else. Never pull the soufflé out of the oven early, or it'll fall, and that's what has happened with X3. It's in a live beta test, and I don't like paying for beta software! It's not a ripoff, I never said that, and didn't read that anywhere, it's just that I'm not happy paying for a half-baked soufflé!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I too would expect a little more from Corel in an update.

DITTO DITTO DITTO DITTO DITTO!!!!

I know there is no way to please everyone, even if they gave it away for free I'd find something to gripe about, I'm sure. However, I have used their software for quite some time and while I find the improvements in X3 Video to be truly worth the money, I don't see that great of improvements in PSPPX3. Maybe it's my character flaw, but I expected more from Corel. Still love their products and think they're one of the best for very solid, inexpensive software, but I guess I too expected more from them. Ah well, in any case, I'm not angry in the least, they are rapidly improving their products and that is good, even if they've missed the mark ever so slightly. I'm still a fan and won't shy away from their products just because I'm not satisfied with one package.

[Chromenut]

Oh and I had to laugh at this, and you moderators need to bring it to the attention of your site admin.... Every time I post and use the word Corel it shows up in spell check! lol.. Okay, there's a database of some such associated with spell check on the forums, they need to add the word Corel to it!

hahaha sorry, I had to post this cause I laughed out loud when I saw it...

[LeviFiction]

I don't see a spell check on these forums at all. No buttons to do it, and it's not built in as an AJAX type thing. It may be your browser, unless it doesn't tag Corel as incorrect anywhere else.

For example Firefox comes with a built-in spell-check that will underline Corel because it doesn't recognize the name. If I wanted to I could easily add it to the dictionary that Firefox uses but I honestly don't care as I ignore Corel as a misspelling all of the time.