can PSP do quality text?

[rhendrix9]

I was just given an assignment to ad a caption to a bunch of .jpg photographs.

They sent me a sample created in photo shop Gill Sans Gill Sans MT 10 tracking :102

When using PSP X2 the text looks like crap. I ended up using Picasa (I had to get something out)

Can PSP produce sharp looking text (How) or what can I use to add text to a photo?

[LeviFiction]

As far as I'm aware the text tool is sufficient for all things I've ever needed to do. This is true all the way through version 7. I've noticed no quality difference between Photoshop and PSP as far as text is concerned.

Do you have examples of what you mean by it looked like crap? Or what you're looking for specifically? Because...maybe I just don't know what quality text is. But it's always looked fine for me.

I mean this looks fine to me. It's Gill Sans MT size 10, 1 pixel width stroke, normal tracking. Anti-aliasing set to Sharp. And normal solid line style.



The image it was created on had 300 ppi resolution. Which at 10 points is 41.5 pixels tall.

[rhendrix9]

I'll try to upload image , since i can''t paste it, or maybe i should ask what's the best way to show an image?
photp shop -

ps.jpg (8.84 KiB) Viewed 5011 times

PSP X2 -

psp.jpg (8.62 KiB) Viewed 5011 times

I may very well be doing something wrong, i just don't know what.

[LeviFiction]

May I ask what settings you're using? Also are the print resolutions the same? As you probably know Points are 1/72 of an inch so using Point units will give you different results based on the image resolution.

[rhendrix9]

Font:Gill Sans MT
Size: 10
Units:pixels
anti-alias: sharp
Tracking.085
Image = 626 x 452 x RGB 8 bits/channel
is this what you are asking?
I don't know anything about PS but I was told font size was 10 and tracking was 105

[Trev Bowden]

Nearly the thing you missed was stroke width. In psp don't use any stroke unless you are wanting a outline of another colour. Set stroke swatch to null or width to 0

[LeviFiction]

Do you know that they used pixels instead of points? The default is points for Photoshop. This becomes an important distinction because as I said a single point is 1/72 of an inch. And the number of pixels a point uses is based upon the image's resolution. By the by you gave me the image size, the image resolution/print resolution is the number of pixels that will be printed per inch. This isn't a big deal on screen but in print it's very important.

It's also very important if points were used instead of pixels.

Here is an example of an image at the same 134 x 63. But at different resolutions. 300 and 100 in that order. Both have 10 point font.




PSP may produce terrible text at a low pixel size of 10 by comparison to photoshop. But I doubt it. You're talking about the size per character. And on a size that small it's very hard to get smooth text. But I can only tell you what I know. Can't guarantee it'll every be great.

The stroke can be the same color as the rest of the text, but also, depending on the size of the width, can either add dimension or remove it from the text. If the width is too large it'll get blotchy, if it's too thin the anti-aliasing will really decease the amount of visible text area. So removing the stroke isn't always the best option. But it is an option if needed.

I might recommend playing with the possible options.

One last thing, Crisp and Smooth tend to be similar to each other in Photoshop. So maybe Smooth anti-aliasing would be better.

[Trev Bowden]

Did you know that If you increase the stroke by half of the width of the text It will wipe out the file . sort of inside out text Nothing shows

[LeviFiction]

Well, for the first time in my life I'm considering the possibility that Photoshop just has a better anti-aliasing algorithm for vectors. When they are larger it's not a problem but small. I downloaded PS Elements, because my actual Photoshop trial ran out, and with its one anti-aliasing option it still came out better than in Paint Shop Pro. Not by the degree you showed in your pictures but enough that it was better.