Copyright symbol?

[Davidk]

Does anyone have the 'goods' on how to get a copyright symbol (c inside a circle) into a text frame in VS?

In the past (other programs) I have found it in wingdings, but exploring all the keyboard keys (upper and lower case) in each of the wingdings fonts in VS text mode has been fruitless and frustrating.

Davidk

[Ken Berry]

I get symbols like that using Word for Windows and the Basic Latin fonts. If you use the Insert > Symbols command in Windows (mine is Word 2007), then in the Basic Latin letters/symbols, the copyright symbol © is just under the lower case x as you scroll down the Symbol box... In Word you can also get it by pressing Alt+Ctrl+c

But if I want to insert it in a VS project title, I simply do it in Word, then copy and paste it into VS... (Just tested it with X5 and the copyright symbol works this way.) Or you could use ASCI II decimal Alt+0169 = © in Word (using the numeric keypad at the right end of your keyboard). However, X5 doesn't appear to accept ASCI keystrokes...

[Davidk]

Hmmm . . . . thanks Ken, I've just been experimenting with that without a lot of luck.

I noted that VS has a symbol font, but the copyright item does not seem to be part of it's library for that font. Unlike word, there doesn't seem to be a way of identifying what the font library in VS actually is, without a practical test (the practical test: open a text box with the font selected and then key each key on the keyboard to see what the displayed result in the VS text box is).

Opened word with a new doc template. Mine is the 2000 professional version, a tad old but has the docx add-on and it covers everything I've needed so far. Tried the insert font function, and there isn't a Basic Latin item choice there, but it has a symbol font and in the symbol font library was the item I wanted. Clicked on it and added some text in the same font that the VS text is in. All looked OK, so selected the symbol and text group, copied it and then brought VS back to focus. Opened the project file text item I wanted to modify and pasted the copied text. Errk. The normal text was the same but the symbol was a capital O with comma on top, just like this: Ó Sunrise. The original font in VS and Word was MisterEarl BT. And text on this page is reacting the same way.

Experimentation with the fonts in VS indicated that Basic Latin was a font it did not support either. At least, not in the VS Pro X5 Ultimate with sp1 version I have. But other fonts gave similar results: the display of the copyright symbol wasn't what I expected but did vary from font to font for the few I tested.

I could reproduce the symbol OK in Word, even the old one I have. The problem seems to be in the font definitions in VS, and specifically with the extra-normal key uses that give these symbols. I agree your comment about VS not accepting alt+0169 (since my VS seems to be behaving differently to yours in aspects of this, I just thought I'd check that one out).

Short term can you suggest anything else???? Specifically, since you seem to be able to reproduce the © symbol in X5 with a copy and paste, what's different between your version of X5 and mine?

Longer term, a better solution would be to get this fixed in the next VS version, with:
a. a symbol library for the supported fonts (a new icon on the font face line in the Text/Edit panel to select which gives that display display of available symbols), like Word does; and
b. a copyright symbol in the symbol font.

or alternatively, just accept ASCII decimal key definitions for every font supported. Any thoughts on this?

Davidk

[canuck]

Instead of using Word to get a special character from a font set, I use the windows "Character Map" tool to get my character.I created a short-cut key to popup the Character map, select the font and character, copy and paste into the VS text. Much quicker then loading Word.

Agreed it would be nice if VS would have the ability to display the character set from which you can select the character you want

[BrianCee]

like canuck the Windows character map has always worked for me - and still does.

Copy from the character map - click in the text box of VideoStudio preview window and press "ctrl+V" - works fine

[Ken Berry]

... And I did not mean to suggest that Basic Latin was a font. It is, rather, a language group whose symbols (i.e. letters and numbers and symbols) are found as the first language group contained in the Word 2007 Symbol box. Other language groups in that same box that I use include, for instance, Cyrillic (Russian etc). But those are just character sets, and when you use them in a Word document, you can change the font and they will still appear as, again for instance, Cyrillic. But not all fonts will necessarily work this way. And I can't say I have ever heard of the font you actually used (Mister Earl) though I would have to check my computer which is currently closed down (doing this on an Acer Android tablet, sorry...)

[Davidk]

Hey guys,

Thanks for input and suggestions. The map is a faster way to go. But it didn't go, if you follow my drift.

I opened the map and selected the copyright symbol - see first attached image (copyright map). Copied the symbol.

Opened VS, put a simple image in the timeline/view screen, and then pasted the symbol and added text in the font. See second attached image, which reproduced as previously described.

This is exactly the process Canuck and Brian described, but I don't get the same result. Is there a feature in VS which modifies fonts that I may have unwittingly on?

Davidk

[BrianCee]

AAhhh - David - the problem is you are copying from a symbol list in the character map - if I do that I get exactly the same result as you.

Change the character map selection to a recognisable font - like 'Arial' - then copy the copyright symbol from there and paste into VS and you will be surprised.

just look at the character codes showing along the bottom of the character map window - the symbol copyright sign does not have a proper code whereas the one from Arial shows a proper unicode and keystroke option (which do not work in VS but do in a text editor).

[Davidk]

Ah.

And bingo - it does fly. Many thanks.

Davidk