UnLock A Text Box within a Vector Shape?

[Grazie]

OK, I'm sure this is very straightforward, but for the life of me, I can't figure it out. I've got a TEXT Box "UNDO" and I want to move it, freely, into a new position, but still within that Vector shape:

Text LOCKED to position.png

However, it remains stubbornly LOCKED to its current position. What do I need to do?

As always thank you in advance.

[LeviFiction]

That's because it's using the vector shape as a textbox for text wrapping. It expects you to move the box not the text. The text is bound to the box. There is also an annoying bug where if you detach it, you can't resize the text at all. It's best to never do text wrapping in the first place than it is to try detaching the text. But I'll cover all of your options and we'll start with detaching text.

1) To detach text, right-click on the text object in the layers palette and select "Detach object from path". The text will be a normal text layer again and can be moved anywhere you want. It can't be resized but it can be moved.

2) Quickly I want to cover the different text modes.
A) Normal Text - This is the standard text object, it's not attached to anything, and has no limits beyond text. The cursor looks like a Cross with the letter T in the bottom right corner.
B) Text on a curve - This attaches the text object to the outside of a vector curve. Bending it to follow the path. This cursor has T on a curve symbol
C) Text Wrapping - This mode uses a selection or a vector as a bounding box for auto-matic text wrapping. This can create interesting effects but annoying side effects. And it acts differently depending on whether you used a selection or a vector as the base. It shows up as a [T] in brackets.

textcursors.png

The best way to ensure you create a normal unbound text object is to hold the ALT key before clicking with your mouse. This guarantees it's normal text. You can tell by the way the mouse cursor changes. Second best way is to make sure your don't have your cursor over another vector shape or selection. Which you can always tell by the cursor. If it has brackets or is on a curve, hold the ALT key and move the mouse a bit, it should turn into the standard "T" only icon to indicate you're not creating a bound text object.

Quick note on the differences between using Selections and Vectors as bounding boxes for text wrapping. With selections, you can freely move the text wherever you want, and it'll obey the text wrapping that was originally set up for it. However, once you edit the text it'll snap back to where you first created it. With vector shapes the text cannot be resized or moved at all on it's own. You instead have to move the vector shape it's attached to. Think it of it like one object and not two, the vector shape is just the background.

[Grazie]

That's because it's using the vector shape as a textbox for text wrapping. It expects you to move the box not the text. The text is bound to the box. There is also an annoying bug where if you detach it, you can't resize the text at all. It's best to never do text wrapping in the first place than it is to try detaching the text.

Here's my issue with ALL this: I'm using a PSP Callout and a Callout has Text inside the Graphics part of the Callout, otherwise it isn't a Callout. That's where my premise starts and finishes. If I'm incorrect in my Premise please tell me? Your explanations of "what" to do are understandable, admirable if a little torturous, which you also allude to - thank you.

OK, pragmatism steps in:

A: I like the process of adjustment using the CO as a Vector, I believe, thanks to you, I've got that nailed down.

B: I want to add Text to the Vector CO, but for the reasons you explain this is the incorrect usage of the Vector CO, or, I can imagine, any Vector Shape - yes?

C: Is it at all possible to combine a Raster - the movable Text Box - and a Vector Shape - the Callout - within a Group? Or is this not allowed?

[LeviFiction]

I want to be clear here. Preset shapes are just vector shapes that have been exported to the PSPShape file format. What you keep calling a Callout is just the name of the shape, it doesn't have any special significance for it's function. In PSP text is a special kind of vector object, the "Callout" shape is just a path that looks like a word balloon. But paths don't natively support text of their own. PSP added the Text Wrapping mode to allow you to use shapes like the Callout shapes as text boxes for text, and the text will auto-wrap inside them. So if that's what you want, great. Attach the text to the object. There are additional ways to move text within the text object to move it where you want, using spaces, blank lines, and Leading, Kerning, and Offset values. But those are fiddly. Your original question was about why the text object was attached to the top of the vector shape, and it's because the object is the textbox. So text will default to the top of the text box. By avoiding attaching the text to the object you can move it wherever you want within the object. It just won't be directly attached.

Now on to your additional points.

B - It's not "incorrect usage" I was just pointing out the importance of understanding the different ways text interacts with vector shapes based on the different modes. You wanted to move the text within the shape freely. When the text object is attached to a vector shape it uses the shape as a textbox to limit the location of the text. As a result it starts off at the top of the object. You can do several things from here like adjusting the offset, or adding blank lines to the text to adjust it's position within the object if they are attached. Or if you make it so they are unattached you can move the text and shape separately. Choose the method you're most comfortable with. Neither is "wrong" in any way.

C - You can, but you don't need one to be a raster and one to be a vector. There are lots of ways to do this, one vector layer can work like a group, you can even group objects inside of a vector layer as one group. Or you can link two layers and use the Move tool. Or you can just select two layers at the same time and use the pick tool. Or you can group two separate vector layers together. They all work.

Here's a video demonstration: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OcIqG6 ... sp=sharing

[Grazie]

AH, such "misinterpretations" can cause almost infinite permutations: "When is a Callout not a Callout? Answer: When it is a PSP Shape!" - Talk about Ghostbusters.....

OK, I'll get over that one, eventually - I'll be receiving therapy for this "Callout". I'll also try your B and C

[Grazie]

C - You can, but you don't need one to be a raster and one to be a vector.

Ah, right!

Or you can link two layers and use the Move tool. Or you can just select two layers at the same time and use the pick tool. Or you can group two separate vector layers together. They all work.

Sanity reigns . . .

I'm now using this:

Group of Callout and UNDO.png

It's a Vector Group comprising the TEXT plus the "Callout", the whole Group can be positioned and each Vector can be resized, repositioned, colourized etc etc . .

Couldn't have done it without yah! Cheers

[SJS]

Why does text in a new layer get created bound to a vector shape? I don't think this used to happen...

Vector object selections seem to be independent of layers now, making selection and manipulation of multiple objects very confusing. Am I just getting too old?

[LeviFiction]

When you click on top of a vector shape. Not just creating vector text at all. In previous versions (before text wrapping) if you hovered over the edge of a vector shape the text would become bound to it as text on a curve. This is just a new mode. As outlined in my original post, the mode that's being used is identified by the cursor. Objects being part of a single layer but editable separately from that layer has been a staple of many programs for, forever. Including in Microsoft Office. The whole "Send to bottom" "Bring to top" thing is the same. Just that PSP let's you treat objects like sub-layers of the main vector layer. It can add complexity, but also flexibility.

[SJS]

I wish there was a clear way to avoid selecting across layers by mistake, or to avoid locking text to an object in a different layer. But maybe I can learn, TBD.

On the bright side, I have considered switching to other software several times, and the thing that has stopped me so far is that I know how to do things in PSP. If the methods change much more, I will find PSP just as difficult to use as a new program, and will be able to switch...

[LeviFiction]

There is a way to stop vectors from attaching, as I also mentioned above, just hold the ALT key. While holding ALT it'll never attach to another vector object.

[SJS]

Thank you! wish it was the other way around, but ... that is just me. Thanks again!