One of the more buried techniques in CorelDraw is the ability to created text that is vertical. That is it runs North South and has one letter per line. You can type a letter one at a time and press enter but the alignment is not always right. This Technique is fast and does the job.
Type in Some Text
Type in some text. In this case I have done “Vertical Text”
Select The Freehand Tool
We need to draw a line so that we can fit the text we have typed to the line. We do this by drawing a freehand line. Select the Freehand tool (1) in the toolbox or press the F5 key.
Draw a Straight Vertical Line
Click once with left mouse button now hold down the ctrl key and drag down with your mouse. This will create an ortho line or a line that is straight up and down. Select both the line and the text. Note: it is always better to draw a line that is longer than what you need. When you first do this you will probably draw a line that is to short. You can select the line to make it bigger if you want.
Fit Your Text to Path
With both the line and the text selected go to TEXT(1) | FIT TEXT TO PATH (2)
Select the Vertical Text Preset
Now that we have used the “Fit Text to Path” command we can now vertical our text. Hit the drop down box on our presets (1). Select the Last preset (2). This will vertical our text as per step 3. You can see that our text is very compressed and needs to be spread out or kerned. Note: Kerning is In typography, kerning (less commonly mortising) is the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in a proportional font, usually to achieve a visually pleasing result. In a well kerned font, the two-dimensional blank spaces between each pair of characters all have similar area. The related term kern denotes a part of a type letter that overhangs the edge of the type block.
Select the Vertical Text Preset
Now that we have used the “Fit Text to Path” command we can now vertical our text. Hit the drop down box on our presets (1). Select the Last preset (2). This will vertical our text as per step 3. You can see that our text is very compressed and needs to be spread out or kerned. Note: Kerning is In typography, kerning (less commonly mortising) is the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in a proportional font, usually to achieve a visually pleasing result. In a well kerned font, the two-dimensional blank spaces between each pair of characters all have similar area. The related term kern denotes a part of a type letter that overhangs the edge of the type block. Kerning contrasted with tracking. While tracking increases the space between characters evenly, regardless of the characters, kerning increases the space based on character pairs. There is strong kerning between the V and the A, and no kerning between the S and the T.
Activate the Shape Tool
Press the F10 key or click on the shape tool in the toolbox (1). We are now going to expand the text via the character and word spacing
The Shape Tool is Active
When the shape tool is active your cursor will turn into a black triangle (1). You will be clicking on the cursor that is facing right and while holding down your mouse you will start dragging to the right.
Spread Out Your Text
To “spread” out our text click on the the right triangle that is facing right. Hold the left mouse button down and drag right (1) this will expand the text – your text will go blue (2)- downwards. Do not worry if the text does not expand as it will when you release the mouse
Your Text will Spread Out
The Text is now spread out.Now we need to spread out the word spacing to separate “Vertical” and “Text”
Increase the Word Spacing
With the Shape tool selected hold the shift key first and while holding it click on the right arrow and drag to the left. Release the mouse and the spacing in between the words will increase.
Change the Kerning
The other problem is that the “r” “t” and “i” are to close together. We need to select these and move them. Zoom in on the 3 letters.
Here is a Better View
Here is a better view of the kerning issue
Make Sure Your Shape Tool is Selected
Your shape tool is selected because the cursor is now a rectangle (1). Click on the text. Each text object has a small rectangle beside it which can be selected. You know it is selected as it will go black.
Select the Nodes
While holding down the left mouse button drag a selection box around the 3 nodes. The blue dotted box indicates the selection box and must encompass all of the node to have it selected.
Two Nodes Selected
Our two nodes are selected (1, 2).
Move the Two Characters
You can now drag the selected characters into their location. Because they are both selected they both move together. The blue dotted line shows you where the text will be if you release the mouse.
We need to get rid of the Black Line
To get rid of the black line (1) all you need to do is to make sure the line is selected (1) and right click on the “X” (2) located at the top of your Colour Pallette.: Note DO NOT DELETE THE LINE. Just make it no colour and the laser will not see it. If you are sending the file to a rotary engraver than you will need to delete it at the end. Or better still select eveything but the line and when you export the text check “Export Selected Only”.
Our Text Without the Line
With the line gone it is easier to see the text and how it is laid out
