Re: [artworks] text Aspect problem
- From: Martin Wuerthner <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: artworks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:59:45 +0100
In message <f14cc76a52.signwork@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Nick K <signwork@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Type a line of text with the aspect at 100%, select the resize tool if
> you have it, make sure it is locked.
> now resize the text to another size (of significance)
> Now look at the aspect box in the text toolbar - it has changed + or -
> in some cases by several percent
> a bug methinks
Actually, no, that is correct behaviour. The Resize tool did exactly
what you asked it to do, and that involved changing the text's aspect.
> Can anyone else confirm this?
Yes, that happens here as well.
Just to avoid confusion: This is about the Resize tool, not the Scale
tool. The Resize tool allows you to resize objects to exact target
sizes. You can either resize in one direction only ("Lock" off) or in
both directions at the same time ("Lock" on). In the latter case, the
main direction is the one your caret was in when you pressed Enter,
and the other direction is computed accordingly to keep the existing
width/height ratio. The latter bit is important. You lock the
geometrical ratio. That is not the same as scaling without distortion.
Or at least, it is not always the same. If you have a shape without an
outline, then it is exactly the same. As soon as you have an outline
and maybe even arrowheads, then things become less predictable. That
is exactly why the Resize tool is there. It always tries to get as
close to the measurements you enter even in situations where objects
do not scale evenly.
Text has the property that it does not scale exactly. You will find
that if you have the same piece of text at 20pt and 40pt, then not
only is the 40pt text not exactly twice as big as the 20pt text, but
also the actual width/height ratios differ.
So, say your original text is exactly 20mm wide and 5.85mm high.
Use the Scale tool to scale by 2.0 and you get an object 39.44mm wide
and 11.14mm high. The point size has doubled. Text aspect ratio is
still 100%.
Now, use the Resize tool instead on the original object. Enter 40mm
width. Resize will try to resize the object to fit exactly 40mm width
and 11.7mm height (5.85mm * 2). That gives you a text object with
roughly twice the point size (but probably not exactly) and usually
not exactly the same aspect ratio. In my example case, the text object
was changed from 15.75pt, 100% aspect to 33.25pt, 96% aspect. Its size
is exactly 40mm by 11.7mm.
We would need another option to allow you to do what you want: Achieve
the given measurement in one direction only, not caring about the
other direction, but still scaling uniformly in both directions. Not
sure what to call that though...
Funnily enough, we are just having discussions at Xara about that very
issue, too, so this is some kind of déjà-vu.
Martin
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Martin Wuerthner MW Software lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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