A Title is text that is rendered (drawn) into an image file. Rendered titles have the following advantages over text objects:
They can be shaded to add transparency, linear, radial or cylindrical shading
They can be texture or transparency mapped
They can be rotated, skewed and transformed
You can use any font you like.
Titles have the following limitations:
Since a title is rendered as an image file, it will take longer to download
Titles can only have a single font and size
Titles cannot include text links inside the title. You can however assign a link to the whole title object.
Because it creates an image file, a title is best used as a high quality header. Text objects are best used for large blocks of formatted text such as you are reading now.
To create a new title, select the Title button on the Tools toolbar at the left or select Title from the Object menu at the top of the page.
Changing a title
Double-click the title "Unshaded Title" above. Edit it so that it says "Shaded Title"
Check the box Anti-Alias. Small titles look better with anti-alias off; larger ones (like we're about to make) look better with it on
Press OK to exit the Title Editor
Use your mouse to make the bounding box a little larger. Drag an edge or corner. The text should increase in size to fit the box. Drag the middle of the title with your mouse to move it so that you can see it and read these instructions at the same time
Select the Quick Editor from the Tools toolbar to the left
Click the Shading tab on the Quick Editor. Notice that because the title is black, it has [no shading] showing in the drop-down list of shades in the Quick Editor.
...
Click the "Create New Shading Object" button (bottom left of the Quick Editor) to add shading to the Title. The title should now be invisible -- is now white, and probably on a white background. All the color sliders are at the 255 position which is white
You could have omitted the above step, because you would automatically get a new shade when you take the next step
Adjust the RGB sliders in the Quick Editor Shading dialog to change the color. You will see the change in the title as you make them
To pick an existing shading, open the Shading Editor > Selection tab > and select from the "Current Shading" drop-down list box.
Gradient fill for titles -- shading
Gradient fill for titles is the same as gradient fill for other objects.
Select the Quick Editor > Shading tab and try some gradient fills on the title just above.
Anti-aliasing titles
Select the Quick Editor > Object tab
When you check the Anti-Alias box, the Title will be anti-aliased when you publish or preview your project. (The jaggies will be smoothed out.)
With High Render work window checked, all anti-aliased objects will be displayed with anti-aliasing on your workpage. This will show you the quality of the title when you publish. But it may make the workpage sluggish, especially if you are working with a large project or on a slow computer -- if so, you may wish to leave the High Render box unchecked.
Select the "Shaded Title" object again if it is not the current object. Rotate it by one of these methods:
Use Ctrl + Arrow Keys Hold the Ctrl Key on your keyboard, then press the Up or Down keyboard arrows. As you do, the title will rotate.
Quick Editor > Object tab Either enter an angle into the Rotate box or use the adjacent Up/Down arrows.
Rotate and Skew tool Click the rotate and skew tool at the top left of left toolbar. Identify the rotate handles of the title and rotate it by dragging. More on Rotating.
As you rotate the title, it may display significant aliasing at different angles. Check the High Render check box to view the quality of the title when it is published. Titles rotated to 45 degrees will generally produce larger image files than titles that have 0 or 90 degree rotations.
If you find one or more of these processes sluggish, uncheck the High Render box in the Quick editor to improve the performance of the workpage.
Skewing titles Skew a title in the same way as you would skew an image.
Titles as outlines (Convert to Path) It is possible to outline titles as shown above. To do this:
Create your title in the usual way
Right click on the title
Select Convert to Path from the context menu
Open the Quick Editor > Outline tab and set the outline thickness and color
Open the Quick Editor > Shading tab, and select either [no shading] as in the example, or body color(s) of your choice
This is one-way process -- you can Convert to Path, but you can't go back to a Title. If you don't see the Convert to Path option, you may have already converted that title.
See also: Titles as Paths
Image formats for titles Titles can be created using any of the available file formats set as discussed in the image tutorial.
