Feature Requests

[greenmorpher]

I'd like a way to quickly select all the text in an image. For example, given this image:
which has 24 text objects (fitted to paths), it's extremely tedious to change the text colour -- I have to select one text object at a time and apply the colour.

What about using text styles instead of formatting the text directly? Then all you have to do is update the style using another colour, and all text using that text style will change automatically. (When writing new text, make sure you apply the text style once before typing, so that the new text – even in subsequent text layers – will have that style.)

Styles is the way to go in PL and every other program that uses text and offers styles. Since you probably did not use Styles on this occasion, then Martin's solution is simple ad quick.

Cheers, geoff

[photoken]

You can select all of the text layers. If the active tool is not the text tool, you can now modify the color of selected text layers by changing the text color (foreground color) in the toolbox.

I'm looking for a way to quickly select all the text layers, even though they're buried in groups.

For the example I posted, I created the numbered dial by first fitting one number to a diameter line. Then I duplicated and rotated that fitted text twice. Then I grouped those layers and duplicated and rotated that group. Then grouped all the layers and duplicated and rotated that group, and so on, until I had filled the circumference of the circle. Of course, I then had to manually replace the numbers. The layers look like this:

number dial layers.png

As it is, I don't know of a way to select the other text layers at the same time -- "345" text, "330" text, etc.

[photoken]

What about using text styles instead of formatting the text directly? Then all you have to do is update the style using another colour, and all text using that text style will change automatically.

That's an intriguing suggestion. I'll need to experiment with that, but it seems like that should work for changing the other text attributes as well. Thanks. (Of course, after the fact of creating that number dial, the problem still remains of selecting all text layers even when they're buried in groups and subgroups.)

[chrischa]

For the example I posted, I created the numbered dial by first fitting one number to a diameter line. Then I duplicated and rotated that fitted text twice. Then I grouped those layers and duplicated and rotated that group. Then grouped all the layers and duplicated and rotated that group, and so on, until I had filled the circumference of the circle. Of course, I then had to manually replace the numbers.

I tried this and it is no problem to move all text-layers in ONE group after you have finished. The angle will not be affected and changing the color the way Martin suggested works. If you move the layers into one group after every rotation-step, you'll have one flat group in the end.

[photoken]

I tried this and it is no problem to move all text-layers in ONE group after you have finished. The angle will not be affected and changing the color the way Martin suggested works. If you move the layers into one group after every rotation-step, you'll have one flat group in the end.

Yes, and after the fact I can ungroup everything all the way to individual layers.

But the point of my feature request is not to ask about changing the colour of text, but to ask for a way of quickly selecting objects -- all text objects, or all objects meeting certain criteria, etc., regardless of where those objects might be, whether or not they're buried in groups.

[Herbert123]

I tried this and it is no problem to move all text-layers in ONE group after you have finished. The angle will not be affected and changing the color the way Martin suggested works. If you move the layers into one group after every rotation-step, you'll have one flat group in the end.

Yes, and after the fact I can ungroup everything all the way to individual layers.

But the point of my feature request is not to ask about changing the colour of text, but to ask for a way of quickly selecting objects -- all text objects, or all objects meeting certain criteria, etc., regardless of where those objects might be, whether or not they're buried in groups.

+1 - it would be extremely handy if we could filter/search for specific or groups/types of layers somehow.

[photoken]

+1 - it would be extremely handy if we could filter/search for specific or groups/types of layers somehow.

Yes. I don't remember where I once saw that feature, it might have been in Adobe Illustrator, but there was a way to select all objects meeting certain criteria -- point size, colour, line width, etc. I've got CorelDraw X5, and it has a limited version of that feature: Select All...Objects, or Text, or Nodes.

[bkh]

Maybe a bit off topic, but maybe still of interest: such a number dial can be produced using only a single text layer (using a rays vector object and one paragraph per ray)? See the attached file.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[photoken]

Maybe a bit off topic, but maybe still of interest: such a number dial can be produced using only a single text layer (using a rays vector object and one paragraph per ray)? See the attached file.

Wow! That's an excellent technique. I have no idea why it works (seems like the layers are in the wrong order), but it allows some great adjustments. I used "Distort" to center the text exactly on the diameters -- that gives a very precise alignment of the text to the diameter lines, and adding another text box with the option to "Center" the text alignment (left to right) gave the result for the letters.

new number dial 01.png

Many thanks!

[bkh]

Maybe a bit off topic, but maybe still of interest: such a number dial can be produced using only a single text layer (using a rays vector object and one paragraph per ray)? See the attached file.

Wow! That's an excellent technique. I have no idea why it works (seems like the layers are in the wrong order), but it allows some great adjustments.

Quite simple. If the vector graphics contains several subpaths, PL aligns each text paragraph to one subpath, in the order in which the subpaths are defined (you can use "Split Vector Layer"/"Merge Marked Vector Layers" to separate subpaths into vector layers, or to merge subpaths, respectively.)

"Rays" is just a convenient way to generate the subpaths automatically.

Cheers
Burkhard.

[photoken]

Burkhard,
Yeah, for some reason I thought the path had to be directly below the text layer in the stack. That automatic assignment of each paragraph to a subpath is something I never would have expected, and a very powerful feature.

The "Rays" object looks like something I'll be using to draw diameters for circles -- split the rays, delete the unnecessary radii and re-combine. Simple.

Edit:
I just couldn't resist -- here's a numbers dial for the aliens out there :

alien number dial.png

(And the numbers are still text and can be edited. Awesome!)

[bkh]

Burkhard,
Yeah, for some reason I thought the path had to be directly below the text layer in the stack.

You are right, it should be under the text layer. (The documentation appears to be wrong or misleading here – it says "next vector layer", and "next" usually means "above" in the layer dialogue). Seems that I was fortunate since I created text and rays first, and PL decided to use the rays layer anyway. If I had created the black circle first, the text would have been aligned to that. I'll correct the sample file, of course.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[greenmorpher]

Damn! I can think of about a thousand times in the past I could have used this, but see no prospect of using it in the future! Excellent thing.

Cheers, geoff

[photoken]

A new feature request (as suggested by others):
A command to recall the last used lasso.

[Herbert123]

A new feature request (as suggested by others):
A command to recall the last used lasso.

+1

That is one small thing I keep wanting to do on a regular basis.