Documentation/HowTo/Draw/Fontwork

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    What is the Fontwork tool?

    See this FAQ entry.

    How do I create a Fontwork object?

    See this FAQ entry.

    How do I modify a Fontwork object?

    Selecting a Fontwork object

    A click with the left mouse button on a Fontwork object allows you to select it.

    A selected Fontwork object is surrounded by seven blue squares, called "handles", which allow it to be resized and a yellow dot. The latter allows the letters composing the object to be dragged:

    screenshot with a selected Fontwork object surrounded by seven blue squares and a yellow dot

    Using the Fontwork Toolbar

    You have created a Fontwork object, and you want to change some of its attributes.

    To do this, you will use the Fontwork toolbar.

    Make sure the Fontwork toolbar (shown in figure 1) is visible.

    If it is not present, select the View ▸ Toolbar ▸ Fontwork menu.

    The various tools will allow you to easily and quickly modify your Fontwork objects.

    FR.FAQ Draw IcôneFormesFontwork.png Fontwork Shape Allows you to modify the shape of the object selected among the styles proposed by the palette of different shapes (Figure 1):

    screenshot of the Fontwork Shape Styles palette
    Figure 1: Palette of different styles of Fontwork shapes

    FR.FAQ Draw IcôneLettresMêmeHauteur.png Identical height for Fontwork letters Changes the height of characters in the object.

    Toggles between normal letter height and all letters of the same height (some characters are larger than others, e.g. upper case, or some lower case such as f, h, l, etc.):

    screenshot with two views, the first with normal letters, the second with letters having identical height

    FR.FAQ Draw IcôneAlignement.png Alignment Allows you to change the character alignment:

    screenshot of the Fontwork Alignment submenu
    Figure 2: Fontwork Alignment submenu

    You can therefore in order: Align Left, Center, Align Right, and Justify Text.

    Note: The effects of text alignment are only visible if the object has two or more lines.

    With the last option of the Alignment sub-menu, click on the entry FR.FAQ Draw EntréeElémentJustifié.png, so that each line of the Fontwork object will be filled completely as shown in the figure below:

    screenshot of justified stretching of the Fontwork object on two lines

    Tip: To make a multi-line Fontwork object, press ↵ Enter for each desired line break as shown below:

    screenshot, two views: the line breaks and the result on three lines

    FR.FAQ draw IcôneEspacementCaractères.png Character spacing Allows you to change the spacing and kerning of characters:

    screenshot of Fontwork object's character spacing submenu
    Figure 3: Fontwork object character spacing submenu

    Select the desired spacing and whether kerning pairs are used. For custom spacing, enter a percentage value: 100% is the normal percentage; below 100% is narrow spacing, above 100% is wide spacing.

    Note  : The kerning or approach adjustment allows for subdivisions and spacing.

    This operation consists of reducing or increasing the spacing between letters in order to harmonise the appearance of the handwriting, for example for the letters W and a.

    The kerning tables contain information indicating which pairs of letters require greater spacing.

    These tables are usually embedded in fonts.

    Using the toolbar Drawing object properties

    With Writer, for example, if you click on an existing Fontwork object, the Drawing Object Properties toolbar replaces the Formatting toolbar to display the Fontwork options.

    The content of this toolbar may vary depending on the LibreOffice module used.

    screenshot of the Drawing Object Properties toolbar

    Using this toolbar, you will be able to access advanced functions for customising your Fontwork object.

    • Click on a Fontwork shape. The toolbar ' Drawing object properties changes, displaying the characteristics of this object, and thus offering many alternatives for its edition (in particular if you use Fontwork in the Writer module).
    • On the toolbar Drawing object properties you have a whole range of tools for the personalization of your object.

    Note : All these options are the same as for other Draw drawing objects.

    Line options

    FR.FAQ Draw IcôneLigneFontwork.jpg Line Tool Opens a dialog with three tabs:

    Line, Line Styles, and Arrow Styles (Figure 4).

    • Use the Line tab to modify the most common properties of the line surrounding each letter of the selected Fontwork object, by choosing from the default styles, including line style, colour, width and transparency.
    screenshot with three views, the first with the default letters, the second: modified color, and the third: identical modified width
    • Use the Line Style tab to modify the existing line styles or create new ones which will then be available in the Line Style drop-down menu of the Line tab.

    Note  : The Arrow Styles tab will not be discussed here as it is not relevant to a Fontwork shape.

    Attention : Only assign line properties to Fontwork objects that don´t have 3D effects, as changes will not be visible. !

    Line style : FR.FAQ Draw BoîteDialogueSytleLigne.png Choose from the available line styles.
    Line colour : FR.FAQ Draw BoîteDialogueCouleurLigne.png Choose the colour of the line.
    Line width : FR.FAQ Draw BoîteDialogueLargeurLigne.png Set the width of the line.
    Line transparency : FR.FAQ Draw IcôneTransparenceDeLigne.png Define the degree of transparency of the line.

    screenshot of options in the Line dialog
    Figure 4: Options in the Line dialog

    Filling options

    FR.FAQ Draw IcôneRemplissage.png Filling tool Opens a dialog with seven tabs: Fill, Shadow, Transparency, Colors, Gradients, Hatching, and Bitmaps (Figure 5).

    These options allow you to fill in each letter of the Fontwork object.

    Here are some examples of filling with a defined colour, a drop shadow, a degree of transparency, a bitmap, and a colour gradient respectively:

    screenshot showing a defined color, drop shadow, degree of transparency, bitmap, and color gradient
    • Fill Tab: Choose from the drop-down list a colour, a gradient, hatching or a bitmap texture to fill each letter of the selected object.
    • 'Shadow Tab: Click on the check box Apply shadow, and adjust the parameters such as distance, colour and transparency to bring to the shadow of the object.
    • 'Transparency Tab: Define a degree of transparency to bring to the selected object.
    • Colours tab: Modify the available colours or add new ones to the palette. These colours will then be available in the drop-down list of the Fill tab.
    • Gradients Tab: Modify the available gradients or add new ones without forgetting to name them. These gradients will then be available in the drop-down list of the Fill tab.
    • Hatch Tab: Modify the available hatching or add new ones without forgetting to name them. These hatchings will then be available in the drop-down list of the Fill tab.
    • Bitmaps : Create simple bitmap patterns (textures) or import them, to make them available in the drop-down list of the Fill tab.
    screenshot of Fill dialog
    Figure 5: Options in the Fill dialog

    Note : The Line and Fill tools are also accessible from the Line and Fill toolbar.

    Fontwork object position options

    FR.FAQ Draw IcônePivoter.jpg Rotate tool Allows you to manually rotate the selected object using the mouse.

    Use the red handles around the image and move the mouse in the direction you wish to rotate.

    screenshot showing rotation of a Fontwork object

    By default, the image is rotated around its centre (symbolised by a black test pattern), but you can change the pivot point by moving it to the desired centre of rotation.

    screenshot with detail of the pivot point

    FR.FAQ Draw IcôneDisposer.png Arrange tool Allows you to arrange your graphic object to determine its vertical position relative to other graphic objects (rarely used for Fontwork objects) or text.

    This tool has six icons:

    screenshot of the Arrange tool icons
    Icons of the Arrange tool
    • Send to the front: Places the selected object above any other image or text.
    • 'Send forward: Places the selected object one level higher in the stack. Depending on the number of overlapping objects, it will be necessary to click several times on this icon to obtain the desired result.
    • 'Send backwards: Moves the selected object one level lower in the stack of objects.
    • 'Send to the back: Moves the object selected at the very bottom of the stack so that the other objects or the text covers it.
    • 'In the foreground: Places the selected object in front of the text.
    • 'In the background: Places the selected object behind the text.

    FR.FAQ Draw ModifierAncrage.png Modify Anchor Tool Allows you to change the object anchoring, allowing you to anchor Fontwork objects as a character or to a page, paragraph or character.

    To the page : The object keeps the same position in relation to the margins of the page. It will not move even if you add or delete text or other objects such as images.
    To the paragraph : The object is associated with a paragraph and moves with it. It can be placed in the margin or in another location.
    To character : The object is associated with a character but is not a text sequence. It moves with the paragraph and can be placed in the margin or somewhere else (this method is similar to anchoring to the paragraph but cannot be used with drawing objects).
    As character : The object is placed in the document like any other character affecting "text line height and line feed".

    The object will move with the paragraph as you add or delete text before it.

    FR.FAQ Draw IcôneGrouper.png Grouping tool Allows you to group the selected objects, so that you can manage them as a single object (keyboard shortcut Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + G Draw and Print modules).

    Note : This icon is only available (not grayed out) if the objects are previously selected with the combination of ⇧ Shift + click on each object.

    FR.FAQ Draw IcôneDissocier.png Ungroup tool Allows you to separate the selected objects, so that you can manage them individually (keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + ⇧ Shift + G Draw and Print modules).

    Using the "Format menu"

    You can use some of the options seen in the previous sections from the Format menu to anchor, align, reflect horizontally and vertically, organize and group selected Fontwork objects.

    screenshot of the Format menu
    The Format menu

    Using the context menu

    You can also right-click on a Fontwork object to get most of the options in a context menu.

    Moreover, this contextual menu provides quick access to the tools Line, Fill, Position and Size, etc.

    screenshot of the context menu
    Context menu

    Note : The Text dialog offers only a few options for Fontwork objects and is not discussed here.

    Instead, the context menu (as well as the Format menu) offers the entry FR.FAQ Draw EntréePositionEtTaille.png or the keyboard shortcut F4. (Draw and Print modules) which opens the Position and size dialog allowing you to determine precise values for the size and position of the selected Fontwork object:

    screenshot of the Position and Size dialog
    The Position and Size dialog

    How do I resize and move a Fontwork object?

    See this FAQ entry.