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Some time ago I managed to add this text (see below) to a logo at 512 x 512 px. I reproduced the black text using Arial Bold 200 with kerning at -20 in Paintshop Pro.

However, if I try to feather, expand or contract in Paintshop Pro or Photoshop, I end up with a much more rounded inner area (shown in white below). I've also tried using a smaller font, but I can't get it to match the right size of the black border.

My question is, how do I produce the outlined text (as shown below), where the black text is at the size mentioned above, in Paintshop Pro or Photoshop?

I need to generate a much larger image, 1024 x 1024 px, so I can't just scale it up as it will look awful.

Note that although I have scaled up this image for the benefit of this question, the text is anti-aliased in the final image.

enter image description here

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Not sure this is easily accomplished in Photoshop. Seems Photoshop wants to round any stroke or path you apply to text unless it's to the inside of text. Perhaps PSP doesn't have the rounding issue Photoshop does. Are you certain you didn't use any vector app to create the text? – Scott Sep 5 '12 at 0:32
No paint shop pro will round too. I'm really not sure how I accomplished this. I did look into word art in ms word, but I doesn't look like this exact style is possible. The only other tool I had was gimp, which I haven't yet explored as I didn't realise it would be difficult for photoshop or psp. – Jules Sep 5 '12 at 6:04

2 Answers

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I think it might be beyond Photoshop's capabilities. The effect can't be done with usual border algorithms, since they'll always fail at the corners for this. They treat corners as points, and draw an arc with the set radius around it, thus making things round.

There might be an outline font for that somewhere, or you could try to find another program to do it.

Adobe Illustrator works quite nicely:

Word FREE outlined

White background with black stroke on default settings (Miter Join for corners).

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Yup :) That's why I asked if Jules was certain it wasn't a vector app that created it. The sharp corners are no issue with vectors. – Scott Sep 5 '12 at 8:32
I don't have Abode Illustrator :( – Jules Sep 5 '12 at 11:28
@Jules, you can get identical results with free Inkscape too, though the interface is a bit confusing at first. Had to download and test it just for this... :-) – Hrulga Sep 5 '12 at 21:32
Just before I accept this answer I'd like to add a note, just I case I lose my notes or it may help someone else. Once you have added the text and got it the right size. Click the object menu and select fill / stroke, a dialog will appear. Set the inner most colour on the first tab and the outer colour on the second tab and on the third tab select a width 13.4, mitre of 4 was set for me by default – Jules Sep 6 '12 at 12:56
up vote 1 down vote

@Jules: You can do it in Photoshop CS6, but it's a little unintuitive.

  1. Type your text
  2. Select Text > Convert to Shape
  3. Select any of the Shape tools
  4. In the (Shape Tool) Option Bar, change the Stroke to a color (and size)
  5. Click on the line next to Stroke, this is your Stroke Properties
  6. Set the properties as you'd like

Done... and non-destructive (except for the converting the text to a shape).

I hope this helps. Cheers!

enter image description here

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Wheres Convert to Shape ? – Jules Sep 5 '12 at 12:19
Ahh found it layer, type, convert to shape – Jules Sep 5 '12 at 12:29
Stroke propeties ? I don't think I have that in CS version 8 – Jules Sep 5 '12 at 12:37
Ahhh found layer style and stroke, where I can select the size and position : inside, and full colour, but I don't have corners, so I still get the rounding effect :( ?? – Jules Sep 5 '12 at 12:40
@Jules ... The options Kevin points out are only available in Photoshop CS6 (13). – Scott Sep 5 '12 at 22:46
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