Object toolbox

This cluster of four Title Editor tool buttons is located at left below the Edit Window.

The first tool (the arrow) is used for all editing operations upon the currently-selected object. A selected object is surrounded by a number of control points with which you can change its size, position, proportions, and other geometrical features.

The other three tools are for creating objects in the Edit Window – text boxes, ellipses and rectangles.

Each is used in the same general way. Click one of the three tools, then click the Edit Window at the point where one corner of the object should be. Drag the mouse to outline the new object as indicated by the dotted line.

When the object has the size and proportions you want, release the mouse. Whatever its type, the object is created with the specified dimensions. Its other attributes – color, shading, shadow, etc. – are determined by the currently selected look in the Title Editor Album. All attributes can later be changed at will.

After the object is created, the object tool you used deselects, and the selection arrow again becomes active. The object itself is selected – shown in the usual way by its control points – and can now be manipulated with the mouse.

About text objects

Selecting a text object is different in one important way from selecting a rectangle or ellipse: the object’s text field is put into a “ready” state in which any keyboard activity will cause the field to activate and start displaying the input text.

The activation of the text field is indicated by a text insertion cursor, the changed appearance of the object frame, and the disappearance of the control points.

When a text object is not selected, you can activate its text field directly by clicking in the middle of the object. If you want the selection frame and control points to appear, you must click on the edges of the object. With other types of object, you can click anywhere in an object to select it.

To deactivate a text field, click anywhere in the Edit Window outside the text object.

Because text plays a central role in most titles and menus, the Text Editor will automatically create and activate a text object in the center of the Edit Window if you simply begin typing at a time when no text object already exists.