Page Comparison

• The letters in the various LetterMats all contain the specific characteristics associated to the specific font. Some of the letters are Single line, and some are Outlines.

The letters are formed with Single Lines, not drawn as the outlines of shapes. Single Line LetterMat fonts can only be Debossed or drawn with the Pen.

The Outline LetterMatfonts display the shapes of the letters as outlines with only a slight distinction between the thin and thick strokes.

Mat Designs are complete

• Even with all the decorative elements of the individual fonts, captions can easily be Deboss/Penned smaller than they can be cut, but there may be a few spacing problems that require attention.

• The LetterMats in these collections are set to Deboss using the Thin cartridge. Optionally, you can change it to use either of the other Debossing cartridges or even the Pen cartridge. These tips will be helpful for all LetterMat, not just the LetterMat in this collection.

• Many of the fonts will be set in the design to Deboss using the Thin cartridge, but it can easily be changed to draw with the pen cartridge.

• The recommended minimum height is displayed for each font in the Minimum Height field under Parameters at the left. Note that the Minimum Height field will still display 0.5 inch regardless of the chosen cartridge.

• FrameShop will render even smaller letters than these recommendations, whether debossed or drawn. Test and make sure that the letters are distinct, and the caption remains readable.

• The Kerning setting, the size of the spaces between the letters, will normally be less than around 0.1 inch, often smaller.

• The Tracking setting, the size of the spaces between the words, everyone will have their own vision for typography. Make a few trial captions and experiment to find your preferred settings for this font.

• The example mat files in these collections are here to show ideas for captions under pictures. They are intended to demonstrate the individual features and potential problems of each font.

• The example designs show only the caption; they do not include any openings for pictures. The details of the caption will show more clearly without an opening taking so much space. Once the caption is designed for a project, adding and arranging openings is easy.

• Open a design, notice the settings and the sizes, and follow the steps in the description to see how the caption is constructed.

• The files can be used as the beginnings for your caption projects. Change the words to tell the story of the current project.

• If there are general questions about working with LetterMat, there is a LetterMat Review section at the end of this Reference Sheet that shows the adjustments that can be made to refine the caption on its Properties Tab.

• In this illustrated example, the caption is set to deboss.

• The Height is set to 0.5 inch.

• Keep Aspect Ratio is checked to retain the letters’ original proportions.

• Setting the letter and word spacing is the first step in making any caption look its best.

  • Kerning - the spaces between the letters - is set to 0.05 inch.

  • Tracking - the spaces between the words - is set to 0.3 inch.

• All these settings are made in the left column under the Properties tab.

• Here are suggestions for settings if this caption is set to draw using the pen.

  • Height: 0.4 inch.

  • Keep Aspect Ratio is checked to retain the letters’ original proportions.

  • Kerning: 0.05 inch.

  • Tracking: 0.3 inch.

• The sizes and settings for the captions in the remainder of the examples in this collection are not listed. They vary only a little from the settings in this example. Open a design and look over its Properties to see the specific settings for each example.

• The new FrameShop LetterMat fonts have common punctuation marks so that captions can be complete correct sentences.

• Type the exclamation point, dollar sign, comma, period, apostrophe, question mark, and hyphen on the keyboard to add them to a caption.

• Type the quotation mark key to enter quotation marks at the beginning of a quote.

• Type the apostrophe twice to enter quotation marks at the end of a quote.

• Note that the sizes and settings in these LetterMat designs are often very small – and they are not the usual decimal equivalents of fractions. As you click the plus and minus buttons beside any of the fields, or as you use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move items in these small captions, precision is necessary.

• Remember that it is possible to hold the Alt key on the keyboard as you make these adjustments. The values then change 0.01 inch (0.2mm in metric) per click instead of the usual sixteenth inch (1mm in metric).

• When values are small, a few hundredths of an inch can be a big change.

• The most common use for multiple line captions will be to add information like dates and places to help the casual viewer understand the significance of the pictures.

• Each line of the caption is a separate LetterMat item.

• Copy and Paste is the most efficient way to duplicate a LetterMat item.

• Then make the appropriate changes to the text, size, and settings.

• In this example, the top line is 0.55 inch high in the Debossed version.

• It might be 0.38 inch high in a Pen version.

• The bottom line is 0.3 inch high in the Debossed version, 0.22 inch in a Pen version.

• The bottom line uses the Vienna DB font to contrast with the Thorndike font.

• The Kerning setting is a bit wider than normal to stretch this line.

• Arrange them using the tools under the Alignment tab, just like arranging openings.

• For this arrangement, select both LetterMat lines.

• Click the Alignment tab at the top.

• Then click the Align Objects to Center button at the left.

• The lines’ vertical spacing is dependent on available height and typographical vision.

• Whether it is FrameShop or MatDesigner, the Wizard design program’s main purpose is to align rectangular openings. The program measures the distance between letters as if they, too, were rectangles.

• With the angles and curves of letters, some letter pairs appear incorrectly spaced in the Wizard program. The spacing must be corrected manually to make a caption look its best. Fortunately, the lower case letters of the Thorndike OL font have few glaring spacing problems.

• Some would say that the spacing problems with the Thorndike font are too insignificant to notice, but every framer will evaluate and decide. Whatever the decision, it is good to know what spacing variances do exist and how to fix them.

One method for repairing the spacing is to click the Explode Font button under the Advanced tab. This splits the entire caption so that each letter is a separate LetterMat item. Though everything about each letter is now individually adjustable – size, font, and placement - this option discards the most useful LetterMat utilities of Kerning and Tracking.

A more surgical approach to spacing is to divide the caption into pieces at the incorrect space. Then line up the parts of the caption and move them individually to correct the spacing. Each part of the caption still has Kerning and Tracking control, and no letters will be accidently moved off the baseline.

Remember that this is only an example. Decide in each situation if spacing needs attention.

• Once the manual spacing is complete – with this, or any other LetterMat spacing project - it would be best if the parts remained together as work on the design continues.

• Select the parts of the caption.

• Click the Group Selection button at the upper right under Tools.

• The selected items become locked together. The software will treat them as one item. The entire caption can be moved from place to place in the design without worry that its parts will be accidentally nudged out of place.

• Refining the spacing for capital letters may be the most common use for this manual spacing routine. Names, after all, are a frequent part of the captions picture framers will do. The combinations of adjacent elements that caused spacing issues with lower case letters also cause spacing issues for some of the capital letters in the Thorndike OL font.

• These 2 names demonstrate the same spacing problems with capital letters that were in the lower case letters of the previous example.

• The extended strokes of the T create a wide space when the next letter is short. The angled strokes of letters like the V, W, and Y leave wide spaces when the next letter is small and round.

• The version of each name on the left shows how the program spaces the letters using the Kerning setting.

• The version on the right shows the capital letter as a separate LetterMat item and moved closer to the lower case letters.

• The parts of the name are aligned using the Align Objects to Bottom button, just as in the previous example.

• While the capital letter is separated from the lower case letters, why not make the caption more distinctive and artistic by changing the size and placement? These 4 names all have separate capital letters – and each has a spacing variation.

Jasmine

• There is nothing wrong with this name as it is, but it is a good example for this typographic change.

• Keep Aspect Ratio is checked for the J so that its height can be exaggerated.

• The J is 0.59 inch wide and 0.63 inch high.

• The top of the J is slightly higher than the dot of the i in the lower case letters.

• The name appears normal, except that the curved bottom stroke of the J descends much farther.

Irene

• Letters with vertical right sides seldom cause spacing problems, but they can be good examples to demonstrate positioning options.

• Keep Aspect Ratio for the I is unchecked so that it can be wider and more prominent.

• It is 0.65 inch wide and 0.62 inch high.

• Its bottom is positioned somewhat lower than the baseline of the lower case letters.

Rosiland

• Keep Aspect Ratio for the R is checked. It is 0.56 inch high.

• The lower case letters are lined up with the R so that the o nestles into the angled strokes at the right of the R.

Foster

• Keep Aspect Ratio for the F is unchecked so that it can be disproportionately taller.

• It is 0.52 inch wide and 0.62 inch high.

• The lower case letters are lined up with the F so that the name appears normal, but the vertical stroke of the F descends much farther than normal.

• There are Wizard users in many countries, so the new FrameShop LetterMat fonts include over 50 additional characters - most of the necessary characters for writing correct captions in German, Scandinavian, and the common Romance languages.

• Foreign language characters are typed into a LetterMat caption just as you would type these characters into other text programs.

• Ordinary keyboards do not have all these characters, so each letter has a 4 digit code.

• The code for Ä, a character in Finnish and German, is 0196.

• To enter the Ä into the caption, hold the Alt key on the keyboard.

• Type 0196 - the 4 digit code for the Ä. Be sure to keep holding the Alt key.

• Release the Alt key after the 4 digits have been entered.

• The Ä appears in the caption.

• Continue typing to finish the caption. Enter any other characters using the same steps.

• Alongside the mat designs showing German, Scandinavian, and Romance language captions, there is a table of characters with their 4 digit codes for that illustrated language group.

• At the end of this Reference Sheet, there is a complete table of all the available foreign language characters with their 4 digit codes that can be printed for easy reference.

• Select the LetterMat caption in the design. Click the Properties tab at the top. Here are a few reminders of some important fields down the left side of the screen.

The Caption

• Type the caption into the Text field.

• Select the font by clicking the drop-down arrow at the right of the Font Name field then select the font from the list that appears.

Size

• Enter the letter’s size in the Height field.

• Several items in the Parameters section below are important to understand.

• Look at the Minimum Height

• This field displays the minimum recommended height for the font.

• The machine will form the strokes of smaller debossed and pen letters easily, but keep in mind that the details of smaller letters may be blurred because of the width of the chosen tool.

• This will impact readability.

• Remember that the Minimum Height value does not change if the font is set to draw with the pen - though the caption can be smaller with the pen than if it is debossed.

• Check the Keep Aspect Ratio button.

• This locks the letters’ original proportions. While letters look best at their original proportions, it is a viable option with debossed and pen captions to uncheck Keep Aspect Ratio to condense or expand the caption.

  • Kerning is the size of the spaces between the letters.

  • Tracking is the size of the spaces between the words.

• These two settings will be the key to refining every caption.

Changing the Cartridge

• The button at the bottom that currently reads Deboss is the cartridge selection button. Click it to select the Pen, for example. Below, the Type field offers the choices for each cartridge.

• For example, when Deboss is selected above, click the Type field to pick the Wide, Medium, or Thin debossing cartridge.