[Hall of tricks]

Adding text in to image to say what it's about can be useful. In certain case, however, it could hide some details of that picture. I came up with an extremely easy way to add see-through text while you can still read it. In the following example, you can see relatively clearly the text San Francisco as well as the bridge behind it. A frame was added to finish up the picture.

What is interesting with that method, is that it could be done with any object (text or path) that can be turned into a selection. Here, the keyword is selection. You'll see why in a minute.

Note: I did this in PI 5.0 but the instructions will be in PI 4.2. The image and the frame are only available in PI 5.0. If you have PI 4.2, select another image and the frame of your choice.

Open your image in PhotoImpact. If you can't find one quickly, the PhotoImpact Albums contain hundreds of interesting ones (on the CD).

• Click the Text Tool.
• Click anywhere in the image and type the text.
• Select a nice font and font size.
• From the Mode drop-down list, choose Selection.

Using your mouse drag the selection where you want the text to be. The more details and contrast the better (in my humble opinion) the effect. For instance, in the above picture part of the bridge structure and cables pass through the selection. Amazingly enough, we're almost done.

• From the Web menu, choose Button Designer then Any Shape.
• As a suggestion, set the dialog box as follow. If you set the Bevel Smoothness too high, the text will be harder to see. As well, set the Light elevation to a value around 35 to make the text slightly darker.

• Click OK.
• Right-click in your image and choose Merge All.

There you go. This effect doesn't work well with all kinds of pictures and fonts. You'll have to experiment. The following image is another interesting example. Notice how the texture on the marble blends with text. In this exercise, I added a very light shadow to add to the illusion of relief.