Word Art Anomaly, or Am I Dreaming?

[SkipVought]

Hello fellow Office users.

Way back when (well, in the recorded history of mankind, not so far back), as I recall (or am I dreaming) I was able to insert a Word Art object, type in a string, position the object and stretch or compress the width and/or height to distort the text. Not talkin' 'bout making circles of text, just changing the width & height…

Now I achieved this by taking a screenshot and then Inserting that picture and stretching or compressing the picture. But I could swear that I remember doing this via Word Art.

What say you? Am I going out of my mind as I approach my 8th decade?

Skip,
[sub]
Just traded in my OLD subtlety...
for a NUance![/sub]
"The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible" A. Einstein

You Matter...
unless you multiply yourself by the speed of light squared, then...
You Energy!

 

[Mike Lewis]

Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for, but ...

1. Select the WordArt box.

2. On the Drawing Tools / Format menu, look for the button which I have highlighted with a red circle (it's the bottom of three button, just to the right of the WordArt Styles button).

3. Click that button, and choose Transform.

4. Look for the transformation that reflects what you want.

Here's one that I just tried. It's not what you wanted, but you might be able to combine it with another effect:

Of course, it all depends which version of Word you are using. (I did the above with 2010.)

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[dhookom]

Skip,
What are describing works for me with Office Professional 2016.

Duane
Minnesota
Hook'D on Access
MS Access MVP 2001-2016

 

[SkipVought]

In my Office version, 2019, I can't get any of those Word Art methods to squeeze or expand characters.

So here's what I'm doing for you hobbyists out there. I'm planning to cut chess pieces from 1" x 1" x 1.5" to 2.5".

I used Courier New. Typed a string of all the characters I'll need at 166 font size, did a screen Print and then cropped and saved each character.

I already had a pattern that I sized for the size blocks I'll be using. I Inserted each character I had saved and positioned and sized to fit a character sitting on each piece base.

I'll be doing a compound cut.

On one side, I'll cut a chess piece shape. On the adjacent side an alphabetic character.

Here's an example of the king, queen and 2 bishops...

The dotted line is the edge of the block. It's obvious that the darker gray is the piece shape, but on the adjacent (right) side, the character is in black. The tricky part is that there are interior cuts on the adjacent face as follows:

King: The X is set on a base, so there's an interior cut that looks like an up-pointing arrow and there's a cross on the top of the piece, so there's an interior cut that looks like a down-pointing arrow. But that cut must not be so close to the top to remove the cross. I will actually have to carve away some of the material between the upper serifs.

Queen: The A on the base has 2 interior cutouts.

Bishop R: The N on the base has 1 interior cutout.

This will be part of a hand-made scroll sawed chess set I'm planning to make for a family member that will include a custom finger joint partitioned box with a chessboard top. If I'm able, I hope to scroll saw an inlay on the chessboard top of Euler's Identity, since the recipient is doing his doctorate in mathematics. The characters will spell the recipient's name.

Skip,
[sub]
Just traded in my OLD subtlety...
for a NUance![/sub]
"The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible" A. Einstein

You Matter...
unless you multiply yourself by the speed of light squared, then...
You Energy!

 

[MakeItSo]

Hi Skip,

adding to Mike's suggestion: choos "Transform", then "Rectangle".
This should basically leave your optics unaltered but give you an option to stretch/compress. You might need to play a bit because of automatic wrap.

Hope this helps.
MakeItSo

"Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family." (Kofi Annan)
Oppose SOPA, PIPA, ACTA; measures to curb freedom of information under whatever name whatsoever.

 

[SkipVought]

Patrick, weep not for me. I am an 80 year old, not so much a "dude" as a "guy!"

I would have no doubt that you are a serious person. But I have no idea why your level of seriousness is of any relevance to my question. Maybe the sound of one hand clapping?

Skip,
[sub]
Just traded in my OLD subtlety...
for a NUance![/sub]
"The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible" A. Einstein

You Matter...
unless you multiply yourself by the speed of light squared, then...
You Energy!