As with "Textissimo, " OttoPaths is a text oriented product to be used with Photoshop 4 or 5. I, also, tried it in Corel Photo-Paint 8 and it worked perfectly. It is a selection plugin tool. It is not a filter, but is accessed through Photoshop's select menu. Once OttoPaths is selected, then the type is set within this program.

One can use this program whether one is or is not familiar with path functions in raster based programs. Since I do not normally use any type of paths in either Photoshop or Painter, I opted to save my work as a selection or a layer. Using the picture of a clown from KPT Power Photos III, volume 11, I created a series of pictures featuring the word "jump." I saved all of the text as a selection rather than as a path. These can be seen below:

Key features of OttoPaths, along with a short tutorial, are listed on their web site - www.humansoftware.com/pagnew/HSotto1.shtml. Some of these features are: automatic clipping path ability; distortion and movement of words and/or letters; kerning, warping paths within custom envelopes; ability to work in grayscale, RGB, or CMYK; create stars, rectangles, and polygons with adjustable thicknesses; etc. For more information and examples, look at the Human Software's web site.

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