controlling the size on the shadow feature.

dargus

I seem to be having trouble controlling the size on the shadow feature.   Version 3.2.1.    I have not had this problem in the past and it does not happen always, but my shadow is way larger than I would like but I can't change it.   Any suggestions.
Thanks. 

Liz_A

@dargus Can you apply a shadow the way you want with a regular shape from  Basic Shapes? I don't have that version installed, and at this point, I am not going to (in the middle of getting ready to migrate south). Show screen shots, showing the settings you are trying to apply and to what.

dargus

There is a little shadow icon at the bottom and when you click on it a shadow appears behind text or object.   There is also another small box that opens that has a slider bar which allows you to change the size of the shadow.   There is also a spot that indicates the size of the shadow in inches.   But when I follow the normal steps, the shadow is not controlable  and I can not make is smaller.   The shadow is so large that it fills in all the openings  in the letters and looks way too large.   Normally you can just adjust the slider bar and choose how much or how little of a shadow you want.  

Liz_A

@dargus - if you know how little you want it, you can just type that number in. So for a 1/4 inch = 0.25 choose in. For other options click the drop down and choose mm or cm. You can also put a - in front of the number like -0.25 to get an inset shadow.

SandyMcC

@Liz_A, wasn't there a time when you couldn't type in the size in MTC?  That's what I'm vaguely remembering... there was only a slider bar.  In a later version, you could enter the size by typing it in.

@dargus, once you click on the size slider bar once, see if you can then use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the slider in small increments.  If left/right arrows do not work, try the up/down arrow keys. 
 

dargus

Thanks for the replies.   Tonight i tried your suggestion about using the arrow keys and it did reduce the size of the shadow, but would only go so far. 
Then I started to play with it more and put in lots of the same words and kept trying the shadow button.   It was strange and as I said before I have been having issues with the shadow off and on.   I have been using this program for years and never had any issues with the shadows.   Normally I just manually move the letters apart to the shadows don't touch and then go ahead an make the shadow the size i want.   But lately I have been unable to control the shadow size.    Soon as I hit the shadow button it just goes wild and makes a large shadow.    So in some places it worked as before and in others it did not. Tonight  I was able to get it to work and will be able to use the cut.   I have no idea why it's not working like before.   I do have the old program and was never able to adjust the size by typing in the number.  A friend has been encouraging me to use silhouette software.    She helped me make the letters I needed, but I had to send her the file so she could change it to an svg file as the basic program (free) will not do it.  There is a big learning curve so I don't know if I am ready to make that leap.  Thanks again. 

SandyMcC

You STILL should be able to type in whatever size you want.  Here are two videos for you to watch:





Sandy