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Basics of Editing

Editing in MediaShout 7 is designed to be very easy and intuitive. If you want to edit something, you simply select the Object you want to edit in the Edit Area and the Edit Ribbon will dynamically change to give you access to the most common tools for the Object. It’s that easy! But let’s dig into each type of object and some of the controls you have in the Edit Ribbon.

Text Objects (Text Box, Lyric Text, Bible Text, etc.)

The Edit Ribbon when working with Text Objects.

The Edit Ribbon when working with Text Objects will give you many common tools.

The top row from left to right is as follows:

Font Selection – use this drop down to choose any one of the fonts installed on your computer.
Font Size – you can select or type any number between 8 and 200 pt.
Font Color – Use this selection to choose any color for your font. You can also use the eyedropper to select a color or manually type in any RGB Hex color value.
Highlight Color – Use this selection to choose any color for highlighting of text. You can also use the eyedropper to select a color or manually type in any RGB Hex color value.
X and Y – This is the X and Y pixel value of the top left corner of the object. For instance, a resolution setting of 1280×720 would mean that the top left is X:0 and Y:0 and the bottom right would be X:1280 and Y:720. So, an object in the top left corner of the screen could have an X:0 and Y:0 value if the top left corner is exactly in the top left of the screen. As a note, the X and Y values follow your resolution settings for the script. In addition, you can have negative values or values greater than the screen resolution for the X and Y to move things off-screen. However, all objects must keep at least 10 pixels by 10 pixels on the edit area, so you can not move objects completely off the edit area and “lose them”.
W and H – This the Width and Height of the object based on pixels. You can increase or decrease this as you prefer to change an object’s size. All Objects have a minimum size of 50 pixels by 50 pixels.
Lock Aspect Ratio – Between the W and H value is a Lock Aspect Ratio toggle. This will lock the Aspect Ratio if you try resizing an object so that it keeps the same aspect it originally had. With this toggled off, you can adjust an object to be skewed or stretched with regard for the Aspect Ratio.
Angle – This selection allows you to rotate an object clockwise between 0 and 360 degrees. 0 degrees is the default angle. Rotating to 90 degrees will put an object on it’s right side. Rotating to 180 degrees will make the object upside down. Rotating to 270 degrees will put an object on it’s left side. Rotating to 360 degrees will place the object back to it’s normal angle.

The bottom row from left to right is as follows:

Bring to Front – This button will change the object’s position in the layers by bringing it to the front above all other objects.
Send to Back – This button will change the object’s position in the layers by sending it to the back behind all other objects. Note: this object will still be above the Background Layer which will ALWAYS be the lowest layer.
Bold – This button will toggle the Bold formatting On/Off for the selected text or entire text box (if the box is selected).
Italic – This button will toggle the Italic formatting On/Off for the selected text or entire text box (if the box is selected).
Underline – This button will toggle the Underline formatting On/Off for the selected text or entire text box (if the box is selected).
Strikethrough – This button will toggle the Strikethrough formatting On/Off for the selected text or entire text box (if the box is selected).
Superscript – This button will toggle the Superscript formatting On/Off for the selected text or entire text box (if the box is selected).
Subscript – This button will toggle the Subscript formatting On/Off for the selected text or entire text box (if the box is selected).
All Caps – This button will convert the selected text or entire text box (if the box is selected) to be All Caps. Toggling this button again will make all text lower case. Note: when using mixed case (upper and lower case) within text, that formatting will be lost when using the All Caps toggle.
Object Placement – This is a quick placement tool to help you place the selected object in one of nine preset locations on your Edit Area. It will physically move the Object to that location, but is an easy way to center your text box on your screen quickly.
Align Text Horizontally – Choose between Left, Center, Right, or Justified Text.
Align Text Vertically – Choose between Top, Middle, or Bottom.
Line Spacing – Choose different line spacing options to spread out text vertically for each line break.
Bullets – Choose one of the various Bullet or Numbering options for lists.
Decrease Indent – If Text is indented, you can use this tool to remove the indent.
Increase Indent – Use this tool to shift text within the text box as a whole group for paragraph purposes.
FX – The FX (Effects) button gives you various advanced controls like Shadow, Outline, Text Box Color, etc. for the selected object.
Presets – Choose a previously saved Preset to apply or create a new Preset with this dropdown. Presets can be used for other similar like-objects (a Text Preset can be used on Text Boxes only, for example).

Media Objects (Images, Videos, etc.)

The Edit Ribbon when working with Media Objects.

The Edit Ribbon when working with Media Objects will give you many common tools you may have noticed when working with Text Objects with the exception of some differences.

The top row from left to right is as follows:

X and Y – This is the X and Y pixel value of the top left corner of the object. For instance, a resolution setting of 1280×720 would mean that the top left is X:0 and Y:0 and the bottom right would be X:1280 and Y:720. So, an object in the top left corner of the screen could have an X:0 and Y:0 value if the top left corner is exactly in the top left of the screen. As a note, the X and Y values follow your resolution settings for the script. In addition, you can have negative values or values greater than the screen resolution for the X and Y to move things off-screen. However, all objects must keep at least 10 pixels by 10 pixels on the edit area, so you can not move objects completely off the edit area and “lose them”.
W and H – This the Width and Height of the object based on pixels. You can increase or decrease this as you prefer to change an object’s size. All Objects have a minimum size of 50 pixels by 50 pixels.
Lock Aspect Ratio – Between the W and H value is a Lock Aspect Ratio toggle. This will lock the Aspect Ratio if you try resizing an object so that it keeps the same aspect it originally had. With this toggled off, you can adjust an object to be skewed or stretched with regard for the Aspect Ratio.
Angle – This selection allows you to rotate an object clockwise between 0 and 360 degrees. 0 degrees is the default angle. Rotating to 90 degrees will put an object on it’s right side. Rotating to 180 degrees will make the object upside down. Rotating to 270 degrees will put an object on it’s left side. Rotating to 360 degrees will place the object back to it’s normal angle.

The bottom row from left to right is as follows:

Bring to Front – This button will change the object’s position in the layers by bringing it to the front above all other objects.
Send to Back – This button will change the object’s position in the layers by sending it to the back behind all other objects. Note: this object will still be above the Background Layer which will ALWAYS be the lowest layer.
Object Placement – This is a quick placement tool to help you place the selected object in one of nine preset locations on your Edit Area. It will physically move the Object to that location, but is an easy way to center your text box on your screen quickly.
Crop – This button allows you to crop your media object (currently only available for images).
FX – The FX (Effects) button gives you various advanced controls like Shadow, Outline, Color, etc. for the selected object (these controls vary by object type).
Presets – Choose a previously saved Preset to apply or create a new Preset with this dropdown. Presets can be used for other similar like-objects (an Image Preset can be used on Images only, for example).


Tips and Tricks with Editing

  1. Don’t forget that you can move objects using your arrow keys 1 pixel at a time. If you hold SHIFT and press your arrow key, it will move it 10 pixels.
  2. You don’t have to highlight all the text in a text box to edit it. Just click the object to select it and then edit in the Edit Ribbon as desired and all the contents will change.
  3. Always remember that the Background Layer (whether it is a Color, Image, or Video) is ALWAYS the lowest layer and can’t be moved from that spot. However, you can always layer any other objects above the Background as you wish.
  4. You can zoom in and out on your Edit Area using the Zoom Slider in the bottom left of the Edit Area. To reset it, simply right-click on the slider bar.
  5. If you use the Stage Display, you can edit the objects on it completely independent of the Main Display. To get to the Stage Display in the Edit Area, just toggle the button in the bottom right of the Edit Area.
  6. Undo is your friend! Almost every task you do in MediaShout 7 is undoable. If you make a mistake, just Undo it.
  7. Check out the Hot Keys page for tons of other great shortcut controls to help you edit your presentation.


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