Hot New Canva Apps | Ep. 10 - Text Maker, Tracer, FontFrame

Summary

In this episode of 'Hot New Canva Apps', Ronnie reviews three standout apps from the Canva Marketplace. 'Text Maker' offers a variety of text effects with extensive customization options, though with some limitations. 'Tracer' simplifies converting images to editable SVGs, perfect for logos but less precise for intricate designs. Lastly, 'Font Frame' allows for creative word art with image backgrounds, offering unique text effects but lacking in outline color customization. Each app is rated, providing viewers with a clear understanding of their utility and potential drawbacks.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video script is a review of three new apps on the Canva marketplace by a Canva Guru named Ronnie.
• 📝 The first app, 'Text Maker', allows users to create various text effects with a high level of customization including fonts, colors, and alignment.
• 🎨 'Text Maker' offers preset text effects categorized into styles like 3D, Gold, Comic, Graffiti, Neon, Retro, Metal, Fire, and Tattoo.
• 🔍 Users can preview text effects and customize the fill, outline, shadow, and 3D depth colors to personalize their text.
• 📐 A downside of 'Text Maker' is that designs are lost when the user navigates away from the app, requiring re-creation from scratch.
• 🌐 The second app, 'Tracer', converts images into editable SVG files, which is useful for logos and allows for color changes and scaling.
• 🏢 'Tracer' is particularly useful for graphic designers working with client logos that are not originally in vector format.
• 🚫 'Tracer' has limitations with intricate logos and a file size limit of 4MB, which may affect its usability with high-resolution images.
• 🖼️ The third app, 'Font Frame', creates word art with images as the background, offering a fun and easy way to produce text with visual impact.
• 🌈 'Font Frame' allows users to adjust the font, outline thickness, and reposition the image to focus on specific parts for creative effects.
• 💡 The reviewer wishes 'Font Frame' had the option to change the color of the outlines for additional customization.
• 🌟 The video concludes with Ronnie giving 'Text Maker' a 3.5 out of 5 stars, 'Tracer' a 4 out of 5 stars, and 'Font Frame' a 4 out of 5 stars, highlighting their usefulness and creative potential.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video script?

The video script focuses on reviewing three new apps on the Canva app Marketplace that caught the presenter's attention: Text Maker, Tracer, and Font Frame.

What does the Text Maker app allow users to do?

The Text Maker app allows users to create different kinds of preset text effects with a high level of customization options for colors, fonts, alignment, and line spacing.

How does the Tracer app function?

The Tracer app converts images, most likely PNGs or JPEGs, into editable SVG files, which are vectorized and allow for more flexibility such as color changes and resizing.

What is a specific use case for the Tracer app mentioned in the script?

A specific use case for the Tracer app is when a graphic designer needs to change the color of a client's logo that is provided in JPEG or PNG format, and does not have the original SVG file.

What limitations does the Tracer app have according to the script?

The Tracer app has limitations when working with more intricate logos, thinner elements, or logos with very thin fonts, as the tracing may not be as precise. It also has a 4-megabyte limit for the original files.

What is the main feature of the Font Frame app?

The main feature of the Font Frame app is to create vibrant text with an image in the background of the fonts, allowing users to upload their own images as the background for word art.

What customization options are available in the Font Frame app?

In the Font Frame app, users can customize the text, choose a file for the background image, change the font, adjust the thickness of the outline, and modify the letter spacing and line height.

What is one thing the presenter wishes could be improved in the Font Frame app?

The presenter wishes that the color of the outlines in the Font Frame app could be changed, as it currently remains black and does not offer customization.

What rating did the presenter give to the Text Maker app and why?

The presenter gave the Text Maker app a 3.5 out of five rating because, while it offers easy text effects and high customization, it has downsides such as losing the design when clicking out of the app and unclear font selection.

What rating did the presenter give to the Tracer app and what are the reasons for this rating?

The presenter gave the Tracer app a four-star rating out of five because it solves a major problem in Canva by allowing the conversion of logos into SVG files, but it has limitations with intricate logos and file size restrictions.

What rating did the presenter give to the Font Frame app and what are the reasons for this rating?

The presenter gave the Font Frame app a four out of five star rating because it is easy to use, fun to play with, and can achieve cool results, but the inability to change the color of the outlines was seen as a missed opportunity for improvement.

Outlines

00:00

📱 Exploring New Canva Apps: Text Maker Review

In this segment, Ronnie, the Canva Guru, introduces the viewers to the 'Text Maker' app from the Canva Marketplace. This app is designed to create a variety of preset text effects, offering customization options for typography, color, and alignment. Ronnie demonstrates the process of selecting an effect, customizing the text, and choosing a font from Canva's library. He also discusses the app's ability to adjust fill, outline, shadow, and 3D depth colors, emphasizing the high level of personalization available. However, he notes the inconvenience of losing the design when navigating away from the app and the somewhat unclear font selection process.

05:01

🖼️ Tracer App: Converting Images to Editable SVGs

The second app reviewed is 'Tracer,' which converts images into editable SVG files, providing flexibility for color changes and resizing. Ronnie explains the app's simple interface and its utility in graphic design, particularly when working with client logos. He showcases how to trace an image and adjust the threshold for better results. While the app excels with simple logos, Ronnie points out its limitations with intricate designs and thin fonts, which may result in a loss of detail. Despite these drawbacks, the app's ability to vectorize logos without the original SVG file is highly praised, earning it a 4-star rating.

10:03

🌄 Font Frame App: Creating Text with Background Images

The final app discussed is 'Font Frame,' which allows users to overlay text on images, creating vibrant word art. Ronnie demonstrates how to input text, select an image from Canva's elements, and adjust the image's position and scale to fit the text. He also mentions the ability to change the font and outline thickness, though he expresses a desire for the option to alter the outline color. The app's ease of use and potential for creative results are highlighted, with Ronnie appreciating that it doesn't reset work when switching tabs. The app receives a 4-star rating for its versatility and user-friendly design.

Keywords

💡Canva App Marketplace

The Canva App Marketplace is a platform within the Canva design tool where users can discover and integrate additional applications to enhance their design experience. In the video, the host explores new apps published on this marketplace, indicating its importance as a source for design-related apps and its relevance to the video's theme of reviewing design apps.

💡Text Effects

Text effects refer to the various stylistic treatments applied to text to make it visually appealing or to convey a certain mood. In the context of the video, text effects are a core feature of the 'Text Maker' app, which allows users to create preset text effects like 'Retro' and 'Greeny' to enhance their designs with unique typography.

💡Customization

Customization is the process of adapting or tailoring a product or content to meet specific needs or preferences. The video emphasizes the high level of customization available in the 'Text Maker' app, allowing users to personalize text effects through options like font choice, text alignment, and color adjustments.

💡SVG

SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics, a file format for vector graphics that can be scaled to any size without loss of quality. The 'Tracer' app mentioned in the script converts images into editable SVG files, which is significant for graphic designers as it allows for greater flexibility and manipulation of the image's colors and shapes.

💡Threshold

In the context of image processing, the threshold is a value that separates an image into foreground and background. The 'Tracer' app uses a threshold to determine how much of an image is vectorized, with the script demonstrating how adjusting the threshold can affect the outcome of the traced image.

💡Word Art

Word art is a visual representation of text where the letters are stylized or arranged in a decorative manner. The 'Font Frame' app, as described in the video, creates word art by allowing users to overlay text over images, creating a visually appealing combination of typography and imagery.

💡Typography

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible and appealing. The video script discusses typography in relation to the 'Text Maker' app, where users can select from various text effects and fonts to create visually engaging text designs.

💡Color Palette

A color palette refers to a range of colors selected for use in a design to create harmony and consistency. The script mentions a color palette created by the host, which is used to fill the text effects in the 'Text Maker' app, demonstrating the app's capability for color customization.

💡Vectorization

Vectorization is the process of converting an image into a vector format, which allows for infinite scalability without loss of quality. The 'Tracer' app's primary function, as discussed in the video, is to vectorize images, making them more versatile for design purposes.

💡Design App

A design app is a software tool that helps users create visual content, often with features for editing images, text, and graphics. The video script reviews three design apps, 'Text Maker', 'Tracer', and 'Font Frame', each offering unique functionalities for enhancing design work within the Canva platform.

💡Rating

In the context of the video, a rating is a numerical score given by the host to evaluate the apps based on their features, usability, and effectiveness. The host provides ratings for each app, such as 3.5 out of five for 'Text Maker' and four out of five for both 'Tracer' and 'Font Frame', indicating their overall assessment of the apps.

Highlights

Introduction to the 'Hot New Canva Apps' series and the review of three new apps.

Review of the 'Text Maker' app, which offers various preset text effects.

Demonstration of how to use 'Text Maker' to create text effects with different customization options.

The ability to customize text alignment, line height, and letter spacing in 'Text Maker'.

Customization of fill, outline, shadow, and 3D depth colors in 'Text Maker'.

The issue of losing design progress when switching tabs in 'Text Maker'.

Rating 'Text Maker' with 3.5 out of 5 stars for its pros and cons.

Introduction of 'Tracer', an app that converts images into editable SVG files.

Use case of 'Tracer' for changing the color of client logos in different formats.

Limitations of 'Tracer' when dealing with intricate logos or thin fonts.

The creative potential of 'Tracer' for artistic effects with images.

Rating 'Tracer' with 4 out of 5 stars for its usefulness in specific scenarios.

Overview of 'Font Frame', an app for creating text with image backgrounds.

How to use 'Font Frame' to overlay images on text for unique word art.

The flexibility of 'Font Frame' in terms of font choice and text customization.

The limitation of 'Font Frame' in changing the color of the text outline.

Rating 'Font Frame' with 4 out of 5 stars for its creative possibilities and user-friendly interface.

Conclusion of the episode with a summary of the three reviewed apps and their ratings.

Transcripts

I explored all the latest apps published

on the canva app Marketplace and this

month only three caught my attention

let's check them

out hey what's up guys Ronnie here your

goto canva Guru welcome back to our

Channel and our series hot new canva

apps this is episode 10 already woo

double digit and today I have three apps

to review this is the best ones for this

batch for this month of July or almost

July August so what we are going to do

is to jump straight into the first

app the first one is called text maker

and the promise is to help you create

all kinds of different text effects so

after finding text maker and connecting

it to my canva apps right here you

should land on this menu right here so

basically this is an app to create

different kinds of preset text effects

Okay so you have two tabs you have

typography and color all right and you

have your effects right here so that's

the first thing the first setting you

should set click on see all to see all

of the effect categories so you will

have the first one is all the effects so

if you click on see all right here you

just see all of them listed as one long

list okay or you can use the categories

that have been created for you you have

your 3D gold comic graffiti Neon retro

metal fire and tattoo I'm going to go

with all the effects to have a bird's

eye view of what I'm working with here

let's find one that is pretty cool I

really like the Retro One it's really

cool landscape kind of gives me the vibe

of like old video games I like the white

it's kind of shiny and I can see some

applications for this I like the wow as

well highness is great golden is pretty

cool bright also ninja is quite cool I

could see this four Like Comics or Manga

kind of design so you have a bunch like

greeny is also cool I like the greeny

let's use greeny so I clicked on one and

I should get a preview of my text effect

right here so the second thing you

should do really is to customize your

text the text you're going to use and

I'm going to make sure I'm inputting all

caps text for a better render here so

I'm just going to say something fun like

thanks for watching exclamation Point

thanks for watching because yeah thank

you guys for watching our tutorials we

really appreciate you learning with us

all right so that's the first thing

customizing your text okay thanks for

watching then you can choose your font

okay here we are with luckiest guy I

like this name but you can find other

fonts right here so I don't think these

are all of the canva fonts very hard for

me to say you can search for a specific

font for example if you want to go with

impact for example just type in impact

it should be here no it's not there so

it's definitely not all of the canva

fonts Monster Rat is my monster rat in

the house mon yeah monserat is here so

you could really change that monserat is

not a great looking font for this kind

of effect so I will go back to luckiest

guy which I actually liked better so

luckiest search for that luckiest guy

this works perfect for this design all

right so that's the second thing you

change the font all right next you have

your text alignment center left or right

going to leave that to Center you have

your line height okay maybe a little bit

less would be great something like that

okay so you can adjust the line height

and the letter spacing I think letter

spacing is completely fine at zero here

so that's pretty much it for the text

options but next I will obviously want

to customize my colors what I like about

this app it's very complete it gives you

a full array of customization options so

you have your fill colors and you have

your outline colors and then you have

Shadow and 3D depth colors so bunch of

different colors that you can tweak in

order to make this text effect really

personalized so let me explain to you

what are these different options for

your colors The Fill colors is the

colors that are going to be filling the

inside of your letters of your font so

that's the inside here so the t h a etc

so this one is usually a gradient that

goes from white to slightly gray so you

could have more or less dark of a gray

usually that's what you will see as the

preset coming out of the box for most of

the effects so kind of like almost full

white right here like FFF you see and

then you have these three different

bubbles here like for creating the

gradient so here it was about so you

don't need to have three you could work

with two and that will be completely

fine as well but if you want to add

another point you can double click you

see double click on the gradient to add

a point so I'm going to double click

here and make that different like I can

bring up the slider here on my Spectrum

on the line here between black and white

I'm going to just have some light gray

so I have this nice kind of like subtle

effect so it's almost white but because

you have this gradient between white and

light gray it looks kind of cool so I'm

going to leave it like so so that's the

fill colors okay moving down to see and

you can also play with the gradient

Direction okay so you see when you move

this slider the light is moving on your

gradient which is interesting as well

next you have your outline colors so the

outline colors is what's around your

text right here so you can play with

that as well not going to change it

because it actually looks nice like so

okay so I'm going to close that I'm

going to close this one as well shadow

colors so the shadow color is what's

underneath your outline so you see from

white to black so I could customize this

like I just want to show you that it's

this shadow that you see right there

used to be black so I think it looks

better in Black indeed going to leave it

on black and then the last one you have

is the 3D depth Shadow so that's what's

underneath the letters here I believe so

you want to change that feel free to

customize that as well so I feel like

this is pretty good I'm going to go with

the green and add this to my design all

right once it's added to your design you

can stretch it the quality is going to

remain very good in my opinion thanks

for watching so you could insert that

into your design and you are good to go

that's actually how it works now let me

quickly show you some of the other text

effects that I liked so for that I'm

going to come back to my typography

click on see all all effects and I just

want to show you one last one that I

really like the Retro one right here so

this one will work best with a single

word so maybe we go with subscribe sub

subscribe yes and I'm going to change

the font from sale to something kind of

like bold and big I know I'm going to go

with lobster Lobster is a nice font for

this kind of retro effects yes Lobster

this subscribe Lobster colors I'm going

to change this so one two three four

five six colors okay actually oh yeah I

know why I think this word with this

kind of effect will work best yes

subscribe it will work best if it's not

all caps okay so subscribe there you go

with lobster I'm going to change the

color right here all right so I need six

colors 2 4 six and I have this color

palette that I have created inspired by

one of the combinations right here okay

so back to my text maker oh no I lost my

design so be careful I decided to leave

this fail in the final version of the

video because if you click out of the

app to do something else on another tab

you will lose your design just so you

know this is not an ideal kind of like

situation when you do lose it but okay I

can simply subscribe go back very quick

and then find my retro effect again

right here okay subscribe I need to

change it back to Lobster so you see all

of the steps that I lost simply because

I clicked on the other tab like to show

you something all right so this is where

I kind of left it I have all of my six

colors now I can start filling them up

with these colors right here from this

palette okay I'm going to speed up the

video but basically you can do that and

simply copy the codes and paste them

here there you go I have pasted

everything how does it look okay it

looks okay but I could probably change

the fill color I'm going to change the

fill for this Orange right right here or

I could go with the beige this could

look nice let's try that okay so going

with the beige okay and I need a

different outline so this outline should

probably this dark gray okay subscribe

it's not too bad but I feel maybe my f

should be the orange to have a more

impactful visual effect yeah this is

good and the outline then could be my

beige okay so it's just really up to you

to play around with different things

right here to really see what works for

you what works for this specific text

effect all right I think I'm going to

leave it here for this first app text

maker there is some very good about this

app I love that you can create easy text

effects with these presets I like the

high level of customization that you get

with all the colors the fonts the

alignment the line spacing and all that

so really really good some effects are

quite nice I showed you a list of maybe

10 effects that I found really well done

in the app now on the negative side I

think that some of the effects are not

really that nice when you click out of

the app you lose all of your design your

text effect so it could be a little bit

conversome to go back and recreate it

from scratch and also choosing the font

is not super obvious like I'm not sure

which fonts are part of the package so

that was a little bit of a downside for

me so for all of these Reasons I'm

giving text maker a 3.5 out of five

rating the second app that caught my

attention this month is called Tracer

and the promise of Tracer is to convert

images into editable SVG easily okay so

SVG are vectorized type of files so this

app is interesting it has a very narrow

use case to convert an image most likely

a PNG or maybe a jpeg into an SVG file

because SVG file are more flexible you

can change their colors you can stretch

them you can do a few things that you

cannot really do with a JPEG or PNG so

let's have a look Tracer this is how it

looks a couple of images right here you

see you can convert this into this etc

etc so it's already installed in my apps

and the way it looks is very simple it's

actually a one button interface that

says upload or select an image in your

design to create a SVG so you can choose

to upload a file and you'll have a

maximum file size of 4 megabyte which is

not that big for an image but you can

work with that or you can select one in

your design so I can immediately see a

use case for this a very specific use

case the use case of you are a graphic

designer and you work for clients and

the client gives you their logo in jpeg

or in a PNG format if you're lucky right

and so you have that logo let's say you

have have the logo in black and white

but you wish you could change the color

of that logo so let's use a logo that I

have created based on the template okay

so this one right here so Chef logo okay

it has no background let me show that to

you by adding a solid color behind Okay

so my chef logo right here has no

background it's a PNG with a transparent

background and I cannot do much with

this so if I want to change the color of

this traditionally you could do that in

canva by using a hack using the duone

app okay so the Doone right here you can

change the color with the DU tone and

just play around like so okay that's

kind of like the old way let me go back

a couple of times here now this new app

Tracer kind of saves you the hassle of

going through the duone app okay for

this particular use case like changing

the color of a PNG logo so all you have

to do you select your logo your image

you go to Tracer to the app and you can

trace the selected image you see when

you select an image that is eligible for

being vectorized the logo choose file we

change to trace selected image so I'm

going to do that I'm going to trace that

selected image the image has been traced

right here and I can see that everything

is correctly filled up if not you could

play around with the threshold and I'm

going to show you how that works in a

minute but for now I'm happy with this I

can just add this to my design it will

be added a little caveat here is that it

does doesn't add it at the exact same

size so I kind of have to manually

resize this logo so I want to have the

exact same size so I'm going to pay

attention to the marks right here and

now if I have both of these yeah they

are exactly the same size so I have my

vectorize one right here and I have the

original here so you see if I click on

the original there's no color button now

if I click on this one a color button

just appeared that's the magic of Tracer

and the vectorized new file so now I can

change that log go to whatever color I

wish and I fancy now that is a great

hack if you are working for clients and

you don't have all of the I would say

vectorized files of their logos but you

still want to show them their own logo

applied to different packaging for

example or put in different branding

situation that is a great workaround all

right so that is the first use case in

my opinion just for that it deserves my

5 Minute review on hot new canva apps

now I tried this with a few other things

like other logos you see this one logo

right here the spark agency logo it

created this one right here so let me

show you how I got there okay so I'm

going to start over so go back I select

my original logo which is spark and then

the word agency right underneath it has

three things text box a spark and

another text box but the second text box

with very thin fonts okay that's

important now I'm going to trace the

selected image and you see what you see

here is that the word agency has kind of

lost in quality because the tracing has

been done I mean not so well but the

word was written with very thin font so

I could play around with the threshold

here and try to see if I can get back

part of that word like if it could come

back if I could maybe augment the

threshold not really so as far as I know

this is as close to the original logo I

could get so I'm going to stretch it

again I wish I could have the image

reproduced at the exact same size so for

the thicker fonts no real problem though

you see here the dot like is not as

perfect as the original and the word

agency also kind of problematic so I

would say this app is good as long as

you're working with logos that are not

so intricated as soon as you start going

into like finer Works detail like

thinner elements on your logo or even

thinner fonts then it becomes

problematic it becomes not as precise

and then you could work with images here

what I've done I have two things here I

have an image of Diana right here I

believe it was one of these images right

here I think it's this one right here so

I worked with that okay I'm going to

move that to the side just want to show

you briefly what I did here again the

tracer app it's going to trace the image

to convert it into an SVG this is an

original PNG I believe so what's going

to happen here is that I'm going to have

an image which is not completely blacked

out so you see you can play with the

threshold and the higher the number the

more your image is going to be covered I

would say but if you lower the threshold

then some parts of Di's face are going

to start showing here so you see for

example here I reduced the threshold to

203 and we can see some of Diana face

kind of attributes showing so it's

always better to go higher to make sure

everything is covered unless that's the

desire effect you are after okay so you

know what let's go for something quite

funky and artistic by lowering the

threshold to 114 okay let's try that add

that to my design okay I'm going to

stretch it there you go so you can

easily create some cool kind of effect

like so and then you can group

everything so yeah this is my two sense

about Tracer great for working with

logos especially for clients can save

your butt if you don't have the original

SVG file it's kind of limited for more

intricate logos and also it's limited to

4 megabytes original files which could

be problematic when you work with higher

resolution photos so for all of these

reasons and because it solves a major

problem in canva working with logos I

give Tracer a four star out of five and

now let's move on to the last of the

three apps for this week the last app

I'm going to review today is called font

frame all right and the promise here is

to create vibrant text with image in the

background of these fonts okay so this

one is pretty fun I have played around

with it for about half an hour and let

me show you what I learned okay so this

is how it starts okay so you can

customize your text all right you can

write anything you like here so for

example let's go all caps

love. YouTube channel okay love that

YouTube channel you can split that on

three pages if we want if we do going to

delete the spaces in between everything

okay so I'm going to go for that and

again you have two tabs you have your

image and text settings and then you

have other kinds of settings let's focus

on the first one so first you need a

text okay so that's what I have here

love that YouTube channel next you need

to choose a file okay so again you can

upload a file a photo from your computer

or you can select one from your page

Okay so so what I'm going to do I'm

going to search for a sunset so let me

go to my elements right here under

photos I'm going to click here and let's

go oh let's go for Jungle so let's go

for lush jungle okay lush jungle I need

something like lushy nice yeah let's go

for this one right here this looks like

a great Forest okay now coming back to

font frame and you see I left the tab

came back to it and I didn't lose all of

my work so so it's definitely possible

to do these kind of things and I

appreciate that this app doesn't waste

your time by just resetting all of the

settings if you switch to another tab so

that is highly appreciated okay so I'm

going to use a selected image okay this

option is now available since I uploaded

the image to my page and you see what I

have here is my photo and I can

reposition it by clicking and dragging

basically on the image right here also I

can scale the image up or down to really

focus on one part of the image if I want

to I could have like the tree in this Ag

and O of the YouTube for example so that

is in a nutshell what the app does it

creates a word art and it allows you to

upload an image as the background of

these word Arts so that's pretty cool

but that's not all you can tweak more

things so for example you can change the

font okay so from popins we could go to

something else like Railway for example

or any kind of fonts really that you

have here in the list so let's go for an

interesting one maybe prompt okay so

prompt is good you can reduce the

thickness of the outline okay which is

good I wish we could change the color of

this outline but I don't see an option

to do so so I guess it will just remain

black and then you have your traditional

letter spacing which I wouldn't change

and then line height line spacing they

call it here so once you do have the

desired outcome you can add this to your

design okay so this is what it looks

like now this app can do better than

this I mean this was just quickly put

together so let me show you a few other

things I have done so starting from this

image I created this very cool textured

gradient right here join our live

sessions and from this Sunset right here

I have created this equally cool

word art with the sunset right here and

the gradient coming from here so again

this app is called font frame it's super

easy to use it's quite fun to play

around with and you could get some

really interesting results I just wish

we could change the color of the

outlines that would really add I would

say to this app all right so that's my

two cents about font frame my verdict is

that I'm giving font frame a four out of

five star rating because you can achieve

some really cool results with it and

yeah everyone can use that I haven't

bumped into a limit like a daily limit

like many other apps do nowadays which

is pretty boring so there you go three

apps worth checking out this month of

July almost August and I'm going to

leave you with the other episodes of hot

new canva apps this was episode 10

already which means you have nine more

episodes to watch right here