I have seen small gauge lights which are only about 30x20 -- but which have very fine lettering on them . I want to have a small light which has a word "FUEL" on it which lights up when activated. So I need to create two small lights - one says FUEL in a kind of dull colour lettering which is almost indiscernable (this is the light off bitmap) -- the other says FUEL in a bright, light colour ( this will be the light on bitmap.BUT -- I can create a small light bitmap OK -- but when I try to use Paintshop Pro and place lettering on the bitmap, it is very coarse and the lettering looks all wrong. It has either something to do with the type of font -- or the way in which the overlaid lettering is applied.Any ideas please?Thanks Barry

>BUT -- I can create a small light bitmap OK -- but when I >try to use Paintshop Pro and place lettering on the bitmap, >it is very coarse and the lettering looks all wrong. It has >either something to do with the type of font -- or the way >in which the overlaid lettering is applied. >>Any ideas please? Barry, I don't have PSP, but Photoshop is quite similar in capabilities. I created this (I used 60x60 just for demo) using layers, and simply applied an "Omni" lighting effect on the red background on the right half before flattening the layers.For the lower example, I used a neutral background, and simply applied the lighting effect to the text layer before flattening the image.I used 10pt Arial Narrow (bolded) type for the font.I saved this combined image in RGB format so I could export as a .jpeg for posting purposes.Is this what you had in mind?

Thanks for the input Bill -- I think I have solved my problem -- I was getting a very "coarse" print with some of the letters running into one another -- but have found in Paint Shop Pro an option to use "Antialias" and another to set the spacing between letters - so now I can get reasonably small, fine and clear text.Barry

>Thanks for the input Bill -- I think I have solved my >problem -- I was getting a very "coarse" print with some of >the letters running into one another -- but have found in >Paint Shop Pro an option to use "Antialias" and another to >set the spacing between letters - so now I can get >reasonably small, fine and clear text. Oh, yes! You must use antialiasing at that miniscule size. Mine is "on" by default, so I didn't even think about it...Look in PSP and see if it offers to render "lighting effects." If it does, that will make your work a whole lot faster, accurate and neater, since you are only modifying the original, 'unlit' image.I create all of my on/off states in one layered file, then export each 'version' to separate .bmp files.It took all of about 45 seconds to create the sample I posted earlier... :)To quote our talented friend Finn: "Have fun!"