Inkscape

words to shapes

Asked by Gumby

If I draw a fish, and want to put text in it, that will form to the shape of the fish, how is it possible to do that?

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c (cjue) said : 		#1

Two interpretations, two answers:

1) If you want your text to wrap inside the fish (letters and words are not deformed but the paragraph fills the fish), place your text inside the fish, select both the text and the fish, and choose Text-Flow into frame from the menu bar.

2) If you want a word or words to deform to the shape of the fish, that's a bit less straightforward. There is an Envelope function that would be ideal if your fish was a straight sided quadrilateral. Failing that, it's a manual process using an Inkscape feature called Node Sculpting:

a) Convert your text into a path by selecting the text and choosing Object-Object to path from the menu bar.
b) Switch to the Node tool, select nodes along the top of your words, hold down the Alt key and drag from one of the more central nodes upwards towards the boundary of your fish.
c) Repeat for nodes at the bottom of your fish

YMMV. Might look good enough for you, might not. Hopefully someone has a superior suggestion.

BTW, if your Alt key doesn't look like it's doing anything special, see:

http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=800

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