Inkscape

Converting Flat Text Label to Fit (Isometric) Round Can

Asked by leonardo

Newbie having difficulty trying to complete the tutorial "A Can of Soup..." in the Guide to Vector Drawing Program by Tvamjong Bah, section #6 at:

http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/SoupCan.html

I can't change the flat text label to conform to the round can following the instructions as given. I don't know if the problem is my inexperience, the instructions, or Inkscape. I have a hard time following the instructions and just can't get the expected results.

Is anyone here using this Guide? If so I would appreciate it very much if you could give me the exact commands to complete this part of the tutorial.

Thank you.

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RIco (rico-rootscore-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#1

1. Write the text and convert it to path (Path menu > Object to Path Shift+Ctrl+C)
2. draw the ellipse (same as the top of the can)
3. draw a rectangle as wide as your text
4. make sure that everything (text, ellipse, rectangle) is centered horizontally (you can select all 3 and Object menu>Align and Distribute > center objects horizontally)
4. the ellipse and the rectangle intersect as you see on the picture, select both of them and Path menu> Cut Path (Ctrl+Alt+/), the rectangle will disappear.
5. deselect all and select the upper part of the ellipse, delete it, only a bit of the lower part of the ellipse will remain
6. select that remaining lower bit of the ellipse and the text
7. go to the Extensions/Effects menu > Generate from path> Pattern along Path, a dialogue opens set it to "Single" "Ribbon", everything else to 0 and no box checked, hit OK
8. the text will be curved but flipped over, so flip it horizontally, and delete the bit of path that you used to curve the text

it's true the first part of section 6 in the manual might be a bit confusing.. i don't know if i'm more clear..but i hope it helped..

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leonardo (arthamax) said : 		#2

Thank you Rico for your reply but I couldn't make it work for me. I inserted a few comments in your instructions.

RIco proposed the following answer:
1. Write the text and convert it to path (Path menu > Object to Path Shift+Ctrl+C)
2. draw the ellipse (same as the top of the can)
3. draw a rectangle as wide as your text
4. make sure that everything (text, ellipse, rectangle) is centered horizontally (you can select all 3 and Object menu>Align and Distribute > center objects horizontally)

[leonardo: If centered horizontally rectangle moves up to center on ellipse and will not intersect as in the picture so I think you meant centered vertically which they already are.]

4. the ellipse and the rectangle intersect as you see on the picture, select both of them and Path menu> Cut Path (Ctrl+Alt+/), the rectangle will disappear.
5. deselect all and select the upper part of the ellipse, delete it, only a bit of the lower part of the ellipse will remain
6. select that remaining lower bit of the ellipse and the text
7. go to the Extensions/Effects menu > Generate from path> Pattern along Path, a dialogue opens set it to "Single" "Ribbon", everything else to 0 and no box checked, hit OK

[leonardo: This is as far as I always get. When I complete step 7 the text is unchanged, the arc from the ellipse is gone, and there is a black squiggle over each letter. I even tried to simply curve text on a new canvas following these instructions and got the same squiggle results. If you're getting curved text with these instructions then I'm really missing something or my Inkscape is defective. I'm using Inkscape 0.46]

8. the text will be curved but flipped over, so flip it horizontally, and delete the bit of path that you used to curve the text

it's true the first part of section 6 in the manual might be a bit
confusing.. i don't know if i'm more clear..but i hope it helped..

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Best RIco (rico-rootscore-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#3

ok, i see what happend, you get the squiggle because the arc is on top of the letters, so put le letters on top (object menu> raise to top) before applying the pattern along path and then it should be ok.

the squiggles are actually the curve applying to the letters.. instead of what you want which is the letters applied to the curve, so swapping their positing as mentioned above should fix your problem.

hope this helps.

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leonardo (arthamax) said : 		#4

That did it! Thank you very much Rico.