Arching text

[GraphxNMore 282]

What's everyone's favorite way to arch text?

 

The SCALP text on a line feature sucks, at best. The bottoms of the letters always end up uneven. 

 

With SBE, they letters seem to be distorted.

 

I haven't tried AI yet, for the simple fact that the tracing is terrible. I was trying to trace an image, then a circle around it with text around the circle. 

 

Nothing I've tried is working out, and I don't want to put a half a$$ product out there with my name on it.

[Wildgoose 4,200]

I can only speak with any degree of knowledge about Illustrator. I believe that Inkscape is very similar. In Illy, you have a few options. One being the text on a path. This is the best method to use in most instances because the text stays in an editable "live text" mode and has no distortion. You can still edit the letters, size, kerning and font until you are totally happy with it and convert to outlines. There are a couple other options that you can use which are Arc and Arch and these will cause distortion which in some cases is desirable. Arc will stretch the text into an arc and makes the bottom and top of the text into a nice smooth arc along with the letters. The top of the letters are stretched a bit to allow all this to happen. Arch will cause a rise in the middle of the text and leave the letters basically straight up and down and like the Arc option is suitable for some looks, I have seen a lot of pro ball teams do this. You can still edit these other options but it's a little more hidden to get to and a pain. Text on a path is my fav and most used although there are a lot of variables in AI so you have to learn what you are doing to use it with perfect results. Once mastered it's no biggie. You can also make your text into a brush if you know the text and don't need to change it and you can just apply the brush to the path, this approach is cool but getting well into the more experienced level of AI. 

 

For the record no tracing is going to yield good results on text. I try not to auto trace anything that can reasonably be redrawn in a decent amount of time. Circles and other simple objects are always cleaner if you just redraw them. 

[slice&dice 2,450]

Arch or arc?

Different things.

[GraphxNMore 282]

I can only speak with any degree of knowledge about Illustrator. I believe that Inkscape is very similar. In Illy, you have a few options. One being the text on a path. This is the best method to use in most instances because the text stays in an editable "live text" mode and has no distortion. You can still edit the letters, size, kerning and font until you are totally happy with it and convert to outlines. There are a couple other options that you can use which are Arc and Arch and these will cause distortion which in some cases is desirable. Arc will stretch the text into an arc and makes the bottom and top of the text into a nice smooth arc along with the letters. The top of the letters are stretched a bit to allow all this to happen. Arch will cause a rise in the middle of the text and leave the letters basically straight up and down and like the Arc option is suitable for some looks, I have seen a lot of pro ball teams do this. You can still edit these other options but it's a little more hidden to get to and a pain. Text on a path is my fav and most used although there are a lot of variables in AI so you have to learn what you are doing to use it with perfect results. Once mastered it's no biggie. You can also make your text into a brush if you know the text and don't need to change it and you can just apply the brush to the path, this approach is cool but getting well into the more experienced level of AI. 

 

For the record no tracing is going to yield good results on text. I try not to auto trace anything that can reasonably be redrawn in a decent amount of time. Circles and other simple objects are always cleaner if you just redraw them. 

It won't even give a good trace on any image that I've tried. Maybe there's other settings somewhere to adjust, but I can't find them. "Custom" is greyed out.

[GraphxNMore 282]

Arch or arc?

Different things.

I need one word across the top of a circle, one word on the bottom of a circle.And not a continuous circle. When I type on a path in SCALP, the letters are uneven. Even if I break apart and try to manually align, it still looks like crap. All this money on software and my two best are Inkscape (free) and Sign Blazer Elements (also FREE).

[slice&dice 2,450]

That screenshot shows a serious problem with the software.

 

Calling it a "Pro" program is a joke.

[skarekrow 1,842]

QUOTE> "For the record no tracing is going to yield good results on text."

 

Not to be argumentative, WildGoose... but I'm gonna have to disagree with you there.

But, just to be fair, what you've stated often holds true. For instance, where there is only a

low resolution or otherwise, poor quality image, you're absolutely right. Garbage In = Garbage Out.

 

However, when designing from scratch, in high resolution raster, there is little to no

problem getting a very good trace from text.

May I introduce exibit A;

TestText_02b.eps

TestText_02b.svg

 

This is an example of text created in photoshop at 300 dpi.

The circles were drawn as paths with the elipse tool.

The graphic was then saved as a png and opened and traced in Inkscape.

No nodes were touched. This is exactly as Inkscape traced it.

 

I have found, just as Easy was pointing out, Inkscape and Illy fall a little

short for me. Perhaps I just haven't mastered those well enough.

Either way, I have found a pretty good work around for the problem Easy is facing

with getting the text around those circles. And yes, it envolves (gasp!) tracing text.

 

(the example was just whipped out real fast... I see the inaccuracies in the text following the circle perfectly too.)

[Wildgoose 4,200]

You are right there are exceptions to everything. And your skills in PS are amazing so props to you on that. Can you do an experiment for me? Do a line of text just like you did then in illustrator type out the same thing in the same font and convert it to curves and compare the node placement. It would be way cool to see the difference. I don't have photoshop and just work in Aperture which is ok but can't do some of the things you can do with PS. I may upgrade to CC later this year and would have access to PS and will be able to play around with it more. 

[Wildgoose 4,200]

I don't doubt that there are better tracing options out there than Illy and I have seen Inkscape do a better job and I have even seen SCALP do a great job tracing. I think if you play around long enough you maybe bet there with illy tracing but you have to realize it isn't necessarily designed to be a trace engine that is just one small feature. Kind of like saying PS is for text manipulation, good at it and even has a few tools that some text programs don't offer but at heart it is a photo editor. Illustrator is for building things from scratch. It excels at that. It isn't even really a sign makers software although it is probably equal to any out there. I see features in the full blown version of Flexi that are missing in Illustrator like easy block shadows and cast shadows. Both can be done with illustrator but its more work because those are very specialized and handy for full on sign work but very little other practical application. So I guess my point is that I agree that illy doesn't trace as great as you would think a program that costs that much should but I really don't trace much so it hasn't been a big factor for me and I just deal with the tracing results or I go open up Inkscape and run a trace through there and see if it look better. 

[Wildgoose 4,200]

I opened your file and worked over the top your version and made one from scratch in illustrator. I just got close with the text and didn't spend the time to match it exactly but close enough to compare the two. There is a little difference between the finished node layout. It is especially evident in the circles. The trace has numerous nodes and the scratch has 4. 

TestText_03.eps

[skarekrow 1,842]

TestText_02-03.eps

TestText_02-03.svg

[skarekrow 1,842]

Sorry, I'm a little slower with Illy...

I see there are fewer nodes in the Scratch illustrator version,

though, with a quick adjustment in Inkscape, I could even that up without hurting the outcome.

I have to agree with your carefully concidered words that Illy is exceptional at what it was designed for.

I appreciate your 'challenge' and have been (and will continue more fervently) to work

to master the program.

 

Was it you that said you didn't have either Photoshop or Illustrator?

Adobe is giving away CS2 now.

I can post the link if you need it.

[jaybyrd 3,770]

When I have to trace something Sure Cuts is my go to program. Can you show a screenshot of what your settings are at. As for text on arc even in Corel Draw it's a crap shoot how it'll look depending on the font and the radius of the circle. Never understood why something so seemingly simple is so hard for a program to comprehend.

[LPWash 75]

Double click on that text and ''rotate''

[Wildgoose 4,200]

Sorry, I'm a little slower with Illy...

I see there are fewer nodes in the Scratch illustrator version,

though, with a quick adjustment in Inkscape, I could even that up without hurting the outcome.

I have to agree with your carefully concidered words that Illy is exceptional at what it was designed for.

I appreciate your 'challenge' and have been (and will continue more fervently) to work

to master the program.

 

Was it you that said you didn't have either Photoshop or Illustrator?

Adobe is giving away CS2 now.

I can post the link if you need it.

I have Illustrator CS5 but couldn't swing the price tag on PS or the whole suite since I really don't use it much. If I upgrade to the cloud I will be able to get and use all the formats but I hate having to make a monthly payment so i have been avoiding it. While there is a slight variation in the nodes, your way gets it done as efficient as any. The only thing I see is that most aren't going to have PS or have the ability to use it as good as you obviously can. I guess saying that, Illustrator isn't known for being an easy program either. LOL

 

I have a copy of CS2 on another computer but there are enough things lacking compared to CS5 that I don't use it unless I have to. I see some real sweet text manipulation options in the CC version that are making me drool and one of these days.....they will be mine....he he he. 

[Wildgoose 4,200]

Eazy -  we totally hijacked your thread, sorry man! 

[skarekrow 1,842]

I'm not so sure we hijacked it...

Eazy's opening line was "What's everyone's favorite way to arch text?"

 

Goose, I know the text tools you are referring to but, from

what I know so far, I'm adamantly against cloud-based software

 

As far as efficiency goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat and

as much as I like having a good variety of arrows in my quiver, sometimes

just doing it the way that you're used to is the most efficient.

[GraphxNMore 282]

Not hijacked at all. I'm soaking it all in. Here are my options in Illy. What can I change to either get more options or enahnce within each result??

[skarekrow 1,842]

I dont have that version...CS3 here. Is your 'Custom' option there on that flyout not available?

[GraphxNMore 282]

Nope. Grayed out, can't select it.

[Wildgoose 4,200]

Is that CS6 or CC version? Mine is also a little older and the layout is a little different but there should be either some pull downs or a whole separate pallet that may be named "tracing options" It will have options to adjust the threshold, minimum area, path fitting, corner angle etc... you can dial in a lot with these. That same set of tools will let you save a custom preset so you don't have to go through that every time for similar tracings.  

[skarekrow 1,842]

As I mentioned, I dont have or use that version...but on my CS3 Illy, that same condition of the Custom button grayed out occurs after I hit the Live Trace button. What about right after you open and select the image in Illy, before clicking the Live Trace Button, can you click the dropdown fly out and isnt "Tracing Options" available?