On 05/25/2017 05:17 AM, Nate Owens wrote:

*Selecting the move tool always selects the path tool instead* Selecting the path tool also opens the path tool *How to open the move tool?*

How are you trying to select the tool - keyboard? mouse? Some other pointing device? Something else entirely?

*In earlier versions the text along a path tool worked great...*

Um... there never was a Text along Path tool, actually (always just the "create a path which attempts to follow another path, and is shaped lite the letters of the text".

you could *choose the baseline for the path*, even run it along a circle Then you could save or export the results cleanly as xcf or other formats Now the only sensible way to do something remotely resembling this is to use the cage transform tool and then it is a nightmare with many steps to get the file saved or exported in any usable way

You could be remembering something different, maybe third-party plug-in. If you still got a XCF file with text shaped in this way, it would be good if you can share it. Also, anything you know about when this was possible can be helpful.

*Is there a currently functional stable version of Gimp with an accurate updated user manual?*

The current stable version is GIMP 2.8, and the user manual at http://docs.gimp.org/en/ is updated daily from the contents of its version-tracking repository. It is still likely not complete, and I'd like to know what you are missing the most there.

What we are currently lacking is up-to-date released packages of the user manual.

I tried Gimp 2.9.? and it was even worse.

GIMP 2.9 is a development version, and to really get the most of it you should follow development closely and try to keep your 2.9.x version up to date.

It isn't a stable release, and thus not actually intended for production use, but I am aware that many people use it to great success.

*What are the options to retrieve a usable Gimp?*

Tell us what doesn't work (like you did here), and then help us to figure out why it doesn't work for you.

Regards,
Michael
GPG: 96A8 B38A 728A 577D 724D 60E5 F855 53EC B36D 4CDD

On 05/25/2017 02:01 AM, Michael Schumacher wrote:

On 05/25/2017 05:17 AM, Nate Owens wrote:

*In earlier versions the text along a path tool worked great...*

[ ... ]

You could be remembering something different, maybe third-party plug-in. If you still got a XCF file with text shaped in this way, it would be good if you can share it. Also, anything you know about when this was possible can be helpful.

The GIMP's path along text tool works for me, but only in limited contexts where big transformations are not wanted.

I use Inkscape to do serious text manipulation. It's the Right Thing To Do: Fonts are vector files, so use a vector editor. Inkscape exports clean crisp PNG files at any scale, just drop them into the GIMP and viola.

[ ... ]

*What are the options to retrieve a usable Gimp?*

Tell us what doesn't work (like you did here), and then help us to figure out why it doesn't work for you.

I'm using GIMP 2.8.10 on a Debian family Linux box, no wackiness noted. The roommmate has the latest stable build in the 2.8 series on Windows 7 or 10, no wackiness there either.

On 05/26/2017 01:52 AM, Nate Owens wrote:

To answer the question how I select the move tool... 2 ways = 1. click the icon for the move tool in toolbox 2. do the keyboard shortcut
both opened the draw path tool

Sure that it is actually the Path tool, and not the Move tool in move Path mode?

Obviously (from this thread) there is an align to path tool (even shown in the manual)

Align to path? Not sure if I'm following... can you provide the URL of its page in the user manual?

P.S. as you've now got 2.6.12 again, can you check if you had remebered the following correctly?

you could *choose the baseline for the path*, even run it along a circle Then you could save or export the results cleanly as xcf or other formats

Regards,
Michael
GPG: 96A8 B38A 728A 577D 724D 60E5 F855 53EC B36D 4CDD

On 05/26/2017 12:05 AM, Nate Owens wrote:

*Text ALONG path url* = https://docs.gimp.org/2.6/en/gimp-tool-text.html scroll down.
Scroll down there is also an image demonstrating it's position in the Layer menu selection
There is an image here, not to say it will show up in the mail list = "Figure 13.177. The Text to Path command..."

Text along Path

This option is enabled only if a path exists. When your text
is created, then create or import a path and make it active. If you create your path before the text, the path becomes invisible and you have to make it visible in the Path Dialog.

This command is also available from the “Layer” menu:

*Figure 13.177. The Text to Path command among text commands in the Layer menu*
[image: The Text to Path command among text commands in the Layer menu]

This group of options appears only if a layer text exists.

Hmm. The "Text to path" command is a semi-hidden option in recent versions of the GIMP: Left click an active text layer, and it's one of the menu items. I use it quite frequently, to get a path I can use to add a stroke to a transparent layer under the text to create an outline.

Note that many of the toolbox items including move and transform tools include a mode setting in the Tool Options dialog, and can be set to work with image layers, selections or paths. A big deficiency in the Scale, Rotate, Shear and Perspective tools when applied to paths, is that they present a draggable grid the size of the whole image canvas, not a box around the currently active path. But they do work.

:o)

On 05/26/17 07:07, Steve Kinney wrote:

A big deficiency in the
Scale, Rotate, Shear and Perspective tools when applied to paths, is that they present a draggable grid the size of the whole image canvas, not a box around the currently active path. But they do work.

I trick I often use is to link the path and some layer (often, the layer I used to create the path), and apply the transform tool using the layer.

On 05/26/2017 06:05 AM, Nate Owens wrote:

On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 8:28 PM, Michael Schumacher wrote:

Align to path? Not sure if I'm following... can you provide the URL of its page in the user manual?

P.S. as you've now got 2.6.12 again, can you check if you had remebered the following correctly?

you could *choose the baseline for the path*, even run it along a circle Then you could save or export the results cleanly as xcf or other formats

*Text ALONG path url* =
https://docs.gimp.org/2.6/en/gimp-tool-text.html scroll down. Scroll down there is also an image demonstrating it's position in the Layer menu selection

Ok, so we are referring to the same functionality.

I'm not aware of any significant functional differences between 2.6 and 2.8.

Is this thread about not finding how to do this, because UI locations have been changed?

Regards,
Michael
GPG: 96A8 B38A 728A 577D 724D 60E5 F855 53EC B36D 4CDD

On Fri, May 26, 2017 at 12:02 PM, Nate Owens wrote:

My problem regarding the difference between 2.8 and 2.6 was referenced in the original message regarding the inability to select the move tool in 2.8 (which resulted in selection of the path tool instead of the move tool) I think that I adequately stated that that inability, present in 2.8 functions as it should in 2.6

It used to be that when a guide is grabbed from the rulers, the tool would change from whatever to the move tool.

That no longer happens. I filed this bug report: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=765023

I miss the old behavior very much. I am undoing many unintentional paint strokes now.

I console myself thinking that the developers have been pestered to this unreasonable end by some nefarious and wrong thinking people.

carol

On Wed, 2017-05-24 at 23:17 -0400, Nate Owens wrote:

*Selecting the move tool always selects the path tool instead*

When I click on the move tool icon (sort of like a plus sign with sharpened ends) I get the move tool.

When I select the path tool icon from the toolbox I get the path tool.

*In earlier versions the text along a path tool worked great...*

It still works here. Right-click on the text layer in the layers dialogue and choose "text along path".

*Is there a currently functional stable version of Gimp with an accurate updated user manual?*

In which language? 2.8 should be OK. In addition, contributions and bug reports are welcomed.

I tried Gimp 2.9.? and it was even worse.

Gimp was once my favorite replacement for Photoshop

GIMP is not trying to be a replacement for Adobe PhotoShop - it's trying to be an image editor.

Hope this helps,

Liam [slave ankh on IRC]

Liam R E Quin 

On Sun, May 28, 2017 at 5:19 PM, Nate Owens wrote:

Which OS? Mac, Win, Umb.... ????

I tried again and again. [...]

I think what is being said is that maybe you are seeing a new feature and not understanding it.

Have you posted screen shots of the behavior? Maybe temporarily on flikr?

Joel Rees

One of these days I'll get someone to pay me
to design a language that combines the best of Forth and C.
Then I'll be able to leap wide instruction sets with a single #ifdef,
run faster than a speeding infinite loop with a #define,
and stop all integer size bugs with a bare cast.

More of my delusions:
http://reiisi.blogspot.com/2017/05/do-not-pay-modern-danegeld-ransomware.html
http://reiisi.blogspot.jp/p/novels-i-am-writing.html