Inkscape can do that sort of thing. AFAIK, Gimp doesn't natively have this capability, tho I suppose somebody could write a plugin. But you could do it in Inkscape and then import it into Gimp, either as a bitmap, or as a path.

--- Shin Diggar wrote:

Hello,

Is it possible to draw a closed shape using paths and then make some text fill the inside of that shape?

This would be like text following a path but instead of just using it as a baseline it would stretch the width and height of the text to follow the full interior of the shape.

It's something that's very common on badges and logos, and here is a mock-up I made to simulate what I'd like GIMP to do for me:

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/4541/textsr9.png

I know there are tricks that can be used on raster text to create simple shapes such as bulging or squeezing the centre using lense distortion or other features, but I'm more interested in making text follow irregular (but precise) shapes, preferably using vectors/paths like the current text-to-path feature does.

Many thanks. __________________

Shin Diggar writes:

It's something that's very common on badges and logos, and here is a mock-up I made to simulate what I'd like GIMP to do for me:

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/4541/textsr9.png

Curve Bend (under Distorts) does exactly that. You can set the upper and lower shapes separately.

...Akkana

Thanks to Elwin and Nathan for the suggestions. I'm happy to do this in Inkscape and import the results into GIMP but I can't work out how to do it. I also looked at the curve bend tool in GIMP but it's not quite as precise as I'd like and it leaves the 'text' looking a bit rough because it converts it to a raster layer first and then stretches the pixels. I'd like to do this with paths so that I retain the smooth font edges (and can resize better if I need to).

I've updated Inkscape to the latest version and am able to make text follow paths like GIMP does, but I can't work out how to warp/distort the text intoshapes:

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/4541/textsr9.png

Everything I've tried just results in the text being placed along the path rather than being distorted to fill the shape. I did search for tutorials for this kind of effect but couldn't find one for Inkscape so any ideas?

Just a suggestion, after you have sized and positioned the text, group it and then convert to paths, hit the paths tool and then do a few Ctrl+l (els)
and see what it does to your text.

http://members.pcug.org.au/~rcook/images/hw3.png is two Ctrl+ls. Play around and you will get something to suit. It maybe preferable to do it on an individual letter basis

Owen

Inkscape has two tools to do this. There is the new node tweaking tool that allows you to sort of "sculpt" the nodes. Another possibility is node sculpting. Select a group of nodes, then alt-click and alt-drag on it. It will move and sort of proportionally drag other nodes along with it.

And to further muddy the waters, there is another way you could do this, involving yet a third open source program, Blender...but you'd be looking at a learning curve to do it this way. You could make some text in Blender (it can use truetype fonts), then convert it to a curve (like in Inkscape), then add a lattice modifier and sort of "sculpt" your text into the shape you want. Then do a render and save the render as a png or jpg and import it into anothe graphics program for further manipulation. A much more complicated process, but gives you the most control.

The text in the animated GIF in this pic was done this way. Note, it does NOT have to be 3D. I just wish Blender could export to .svg. The only way to do it, is to import the render into Inkscape or Gimp and work with it from there.

--- Shin Diggar wrote:

Thanks to Elwin and Nathan for the suggestions. I'm happy to do this in Inkscape and import the results into GIMP but I can't work out how to do it. I also looked at the curve bend tool in GIMP but it's not quite as precise as I'd like and it leaves the 'text' looking a bit rough because it converts it to a raster layer first and then stretches the pixels. I'd like to do this with paths so that I retain the smooth font edges (and can resize better if I need to).

I've updated Inkscape to the latest version and am able to make text follow paths like GIMP does, but I can't work out how to warp/distort the text intoshapes:

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/4541/textsr9.png

Everything I've tried just results in the text being placed along the path rather than being distorted to fill the shape. I did search for tutorials for this kind of effect but couldn't find one for Inkscape so any ideas? __________________

Shin Diggar wrote:

Thanks to Elwin and Nathan for the suggestions. I'm happy to do this in Inkscape and import the results into GIMP but I can't work out how to do it.

Save the file as an .svg from Inkscape and pull that file in to GIMP. If the svg file loader in GIMP is rasterizing the SVG at one size and then resizing the raster image to the desired size during the import, a bug or enhancement request should be filed against the svg loader. It should allow you to generate a raster image at the desired size without the need to do any resizing.