text to shape (then cleanup) to parh for (other) text to follow

[bashment]

Text to path for text to follow

Basically, I want to use an icon from webdings font and write it repeatedly around a piece of text from another font.

I realise the procedure is to convert the text to shape or curve but I can't seem to get it to work well because the text I wish to use as a path is quite messy with some splatter type stuff going on around the edge. I was hoping I could remove those vertices to clean up the text and then use it as a path. Currently it is causing deformations in the text following very tight mishmash corners and when I got to the third letter, the program crashed.

I use the pen draw a shape and then click edit and then click the shape, fine. But when I convert the text to a shape, I cannot click the shape with the pen and get a reaction, or show anything to edit.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong ? - I noticed this when I tried in jasc psp 9 so never really conquered it.

[Jean-Luc]

Could you post a before/after screen capture? Or an image showing the end result you want to achieve?

[bashment]

Like this but the other way around. Stars around the text. So the text would be huge, and the stars naturally quite small. But I need to fix the text as it is quite messy

The messy font : https://www.dafont.com/military-poster.font

[Jean-Luc]

I still don't understand.

[LeviFiction]

Jean-Luc PSP massively distorts the text on path if using the linked font to create a vector path and is causing their PSP to crash.

I'll show you. Based purely on their description here are the basic steps of what they are currently trying to do using Text on Path.

1) Install military Post font
2) Add Text object using a letter like "N" or "M"
3) Right-click the text object in layers palette and "Conver Text to Curves -> As Single Shape"
4) click on path with text object to start "Text on Path"
5) Start typing the Wingdings "Star" character so that you have an "N" with stars around it
6) Program crashes because the path that was created from the military font is messy and has lots of weirdness in it.

Here's an example of an L shape in the font

Military Font L.png

See how messy and jagged it is. With weird dips and a sharp cutout in the main stock. And it actually has two separate contours in one shape which will confuse the text on path algorithms.

Here is an image that shows the letter L converted to a path, and a Text object of a Webdings Font Star object.

Screenshot 2023-08-10 133639.png

Now, here's the result if I fit the star to the path.

Screenshot 2023-08-10 133910.png

What they are wanting, is help in working out how to clean up the font to avoid the issues and crashes.

First thing to do: Make sure to turn off "Text Warp" as this will attempt to warp the text around the curves of the shape. This is in the hidden menu on the tool options.

Second thing to do: Dduplicate the character and fix the path on that duplicated character, merge shapes, merge points doing manual adjustments of nodes and lines when merging makes them wonky. This won't be fast. But so long as it's a short message it won't be horrible either. Then turn the stroke to 0 and turn off the fill. This will hide the duplicated path. Bind the text to this path. It'll follow the general outline of the text but won't be trapped by the nooks and crannies. The benefit of this, is you don't have to be precise about lining up the fixed lines with the actual text or worry that deleting nodes creates problems (always merge nodes, don't delete unless it's to get rid of tiny holes). Just be patient and get it to be approximately correct.

Here's a rough idea, you can see the lines still aren't straight and it looks wonky. But it does at least work and there are no distortions.

TextOnHiddenCharacter.png

[Jean-Luc]

Thank you LeviFiction!
Your presentation is very educational.

[bashment]

Ok so that is something like what I am trying to achieve but I want to got that step further and remove the bumps, holes and cuts so the outline ergo path is clean but still the same overall shape. I have a whole 9 letter word to do this to.

The first problem i cant seem to be able to edit the font when converted to a shape. How do I do that ? I think I can figure it all out if I can do that. I can create a shape and then go back to it and edit it but converting text to a shape doesn't seem to let me select it with the pen tool in edit mode.

[LeviFiction]

I have no problems selecting with the pen tool. The big thing being make sure the object is selected in the layers palette. If you're having trouble with that, try resetting the workspace. It's the usual go-to for PSP acting weird.