I am in a Model Railroad group of about twelve members. I am trying to update our Membership cards for 2015. When using Corel Draw there was a function that allowed me to have my type take the form of an oval Cobweb Dust and Ashes on the top of the oval Model Railroader's along the bottom of the oval.

I am trying to familiarize myself with the "Libre Write" and "Libre Draw" I have found Fontworks, but I don't want any shadows, and I can't seem to get the bottom wording set in the upright position. It always wants to end upside down.

Is there a easy way to create an "Oval" and have the name take the form of the oval, then after you have the names in place delete the oval and have the lettering standing freeform.

Also I want to print ten individual cards on one page. (Preformed Businees cards). I can make extra blank cards, but I can't seem to get them arranged in one page.

Any help, suggestions ,using a different program etc. would be greatly appreciated. Also if this should be in a different Forum Subject Line, I'll gladly change it over.

Draw is pretty much a piece of crap. If you just turned to Draw and you are still in the process of learning, and you don't have invested too much time in it, drop it. Use Inkscape. It is much closer to Corel. It does have the functions to shape lines of text.

jlinkels

Thanks for the suggestion ! I have Inkscape on my desktop. I have played with it somewhat, but I still find it very frustrating to use. When I draw an oval, instead of getting a nice oval or circle like I used to get in C/Draw, I get those two little boxes and a little circle. Question: Am I missing something that I am not getting the Oval/circle? I have managed to create the arc that I desired for the top set of type "Cobweb Dust and Ashes" and have selected both the type and the oval and got the words to follow the oval. However, getting the "Model Railroader's" to go on the bottom half is so far impossible. I have been trying to figure out what I am doing by reading the Manual, and I am reading page 333 QUote :Text on a path is initially placed on the “left” side of the path (referenced from the path direction) starting at the beginning of the path. One can change the direction of the text (and the side it is placed on) by reversing the direction of the path (e.g.,
Path
’
Reverse (
Shift+
R
))
So, This is just more or less a summary of what I have tried, and what I have accomplished thus far. I'm sure I will be back for further help but at least I am seeing some progress for the time I have spent. (Like many hours)

Thanks again for the help it is really appreciated.

When drawing an ellipse you see 2 squares and a circle, correct? That is because both the fill and outline are white or blank. Select those squares/circle and try to give it a fill and outline color.

Inkscape has to options for drawing a shape. Either is uses the last drawing style or it uses its own drawing style.

Do File -> Inkscape preferences.
Expand Tools (little triangle on the left of the word Tools)
Expand Shapes
Click Ellipse
Adjust "Create new object with"

If you draw an arc instead of a circle, select the node tool (below the selection tool) and grasp one of the little circles on the object's circumference. Move it to open or close the arc. If you drag the node tool outside the object the arc is closed (pie shape). If you drag it inside the object, the arc is open.

Experiment with holding the SHIFT and/or CTRL keys while drawing the circle.

I tried to fit text to the bottom half of an ellipse and that is somewhat funny. Different outcomes when I try to mirror the text and ellipse before or after putting text on the path. I would try to get the text correctly, and then hide the ellipe you used for forming the text. Then create a new ellipse which is a visible part of your drawing.

It is not quite clear to me how you want to position you text. A hand drawing, a picture or a web link would help.

jlinkels

QUOTE:A hand drawing, a picture or a web link would help.End Quote:

In Yahoo forums we have a "photo" section where we could put something like this. How do I do this in this forum.? Thanks again.

Now just a little more update: I did get the Oval like a football as per your instructions. I also have the "Model Railroader's" following the bottom of the Oval, However, when I delete the oval my "Model Railroader's" jump back to the straight line of text. How do I get rid of the oval and still have my text stay on the oval format.

Thanks..

You can place hyperlinks into a post or attach a file. Attaching a file has some amount of size limit I believe (256k just looked that up). People do post screen shots. My suggestion is to save it as a JPEG or other compressed form so that it's not too large of a file and that should be fine if you choose that option.

I you use the advanced editing option you'll see a paperclip to allow you to add or manage attachments.

Also in advanced mode you see the infinity chain to allow you to add the tags for specifying a hyperlink. That pops up a window for you to type in your url. Another way to do it is to add the tags manually, which are: [url]link-goes-here[/url] and any text which is enclosed between those two tags where it says "link-goes-here" becomes a hyperlink when you post it. You can also preview your post to verify that you got it correct.

I find that gimp is most closest to Photoshop, however I haven't tried tons of graphical editors. You can rotate the image there. Not sure if you can free rotate however you can go by 90 degree intervals. I've made text which is either upside down or on the side borders of a square frame this way.

Either mention the name of the Yahoo group or link a picture as per rmistler's instructions. I tried to search for harris Creek Central but to no avail.


You did better than I did by putting the text on the bottom of the oval. You get rid of the ellipse by setting the outline color of the combination to nothing (The cross in the outline color dialog) So the ellipse is there but you don't see it. The ellipse has to be there to keep the text curved.
Another option is to use the menu Path -> Object to Path but then you can't edit the text anymore. Then the text is a collection of drawing objects, not characters.
Note that a character does normally not have an outline. So if you want an outline on your text, put it first. Then set the outline of the ellipse to none. (Remember where the ellipse is!). Then select ellipse+text and put the text on the path.

jlinkels

Just to clarify one point.. I mentioned using the Yahoo Forum "Pictures" This was for a different project altogether.. I have nothing in those groups concerning this ID Card thread. Sorry if I mis-lead anyone, sending you looking for a picture.