Modifying Text

[KenR60]

Is there a method where I can ungroup a word and move the letters where I want?  At the moment I'm doing this in another Program and then opening up the file in Inkscape.

2017-08-28_08h28_47.jpg
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[Moini]

Select Text, do Path -> Object to Path. This will turn any object into a series of curves. Then select the group of letters, hit Ctrl+U to ungroup, move letters.

OR

Select text, switch to text tool, place cursor between letters and use Alt+arrow keys to move letters. This will keep the text editable as a text.

[brynn]

Welcome to the forum!

Absolutely there's a way to do that.  But I have to ask some questions before I can explain how to do it.

So you've typed the text in another program, right?  What kind of object is it, when you bring it into Inkscape?  If you select it with the Selection tool and look at the status bar, it will tell you.

At this point, I don't know why you are bringing it into Inkscape.  But just for your info, the text could be typed directly into Inkscape, as long as you have the font installed.  Then you can use kerning, if the letter spacing needs to be adjusted.  Or there are several more parameters of the text, which can be changed.

(If you don't have that font installed, it should be relatively easy to find a similar one, even for free.

Do all the letters need to be touching, so you can cut them out (of paper or wood or whatever) all in one piece?  If so, I can probably find a tutorial for you.

One way or another there's a way to do that.  I just need to know what kind of object it is.

As usual, Moini posted while I was typing

[KenR60]

Select Text, do Path -> Object to Path. This will turn any object into a series of curves. Then select the group of letters, hit Ctrl+U to ungroup, move letters.

OR

Select text, switch to text tool, place cursor between letters and use Alt+arrow keys to move letters. This will keep the text editable as a text.

Thanks for that, much appreciated.   All went well except after this is done I need to export the text as a *.plt  and at the moment that gives me an error.


UniConvertor failed:



Traceback (most recent call last):


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\sk1libs\filters\import\svgloader.py", line 1305, in Load


    xml_reader.parse(input_source)


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\xml\sax\expatreader.py", line 107, in parse


    xmlreader.IncrementalParser.parse(self, source)


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\xml\sax\xmlreader.py", line 125, in parse


    self.close()


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\xml\sax\expatreader.py", line 218, in close


    self._cont_handler.endDocument()


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\sk1libs\filters\import\svgloader.py", line 559, in endDocument


    self.parseElements(element)


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\sk1libs\filters\import\svgloader.py", line 579, in parseElements


    getattr(self, method)(attrs)


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\sk1libs\filters\import\svgloader.py", line 1140, in begin_path


    self.parse_attrs(attrs)


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\sk1libs\filters\import\svgloader.py", line 654, in parse_attrs


    self.parse_style(val)


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\sk1libs\filters\import\svgloader.py", line 667, in parse_style


    self.try_add_style(key, val)


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\sk1libs\filters\import\svgloader.py", line 756, in try_add_style


    self.style.font_size = self.user_length(val)


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\sk1libs\filters\import\svgloader.py", line 799, in user_length


    return float(str) * factor


ValueError: invalid literal for float(): medium


Traceback (most recent call last):


  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\uniconvertor\__init__.py", line 95, in uniconv_run


    doc = load.load_drawing(input_file)


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\uniconvertor\app\io\load.py", line 377, in load_drawing


    return load_drawing_from_file(file, filename)


  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\uniconvertor\app\io\load.py", line 354, in load_drawing_from_file


    raise SketchLoadError(_("Parsing error: ")+ str(value))


app.events.skexceptions.SketchLoadError: Parsing error: invalid literal for float(): medium

[KenR60]

Welcome to the forum!

Absolutely there's a way to do that.  But I have to ask some questions before I can explain how to do it.

So you've typed the text in another program, right?  What kind of object is it, when you bring it into Inkscape?  If you select it with the Selection tool and look at the status bar, it will tell you.

At this point, I don't know why you are bringing it into Inkscape.  But just for your info, the text could be typed directly into Inkscape, as long as you have the font installed.  Then you can use kerning, if the letter spacing needs to be adjusted.  Or there are several more parameters of the text, which can be changed.

(If you don't have that font installed, it should be relatively easy to find a similar one, even for free.

Do all the letters need to be touching, so you can cut them out (of paper or wood or whatever) all in one piece?  If so, I can probably find a tutorial for you.

One way or another there's a way to do that.  I just need to know what kind of object it is.

As usual, Moini posted while I was typing

Thanks Brynn,

How I do it at the moment is I Type the Text and make the changes in another Software, then I take a Snapshot ( jpg ) image and then open it in InkScape and select "Path/Trace Bitmap" and then delete the original image and then Save As a *.plt

So I'm trying to cut out the first software and do the above in InkScape to speed things up

[brynn]

Yes, using Inkscape, you can probably avoid using Trace Bitmap, and probably get a much cleaner cutting file.

Here's a mini-tutorial for this:  https://www.inkscapecuttingdesign.com/smf/index.php?topic=432.0  (You can click on the attachments to make them larger)

[KenR60]

Yes, using Inkscape, you can probably avoid using Trace Bitmap, and probably get a much cleaner cutting file.

Here's a mini-tutorial for this:  https://www.inkscapecuttingdesign.com/smf/index.php?topic=432.0  (You can click on the attachments to make them larger)

THANK YOU, that looks like its going to work how I need.  Much appreciate both your comments

[brynn]

Actually, I just realize that tutorial has you moving the individual letters after they are converted to path.

But for myself, I would probably try using the kerning button on the control bar of the Text tool.  (It's called "Spacing between letters" on mouseover.)

I don't know if one way has any pros or cons over the other way.  But you're welcome to share your experience, if you try both ways.  If you like 

[Moini]

(just a note: the option Brynn describes does the same as holding Alt and using the arrow keys when the cursor is between two letters).

[KenR60]

Attached is an error I get trying to save a drawing to plt,  can someone explain what went wrong please?

[KenR60]

I thought all this was solved but after I reposition the text I need to SaveAs a plt file and then thats where it gives an Error?

[flamingolady]

If I'm following this and understanding correctly, you've resolved the kerning issue, and now have a problem with exporting the file?  Until/unless there's a better answer, could you export your file as a png (from within Inkscape choose file>Export PNG image,  export at 96 dpi).  Then use another software pgm such as GIMP (free open source) to convert it to a jpg.  GIMP has a few learning curves, but to use it just to convert a file to a jpg is pretty simple (you open the file, then choose EXPORT, then save it as a jpg, I always click on advance options so I can click on 'save thumbnail', and also to choose a high quality save.

dee

[brynn]

Hhmm, I'm not sure if he can use a JPG.

Are you using Extensions menu > Export > Plot ?  Or are you using File menu > Save As > PLT or  HPGL ?

That traceback error message is typically what we see when an extensions doesn't work.  But I notice that both of those (HPGL and PLT) are available from Save As.  I wonder if that could bypass the problem with the extension?  Or did you see that Traceback error when you used Save As?

Usually I can't decipher the Traceback.  But in this case, I see that UniConverter seems to be the source of the problem.  I found this FAQ about it:  https://inkscape.org/en/learn/faq/#how-install-uniconvertor-windows

I'm not sure if you didn't say which Inkscape version and operating system you're using, or if I just didn't find it.  But if it's 0.92.x on Windows, that's probably your answer, that you need to install Uniconverter.

[Moini]

Try to convert the texts to paths (make a copy of the file first, so you can still edit the texts). If that alone doesn't help, open the XML editor, and try if removing the 'style' attribute of the texts  (you can replace it later, but this would be needed to remove the font weight, which seems to be what the exporter cannot deal with) helps.

[KenR60]

If I'm following this and understanding correctly, you've resolved the kerning issue, and now have a problem with exporting the file?  Until/unless there's a better answer, could you export your file as a png (from within Inkscape choose file>Export PNG image,  export at 96 dpi).  Then use another software pgm such as GIMP (free open source) to convert it to a jpg.  GIMP has a few learning curves, but to use it just to convert a file to a jpg is pretty simple (you open the file, then choose EXPORT, then save it as a jpg, I always click on advance options so I can click on 'save thumbnail', and also to choose a high quality save.

dee

Thanks for your thoughts,  The way I do it now is create the word in a drawing program, ungroup the word to enable each letter to be positioned correctly, I can't just Kern the letters as some require moving, some don't. Next I take a closeup screenshot of the word then go to Inkscape and open the Screenshot select Path/Trace Bitmap, delete the original image and then Save as a *.plt.  So all I'm trying to do is do this in InkScape without any other software.  As previous messages show, I can do this in InkScape except I'm getting an error trying to save the word to a *.plt file

[brynn]

Did you see Moini's comments (Reply #13) ?  Her answer is probably closer to the right answer than mine (Reply #12).  But if her answer doesn't work, you could try mine :-)