Hello,

I don't have much experience with Inkscape and was hoping to find some help here on a project I am working on. I am trying to create a faceplate for an amplifier. You can think of the faceplate as something on the front of a piece of audio equipment-radio, stereo. It will have the brand, logo, knobs and markings, etc.

The easiest way is to think of a volume knob. I have a circle and I want to put the numbers 1-10 around that circle, in that 1 starts at the lower left and 10 finishes at the lower right and the numbers should be vertical. The numbers should be spaced out evenly between each other and I would like them each from the center of the circle about 23.81 mm. I am using mm, too. I have tried selecting the text and circle and putting to path route, however, the numbers become more horizontal-like skewed sideways. Also, as I rotate the numbers around, the numbers began to cut in or stray away from the edge of the circle. I then tried to set the text vertically and put to path that way but that was worse.

Any help would be appreciated. Hopefully, there is a method that can be repeated easily because I have to do this like seven times--treble, bass, and so on.
Before posting could you please make sure it works. Ive been trying to do this for a week and have just hit the wall with trying to figure it out on my own.

Thanks in advance

Hello there,

probably the first thing I would do is to convert text to path and ungroup the characters (Ctrl+Shift+C, Ctrl+Shift+G).
Then use the align and distribute panel (Shift+Ctrl+A) or snapping in general to position them, for example around a star's spikes (*).
From 1-10, it can be done fast manually.

Once you have a knob right, you can group the objects together (Ctrl+G) and duplicate or clone the group (Ctrl+D or Alt+D).

http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Align.html
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Snapping.html
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Groups.html
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Copy.html
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Clones.html

Hello

Tried text to path and ended up putting them around the circle like before. When I ungrouped them, I could select each number individually but didn't put them to path on the circle. I tried looking at the guides and just not familiar with using align+dist. or snapping correctly. Sorry but not very good with this program, I need a step by step guide with this it seems, because if I click or select something wrong or out of step, the whole process fails.

Hi.

There are an extension for doing what you want; Scale Generator
Chime back if you need help installing the extension or assistance using it.

Sure about the scale going from 1 to 10?
Normally for a 240°potmeter the scale goes from 0 to 10 where zero is muted and 10 is max.



For a few guides look at these links;
http://www.soundgaragetales.com/amp-building/designing-amp-faceplates
http://journeytounknownsoundscapes.blogspot.no/2011/10/in-hate-to-make-faceplates.html

That is exactly what I mean, however, today is just not my day.

Trying to unzip it but not working--cant enable sudo in archive manager
simplest way to install?

Thanks

unzip it to usr/share/inkscape/extensions?

That should work.
http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16348&p=60300#p60300

Nice extension. The text seems a bit shifted vertically.

Anyway, not that I could break this down to steps effectively but here is how I would draw it.

Thanks Lazur but figured it out so those nix above installation issues. unzipped the correct two files---just didn't know where to execute it in inkscape---Extensions--Render--Scale Generator (using linux)

I will take a look at your drawing.

just trying to figure out how the scale generator works

Thanks for all the help so far.

Ragstian,

I have it--but how do I apply it to a circle/ellipse?
I went through most of the tabs and selected the ellipse but on "apply" a browser popped up and said "working" and went away. The scale generator window was still there and it didn't appear to make any change to the ellipse. I realize there's more.

Hi.

The scale generatior is creating new objects - it is not modifying existing ones like your ellipse.

If you press apply and you don't see any result try zooming out as the extension might have placed the scale outside the viewable area.
To see the whole drawing and all objects - press F1 to get into object mode, press Ctrl A to select all, then press the number 3 on the main keyboard (not the numpad)

Before starting the extension click in the middle of the screen, your scale will end up where you clicked.

If you get a linear (straight) scale and you want a circular one - click the "Circular" radio button on the "Global Options" tab,
To get the scale to fit a "standard" potmeter use these settings on the Circular Tab;
Radius = 23.8
Start (deg) = 60
Count (deg) = 240
Try with Label offset = -10.

Use mm on the Unit Tab

On the marker Tab use;
Div of labeled marker: 1
Div of bold marker: 5
Div of default marker: 1

Chime back if you need more help on creating the scales.

I don't have time for detailed comments. But just quickly, on Ragnar's examples (in his first reply) I think it would look better if the center of the text objects would lie on the path of each tic mark. As it is, it looks like the text is aligned by its text anchor (handle). But I think aligned to the text object's center would look better.

Just my opinion

Or you could make them louder.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOO5S4vxi0o

Ragnar,

Thanks a lot, that really helped me out. I gave it a go and it was just what I was looking for. I might tweak some of those values but you got me there.
I knew it wasn't difficult given all of the artwork I have seen with this program but with no experience it was frustrating. An amp faceplate is pretty primitive in comparison.

In terms of 11, yeah, have seen that or discussed so many times on the amp forums. Little did ST know probably how legendary that bit would become.

I was thinking after this I could just start a soap company on Paper Street.

Hint: embedded svg's like Ragnar's or mine can be downloaded and dissected in Inkscape for construction methodology.


Lazur's approach is very straightforward, whereas Ragnar's extension approach might make adjustments faster.

In this adaptation of Lazur's approach, the numbers and index marks are located by snapping to the red polygons. The red objects are on Layer-1, which can be hidden when outputting.



The index marks are snapped to nodes, the numbers are snapped to the object centers.

I apologize, but I'm tech illiterate and working on the exact same project. Is it possible to install this in OS Yosemite?

Assuming "OS Yosemite" is a Mac os, here are issues for using Inkscape with Macs. Except for those issues, everything works the same with Macs as in other os.

Perhaps you have seen this:

Preparation and running Inkscape
Download and install XQuartz from xquartz.macosforge.org. Specific instructions on installing XQuartz and support are found at the XQuartz web site. Note: Inkscape runs on XQuartz. This step and the next are required....

https://inkscape.org/en/download/mac-os/

.

I installed Inkscape a few days ago and have had fun learning to use it. It's this particular extension I was having trouble installing. I think I've got my faceplate design finished, though. Now I'm having printing issues.

I'd try saving a copy as pdf and printing that.