I want to create curvey text.

[Roasted]

I was using gimp to freehand the text for this drawing I came up with that I want to turn into a tattoo. At school I started tinkering with adobe illustrator and found out that there's a curvey line option I can use with illustrator which gets the lines smooth with no random bumps and whatnot.

Problem is, illustrator (the version from school) only works on XP. It won't work on my 2000 pro machine and I'm not about to go buy XP...

So my question is this. Does gimp have anything like that that I'm overlooking? I mean... think about MS Paint, where you had the curvey line option. I want something like that. However, it'd be nice if the option was available to make the lines relatively thick so it can match the drawing I already have up.

I just wanted to recreate what I already have in a smoother fashion...

[gsiliceo]

Try inkscape, you can find it in add/remove apps.

[Roasted]

Seems like a darn nice program. I'll have to play around with it to see what I can do.

But, with me wanting to create curvey/oval shaped lines, what tool do you guys suggest I use to do that? I'm crashing now, and it'd be nice to wake up to an answer so I don't have to think too hard in the early morning hours.

:guitar:

[Dragonbite]

Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/)will give you the closest equivalent to Illustrator. I am not sure whether Inkscape can open Illustrator files but it's worth looking into.

[Roasted]

I don't need to open illustrator files. What I'd like to do is to simply recreate my design using curvey and oval shaped lines that are relatively thick. Know what I mean?

[Paul820]

Gimp has a path tool for curvy lines, it looks like a pen nib, or press b. Once you have done your path, go to edit->stroke path and set the width you need. You can set the colour before you stroke it.

[Roasted]

What would be REALLY nice is... if gimp were to have a tool that could look at the existing image (which is just black text) and set it to adjust the text so it's x-amount of pixels wide.

You see, I think the text in my drawing is a bit too thin. So I want to thicken it. I've come to the realization that the only way I can do that is by getting the paintbrush and manually making them thicker, due to the fact I can't seem to recreate these curves with the curvey line tool.

But... if there were a tool that I could set "adjust ALL lines to 50 pixels wide" that'd be greeeat...

[Paul820]

Why don't you draw the design on paper, scan it, and open it in gimp on a layer. Make a new layer and trace around it. The path/pen tool will take some getting used to, you will have to practice until you feel comfortable with it.

Edit: Why don't you have a play with inkscape like the others mentioned. It will produce much cleaner lines as it is vector based. Gimp will produce jagged edges on some of the curves and i don't think that is what you want. Inkscape has a path tool, and there are plenty of tutorial on the internet for it. If you go to the top of inkscape to the menu, click on help->Tutorials->Advanced, there is a tutorial on using paths.

[Roasted]

I did draw it on paper. Then I scanned it. Now I've been in gimp ever since.

I'll mess with inkscape more... The only thing about inkscape is, no matter what I do, I can't just make 1 curvey line. When I go to make the 2nd curvey line, it just messes up the first one cause it never "detaches" from that line. This program won't help me at ALL if I can't get around this...

[Paul820]

In inkscape, left click to start your line, drag and then left click again, leave the mouse there and right click to finish. Then do another one. Each line you make can be altered by using the path node tool, press F2 to use it, and click on the line you want to edit then drag the handles.

[kiddo]

Here, I made a video tutorial just for you, download it here:
http://tuto.ecchi.ca/inkscape/texte%20courbe.ogg

about 2.3 Mib filesize. I hope that's what you were looking for.

[Dragonbite]

Here, I made a video tutorial just for you, download it here:
http://tuto.ecchi.ca/inkscape/texte%20courbe.ogg

about 2.3 Mib filesize. I hope that's what you were looking for.I dont' know about the original poster (seems he wants to make the font lines fatter) but that was pretty cool! I've been wanting to get more into Inkscape and Gimp and that was such an easy way to see just how to do that!

Thanks! You should do more like that, maybe even Inkscape can host it on their website (video tutorials).

[Paul820]

This guy has some good video tutorials http://screencasters.heathenx.org/

[Roasted]

Here, I made a video tutorial just for you, download it here:
http://tuto.ecchi.ca/inkscape/texte%20courbe.ogg

about 2.3 Mib filesize. I hope that's what you were looking for.

Oh, sweet. It won't load. Looks like I have a video problem to fix. Just what I've always wanted! :mad:

[Roasted]

All right, well, I've done a lot more work freehand on my drawing. I've come to realize that with the twangy style I'm trying to apply to the drawing that something that is done with a program, such as inkscape, just doesn't look the same.

In inkscape, I used that curvey line tool and tried to duplicate the drawing I made. I think I did a good job, it was almost dead on. But it being so distinct with the curves just didn't make it look natural. So needless to say, I just taught myself some hot keys in gimp (which sped up the process 100 times faster) and spent the last 2 hours editing it. And now... it's done!

Now I just gotta cough up the money to go get it inked...

Thanks to everyone for your help. Inkscape is definitely a great program, and I can't wait for another opportunity to use it in depth. But, alas, Gimp pulled through this time when I decided to stay old school and use the paintbrush and that's it. :)

[exile]

Thanks for posting your experience Roasted. It's always encouraging to see people try the suggestions and then come back and let us know how you went (for better or worse).