Try using the "Edit Paths by Node" tool. It is the second down from the "Select and Transform Objects" tool that looks like an ordinary arrow .... the one beneath that is the "Node" tool ... you can also press (F2) once you have your text and the path upon which you wish to place the type selected in unison. Then use the "Text > Put on Path" menu option to put them together and adjust their placment along that path by using your intuition with the mouse/pointer to move them about ... What you're trying to do is realatively simple, so it may be best to experiiment a bit and see if you can get the sense of it down by being playful for a moment or two. =)
Holding down certain keys (like SHIFT and CONTROL) can constrain how you modify the placement of your selected type upon the curve as you try to move it about ... if you'd like to share an example of where you get stuck, then perhaps someone can give you guidance on how to proceed further.
There is something screwy going on and it appears to be within the file I am working on. If for example, I create a new file, draw a circle or ellipse, add text and put on path, the text anchor point is the center of the arc or circle, but if done in a working file, the text anchor point is not even near the arc or circle center. Since the working drawing has lots of other work that has been done in it. I cannot just start over with a new file. I expect to find out that it is something that I am doing wrong and just do not know it in a specific file like some type of hidden object snap or unknowing changing the circle or arc's rotation point. Seems as if I have run across the solution sometime back but his time when it has re-emerged I am unable to remember or find the solution again.
Attached is 2 files, one that the Text path is properly set to the center of the ellipse or circle and the other where the text center \ anchor point seems to have randomly been assigned or has been incorrectly set.
When centered text is placed on a path it lands at the midpoint of the path.
Circles in Inkscape have their start/end point at the 3-o'clock position, or east.
Center-anchored text will land opposite the start/end point (the midpoint between). It is a simple matter to rotate just the circle to position the text as desired.
Tyler Durden it appears you did not read or understand the problem I have, thanks for your response but that does not solve the issue at hand. Open the "Does Not Work" attachment and move the ellipse around to see the unusual text anchor location.
I'm not sure if I see the problem that you're talking about, but I might. I see that the 2 text items are not on the circle (ellipse). Are you saying that when you clicked Put on Path, the text was placed where it is, and not on the circle? Because it's possible to grab the text and move it away from the circle. I just don't know if you moved it away for some reason?
In your "does not work" file, I'm able to place text on your same circle, and it works properly. Since it looks like you deleted everything else out of the file, it could be that you deleted whatever might have been causing this problem. I'm only guessing about that though.
I can't see any reason for the frontwards text not to be on the circle. The text which is backwards, it has a transform matrix, which might account for it's odd placement. I don't know much about transform matrices, except that I can see them in the XML Editor. So I don't know how it might have gotten there, or if it has anything to do with the odd placement. But it could have something to do with the odd placement.
But there is no transform attribute of any kind on the frontwards text.
When I move the ellipse around, I can see that the backwards text seems to have a mind of it's own. That's probably being caused by the transform matrix. The frontwards text moves exactly as the ellipse moves -- just at a distance away.
I never noticed or thought about this before. But I just noticed that once the text is placed on a path, the text anchor disappears. The text can't be snapped relative to its anchor anymore, because it no longer has an anchor.
I don't know if I answered your question or not, since I'm not sure how your text got separated from the ellipse. But maybe there's some info that will be helpful?
You definitely are seeing what I am referring too, I just do not know how or what is causing the text when put on path to have the weird insertion point \ anchor point (I'm struggling for the proper description of the attachment location when text is put on a path of a circle, for a circle I assume it should be the circles center point). The " transform matrix " is way above my head, if anything I mirrored the text to try to place it on the bottom inside of the ellipse \ circle, in that file for whatever reason it seems once I have this issue with text put on a path I have this unknown \ random insertion \ anchor point never goes away so it drives me plum nuts. Actually, I just tried it again with the "Does Not Work" file that I uploaded and the text when put on path went where it would be expected to go so I have no clue what is driving or causing this oddity to occur.
Update: But still when I remove the text from path and put it back on path the odd insertion point \ anchor persist. Where or what is causing it or what do you have to do to fix it?
No, the text anchor will go to the path, not the area inside the path. So if the text is right-justified, it will go to the beginning of the path. Or if it's centered, should go to the center of the path.
I agree that most people, when putting text on a circle, expect it to be centered at the top of the circle. I don't know if it would be worth a feature request, to ask for some kind of feature where "if the path is a circle, the text goes here" ("and if it's any other kind of a path, use the regular rules"). Or if that would be too hard to do. But I can say that text on path with a circle is hard for...well, most people anyway. And with an ellipse like you have, even harder.
I'm not sure exactly how you mirrored the text, but that's probably where the transform matrix came from. That could be causing the other problems.
To put text on the bottom of the circle, you have to draw a whole new circle. I don't know why Inkscape was made that way, but the manual tells how to do it. At the botttom of this page: http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Text-Path.html
No problem, thanks for looking into it. While I have only tried your proposed fix once, it did work. Having a small amount of programming in my background (not anywhere near the level those that have written Inkscape) I am dumbfounded why being on different layers causes the issue. Would be interestting to find out why but not at all required. Hopefully someone with better knowledge than I can convay this issue to the programmers so it can be addressed in upcoming revisions. Thanks for your help.
Without seeing the complete original file, it's impossible to tell what transpired, and even then it could only be an educated guess.
When I see layers with transforms, I presume they were groups converted to layers or imported SVGs converted to layers. Usually done in the Objects dialog panel. I can replicate the issue in that way.
I also thought of a group as being potentially involved. But same story -- at this point, we can't really know.
I can reproduce the issue, just putting the text and ellipse on different layers. No conversions needed. I guess that's because in Inkscape, layers are really special groups.
I also thought of a group as being potentially involved. But same story -- at this point, we can't really know.
I can reproduce the issue, just putting the text and ellipse on different layers. No conversions needed. I guess that's because in Inkscape, layers are really special groups.
A conversion is needed to put a transform on a layer.
Moving the objects in the OPs "problem file" layers will produce the issue (because all but Layer 5 has a transform), but adding a new layer to a new file has no transform and the issue will not be present.
Thanks all, that's a lot of great feedback, while a great deal of it is beyond my knowledge of Inkscape, I'll educate myself on some of the attributes discussed. Just FYI, I import quite a bit of art, I also try to use layers to be able to isolate artwork. Very seldom if any have I purposely attempted to use layers as a way to "transform" (for lack of the correct way to explain it) my artwork, I can say however that these setting has caused me problems over time without my want or knowledge of these type of setting actually being set (on purpose). Somehow, I am accidently (via importing or other method) these unwanted features. Thanks again for all your help.
I don't know for sure whether we could help you figure out where it's coming from. But if you could share your SVG file, with the image already imported, along with the image that you import, in whatever format it's in before you import it, possibly we could help to figure it out. I can't make any promises. But maybe.
Thanks very much. I'll try to keep a mental map of the process if or when it happens again. In this particular instant I could not truly give the history of this file so would hate to have people chasing a shadow of unknown origin. The "did not work" file I previously uploaded is a copy of the file with most of the data deleted. Just FYI, I generally create the extra layers myself and do not intend them to have any special features (like blending or other higher end usage) other than being able to turn them on and off based of whether I want to use them or not, my other layer use is generally putting an object above or below others.
Beginners' Questions Text on Path Anchor
Inkscape.org
I'm strugling; Inkscape 0.92.4 (5da689c313, 2019-01-14)
Draw a circle, draw text (center \ middle justified)
Put Text on Circle Path; the center \ anchor point (if that is the correct term) of the text is somewhere else other than the circles center point.
What on earth controls that location \ anchor and how do I modify it or what am I doing incorrectly to begin with.
Try using the "Edit Paths by Node" tool. It is the second down from the "Select and Transform Objects" tool that looks like an ordinary arrow .... the one beneath that is the "Node" tool ... you can also press (F2) once you have your text and the path upon which you wish to place the type selected in unison. Then use the "Text > Put on Path" menu option to put them together and adjust their placment along that path by using your intuition with the mouse/pointer to move them about ... What you're trying to do is realatively simple, so it may be best to experiiment a bit and see if you can get the sense of it down by being playful for a moment or two. =)
Holding down certain keys (like SHIFT and CONTROL) can constrain how you modify the placement of your selected type upon the curve as you try to move it about ... if you'd like to share an example of where you get stuck, then perhaps someone can give you guidance on how to proceed further.
There is something screwy going on and it appears to be within the file I am working on. If for example, I create a new file, draw a circle or ellipse, add text and put on path, the text anchor point is the center of the arc or circle, but if done in a working file, the text anchor point is not even near the arc or circle center. Since the working drawing has lots of other work that has been done in it. I cannot just start over with a new file. I expect to find out that it is something that I am doing wrong and just do not know it in a specific file like some type of hidden object snap or unknowing changing the circle or arc's rotation point. Seems as if I have run across the solution sometime back but his time when it has re-emerged I am unable to remember or find the solution again.
Attached is 2 files, one that the Text path is properly set to the center of the ellipse or circle and the other where the text center \ anchor point seems to have randomly been assigned or has been incorrectly set.
When centered text is placed on a path it lands at the midpoint of the path.
Circles in Inkscape have their start/end point at the 3-o'clock position, or east.
Center-anchored text will land opposite the start/end point (the midpoint between). It is a simple matter to rotate just the circle to position the text as desired.
Tyler Durden it appears you did not read or understand the problem I have, thanks for your response but that does not solve the issue at hand. Open the "Does Not Work" attachment and move the ellipse around to see the unusual text anchor location.
I'm not sure if I see the problem that you're talking about, but I might. I see that the 2 text items are not on the circle (ellipse). Are you saying that when you clicked Put on Path, the text was placed where it is, and not on the circle? Because it's possible to grab the text and move it away from the circle. I just don't know if you moved it away for some reason?
In your "does not work" file, I'm able to place text on your same circle, and it works properly. Since it looks like you deleted everything else out of the file, it could be that you deleted whatever might have been causing this problem. I'm only guessing about that though.
I can't see any reason for the frontwards text not to be on the circle. The text which is backwards, it has a transform matrix, which might account for it's odd placement. I don't know much about transform matrices, except that I can see them in the XML Editor. So I don't know how it might have gotten there, or if it has anything to do with the odd placement. But it could have something to do with the odd placement.
But there is no transform attribute of any kind on the frontwards text.
When I move the ellipse around, I can see that the backwards text seems to have a mind of it's own. That's probably being caused by the transform matrix. The frontwards text moves exactly as the ellipse moves -- just at a distance away.
I never noticed or thought about this before. But I just noticed that once the text is placed on a path, the text anchor disappears. The text can't be snapped relative to its anchor anymore, because it no longer has an anchor.
I don't know if I answered your question or not, since I'm not sure how your text got separated from the ellipse. But maybe there's some info that will be helpful?
brynn
You definitely are seeing what I am referring too, I just do not know how or what is causing the text when put on path to have the weird insertion point \ anchor point (I'm struggling for the proper description of the attachment location when text is put on a path of a circle, for a circle I assume it should be the circles center point). The " transform matrix " is way above my head, if anything I mirrored the text to try to place it on the bottom inside of the ellipse \ circle, in that file for whatever reason it seems once I have this issue with text put on a path I have this unknown \ random insertion \ anchor point never goes away so it drives me plum nuts. Actually, I just tried it again with the "Does Not Work" file that I uploaded and the text when put on path went where it would be expected to go so I have no clue what is driving or causing this oddity to occur.
Update: But still when I remove the text from path and put it back on path the odd insertion point \ anchor persist. Where or what is causing it or what do you have to do to fix it?
No, the text anchor will go to the path, not the area inside the path. So if the text is right-justified, it will go to the beginning of the path. Or if it's centered, should go to the center of the path.
I agree that most people, when putting text on a circle, expect it to be centered at the top of the circle. I don't know if it would be worth a feature request, to ask for some kind of feature where "if the path is a circle, the text goes here" ("and if it's any other kind of a path, use the regular rules"). Or if that would be too hard to do. But I can say that text on path with a circle is hard for...well, most people anyway. And with an ellipse like you have, even harder.
I'm not sure exactly how you mirrored the text, but that's probably where the transform matrix came from. That could be causing the other problems.
To put text on the bottom of the circle, you have to draw a whole new circle. I don't know why Inkscape was made that way, but the manual tells how to do it. At the botttom of this page: http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Text-Path.html
Sorry for the earlier post, I was composing the reply while doing other work. In the meantime you had posted the attachments.
The text should be in the same layer as the ellipse (or vice versa) before applying the text onto the path. Then things should work ok.
Tyler Durden
No problem, thanks for looking into it. While I have only tried your proposed fix once, it did work. Having a small amount of programming in my background (not anywhere near the level those that have written Inkscape) I am dumbfounded why being on different layers causes the issue. Would be interestting to find out why but not at all required. Hopefully someone with better knowledge than I can convay this issue to the programmers so it can be addressed in upcoming revisions. Thanks for your help.
Regards
Ronnie Moore
Without seeing the complete original file, it's impossible to tell what transpired, and even then it could only be an educated guess.
When I see layers with transforms, I presume they were groups converted to layers or imported SVGs converted to layers. Usually done in the Objects dialog panel. I can replicate the issue in that way.
Have a nice day.
TD
I also thought of a group as being potentially involved. But same story -- at this point, we can't really know.
I can reproduce the issue, just putting the text and ellipse on different layers. No conversions needed. I guess that's because in Inkscape, layers are really special groups.
I also thought of a group as being potentially involved. But same story -- at this point, we can't really know.
I can reproduce the issue, just putting the text and ellipse on different layers. No conversions needed. I guess that's because in Inkscape, layers are really special groups.
A conversion is needed to put a transform on a layer.
Moving the objects in the OPs "problem file" layers will produce the issue (because all but Layer 5 has a transform), but adding a new layer to a new file has no transform and the issue will not be present.
Have a nice day.
TD
I just tested in a new blank file and reproduced it!
Oh, I'll bet it's my custom default doc, which has a landscape orientation! Layer 1 has a transform attribute.
Well, so there are other things besides a conversion, that can create a transform attribute in a layer. So other things can cause this problem.
That's pretty interesting.
Best practice for text on path it seems, is to ensure both are on the same layer.
Thanks all, that's a lot of great feedback, while a great deal of it is beyond my knowledge of Inkscape, I'll educate myself on some of the attributes discussed. Just FYI, I import quite a bit of art, I also try to use layers to be able to isolate artwork. Very seldom if any have I purposely attempted to use layers as a way to "transform" (for lack of the correct way to explain it) my artwork, I can say however that these setting has caused me problems over time without my want or knowledge of these type of setting actually being set (on purpose). Somehow, I am accidently (via importing or other method) these unwanted features. Thanks again for all your help.
Regards
Ronnie Moore
I don't know for sure whether we could help you figure out where it's coming from. But if you could share your SVG file, with the image already imported, along with the image that you import, in whatever format it's in before you import it, possibly we could help to figure it out. I can't make any promises. But maybe.
Thanks very much. I'll try to keep a mental map of the process if or when it happens again. In this particular instant I could not truly give the history of this file so would hate to have people chasing a shadow of unknown origin. The "did not work" file I previously uploaded is a copy of the file with most of the data deleted. Just FYI, I generally create the extra layers myself and do not intend them to have any special features (like blending or other higher end usage) other than being able to turn them on and off based of whether I want to use them or not, my other layer use is generally putting an object above or below others.
Regards
Ronnie Moore