Hi, I am looking for a width or line break control setting when text along a path is rotated 90d.
I'll explain that one part at a time.
First, a path, such as a circle.
Second, text placed along that path.
Third, rotate the text.
What I want is text radiating at right angles to the circle, like sunrays,.
What I get is text parallel to the circle, but whose individual characters are either parallel or at right angles to the circle. The perpendicular text is never more than one character wide.
Moreover, if I make a vertical list of words, the wrapping function always reformats it to the horizontal list. There's no apparent way to make line breaks and a vertical list.
Firstly, on the snapping menu at the right hand side of the screen, turn on 'Snap to an item's rotation centre' (fifth from the bottom).
Start with the text that'll go on the horizontal centre of the circle (Thursday, in your example). You don't NEED to start with this, but it's just simpler to demonstrate.
Position the text roughly where you want it outside the circle, then use the Align & Distribute tools to make sure it's in line with the middle of the circle.
Now click the text twice to show the rotation handles. Look for a little cross that's at the centre of the text. Drag this cross towards the centre of the circle, and it'll snap to the circle's middle.
Now rotate your text. You'll see that it rotates around the circle, because its rotation point is at the centre of the circle.
I'd suggest duplicating the Thursday text, once you've got it where you want it, then rotate the duplicate to where you want. You can then just edit the text to change the day (it's just simpler this way, but you can repeat the process above for each text object if you prefer).
You can constrain the rotation with the Ctrl key, to ensure even spacing. Alternatively, if you need more control, go in to the Objects menu and open the 'Transform' panel. Click on the 'Rotate' tab, and you can enter precise angles there. So long as your text's rotation is snapped to the circle's centre, you can rotate any degree you want, and it will always spin around the outside of the circle.
That's very intuitive once I get the rotation centres aligned. Very simple!
But... the calculation of angles, and the repetition if I want 180 of these, even with the precision tool, ...😯
Would be great if there were an extension that would add a set spacing in a radial array, which is what I'm used to in CAD apps. I'm looking at the Tiled Clone Array to see if I can get that to work.
And what if I've got a path that's irregular? Think I'm going to try that now and see what happens!
The Clone Tile funciton is not intuitive, and I have not got it to work as wanted. It will make a radial array, but it is rotating the objects around some point that's not the centre of the circle. It's offset in both X and Y directions.
As for irregular lines, well, they have a centre of rotation, but that's not useful for aligning words at right angles to the squiggles.
I think this is probably an impossible feat. So I will focus on learning the simple radial pattern using Clone tiles for now.
Beyond the Basics Width of Rotated Text w line breaks on Path
Inkscape.org
Hi,
I am looking for a width or line break control setting when text along a path is rotated 90d.
I'll explain that one part at a time.
First, a path, such as a circle.
Second, text placed along that path.
Third, rotate the text.
What I want is text radiating at right angles to the circle, like sunrays,.
What I get is text parallel to the circle, but whose individual characters are either parallel or at right angles to the circle. The perpendicular text is never more than one character wide.
Moreover, if I make a vertical list of words, the wrapping function always reformats it to the horizontal list. There's no apparent way to make line breaks and a vertical list.
In pictures:
Horizontal text
Vertical/Rotated text
What I want:
Here's how I'd do it...
Firstly, on the snapping menu at the right hand side of the screen, turn on 'Snap to an item's rotation centre' (fifth from the bottom).
Start with the text that'll go on the horizontal centre of the circle (Thursday, in your example). You don't NEED to start with this, but it's just simpler to demonstrate.
Position the text roughly where you want it outside the circle, then use the Align & Distribute tools to make sure it's in line with the middle of the circle.
Now click the text twice to show the rotation handles. Look for a little cross that's at the centre of the text. Drag this cross towards the centre of the circle, and it'll snap to the circle's middle.
Now rotate your text. You'll see that it rotates around the circle, because its rotation point is at the centre of the circle.
I'd suggest duplicating the Thursday text, once you've got it where you want it, then rotate the duplicate to where you want. You can then just edit the text to change the day (it's just simpler this way, but you can repeat the process above for each text object if you prefer).
You can constrain the rotation with the Ctrl key, to ensure even spacing. Alternatively, if you need more control, go in to the Objects menu and open the 'Transform' panel. Click on the 'Rotate' tab, and you can enter precise angles there. So long as your text's rotation is snapped to the circle's centre, you can rotate any degree you want, and it will always spin around the outside of the circle.
Okay, great! Thanks!
That's very intuitive once I get the rotation centres aligned. Very simple!
But... the calculation of angles, and the repetition if I want 180 of these, even with the precision tool, ...😯
Would be great if there were an extension that would add a set spacing in a radial array, which is what I'm used to in CAD apps. I'm looking at the Tiled Clone Array to see if I can get that to work.
And what if I've got a path that's irregular? Think I'm going to try that now and see what happens!
Will report back.
Mixed results.
The Clone Tile funciton is not intuitive, and I have not got it to work as wanted. It will make a radial array, but it is rotating the objects around some point that's not the centre of the circle. It's offset in both X and Y directions.
As for irregular lines, well, they have a centre of rotation, but that's not useful for aligning words at right angles to the squiggles.
I think this is probably an impossible feat. So I will focus on learning the simple radial pattern using Clone tiles for now.