ray-like text in gimp

[modao]

Hello everyone,

For a long time I've been trying to find to find a solution to the problem that's been puzzling me. So far with no luck so I decided to ask here. I'm an English teacher an I wanted to update one of the boardgames I have to be able to use it with my students. To do so I need to be able to arrange a list of words (say about eighty), each in a new line, in a ray-like fashion around a circle. I've seen many tutorials showing how to do something similar along the path of a circle but here it would have to be like rays instead. I'm attaching a picture of what I'm aiming for. I imagine I could do that by tranforming the subsequent words by say 1 degree but I am looking for a solution which would allow for the circle to be editable, by typing/pasting the whole list of words. I'd be really grateful for any tips how to do that.

[Ofnuts]

This definitely requires a script. In practice since it is all text some vector application like Inkscape would be better. But that would also likely require a script... Unless it is an available "effect" in some text processor (LibreOffice Writer/Impress, MS Word/Powerpoint).

In practice I have most of of the required code for Gimp in store, but is that urgent?

[modao]

(11-07-2017, 10:39 AM)Ofnuts Wrote: This definitely requires a script. In practice since it is all text some vector application like Inkscape would be better. But that would also likely require a script... Unless it is an available "effect" in some text processor (LibreOffice Writer/Impress, MS Word/Powerpoint).

In practice I have most of of the required code for Gimp in store, but is that urgent?

Thank you for your reply. I've been trying to find a solution using WordArt but I haven't been able to achieve the desired effect, but I might have missed something, as I'm no expert on these things. It is not very urgent. I'm an English teacher and I wanted to be able to make editable wordlists for a boardgame that I have, to make learning new vocabulary a little bit more fun for my students.

[Ofnuts]

OK, not hard to adapt one of my scripts, but the coming weekend is already very busy, so no promises of quick delivery.

[Ofnuts]

Looking good.

   

Now I have to document things.

In the meantime, how much skilled are you with Gimp? Do you know how to install Python plugins and use paths? You can test yourself trying to install the ofn-path-to-shape script that you'll find there. Once installed, read the doc (HTML and image in the ZIP) and in particular try to reproduce the clock example (because this is part of the answer). In case of problems, just ask here (or in the ofn-path-to-shape thread)

[Espermaschine]

Dont want to steal the show from ofnuts but the effect is very easy to do in Inkscape. Even for a beginner.
And fully editable at all times.

   

[Ofnuts]

And a cleaner solution too....

[Espermaschine]

(11-08-2017, 01:11 AM)Ofnuts Wrote: And a cleaner solution too....

Well there can never be enough ofnuts' plug-ins
....but yeah its cleaner and the filesize is very small too.

I used tiled clones for this. You can clone text in a circle, unlink all the clones and they will remain being text, which is cool, because you can double click individual words and paste a different wording.
There is a tutorial on my blog for a sunburst, which is exactly the same, you just use text instead of triangles.

[Ofnuts]

My plugin could be a bit less labor intensive:

1) using ofn-path-to-shape to make the path with the rays: 1) initial diameter, 2) spokes 3) transform the spokes into partial rays (see the "clock" demo in the doc). At that point the image can be saved.
2) load image with rays, start the script, paste the text (one single paste), pick out parameters (mostly the font), and [OK]

[modao]

Thanks everyone for solving my problem I didn't have the time to check the forum during the week and only got the time to get to it today. I'm not very advanced in Gimp and haven't heard of Inkspace, but I'd be happy to try either of the solutions. I'm a fast learner so hopefully one way or the other I'll figure it out.