Easy Guide to FontSlab for Gimp Part 3: Rotating Characters

[Skinnyhouse]

Angles_Logo.png (217.32 KiB) Viewed 3111 times

FontSlab has options for adding rotation to characters along a user path that can be used to reinforce a message contained in the text.

There is also a zipped Resources folder to accompany this guide which includes:

Kerfuffle_Interlock_letters_only custom font file
straight path path file
Horseshoe path path file

Resources.zip

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Unpack the resources folder and save it to your preferred location. The path files should be imported to the images (I used a new image size of 1000x800) you create for this project.

Fire up the Gimp and add the straight path to your image either by using the path tool or by importing the relevant path file from the path tool dock.

Call up the FontSlab dialog:

Filters>>Custom Font Tools>>FontSlab v0.12

First, as a reference point, create some text to increase in size along the path without any character rotation.

Set the initial ‘Font size’ value – mine are shown in brackets (60).
Choose the custom font to use – navigate to the location on your machine.
Set the ‘Use custom font’ option to ‘Yes’.
Set the ‘Text step size’ (8.0)
Hit ‘OK’.

01_NoRotation.jpg (304.84 KiB) Viewed 3111 times

[Skinnyhouse]

Now to add some rotation to the characters to keep the characters horizontally positioned on the path.

Reshow the FontSlab dialog and, keeping the earlier settings, do the following:

Set the ‘Rotate letters’ to ‘Yes’
Keep the ‘Angle of rotation’ as 0 degrees.
Hit ‘OK’.

02_Rotation_0_Straight.jpg (277.77 KiB) Viewed 3110 times

If you find that the letters overlap too much, you can always adjust the spacing with the relevant spacing option.

Adjust the angle size to add an element of edginess to the text:

Increased the ‘Angle of rotation’ value (22).

03_Rotation22_Straight.jpg (267.84 KiB) Viewed 3110 times

Or use the ‘Jitter’ option to add randomness and informality.

Set the ‘Angle of rotation’ value (0).
Set the ‘Jitter range’ value (10). A value of 10 will randomly pick a value for the angle of between +/- 10 around the angle of rotation used. This feature was used for the ‘ROTATION’ logo in the corner.

04_Jitter_Straight.jpg (275.51 KiB) Viewed 3110 times

[Skinnyhouse]

Another example using a horseshoe path:

06_Rotation_0_Horseshoe.jpg (249.52 KiB) Viewed 3110 times