GIMP Version: 2.8.14
Operating System: Windows
GIMP Experience: Basic Level

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I'm trying to wrap text around a circle ("South Park" at the top arc and "Paintball" the bottom) and I have two challenges as displaying in my image a ) I can't get the words "South Park" filled with the foreground color (Black) b) When I select "text to path" for the word "Paintball" it goes to the position where "South Park" is. How do I flip it so that when it's rotated to the bottom of the circle it is not upside down? Thanks in advance.

I think you should have 2 separate paths!

1) Put a vertical and a horizontal guide where the centre of the circle path must be
2) Create the circle path, centred on the guides
3) Create the words “SOUTH PARK”
4) “SOUTH PARK” > Text along path
5) (if required) Put the Rotate tool in Path Mode. Click on “SOUTH PARK” path. Move the centre of rotation to the centre of the circle – it will snap to the guides. Rotate the “SOUTH PARK” path as required.
6) In the paths dialogue, duplicate the circle path.
7) Put the Flip tool in Path Mode and flip the duplicate circle (there is no visible difference)
8) Create the word “PAINTBALL”
9) “PAINTBALL” > Text along path
10) Repeat step 5 for “PAINTBALL”
11) Create a new transparent layer.
12) Make the path “SOUTH PARK” active
13) Edit > Fill Path (alternative – depends on your version of Gimp): Path to selection and bucket fill the selection.
14) Repeat steps 11,12,13 for “PAINTBALL”

NOTES
A path has starting point and end point. This will dictate where the “SOUTH PARK” and “PAINTBALL” paths are created. Hence these paths may need to be rotated into position.

A path has a direction. Clockwise or anti-clockwise. This will determine whether the “SOUTH PARK” and “PAINTBALL” paths are created above or below the circle path. Hence the need to flip the duplicate circle path. This effectively reverses the direction of the path.

Ofnuts has a set of plugins for manipulating paths. Also an alternative “Text along path” plugin which is probably easier to use than the default Gimp one. Ask for more information if required.

The standard "Text-Along-Path" function is barely usable...

Since TAP maps your text to the beginning of the path you would have to know where the path starts to precisely position your text, which is quite impractical since you don't even know how big the text is... If you are mapping to a circle you can rotate the path around the center of the circle.

• Use a cross of guides to mark the circle center
• Create the circle from that center (in the Circle select tool, click on the center of the cross, then depress Ctrl-Shift before dragging)
• Select > From path
• Text to path
• Start the "Rotate" tool, the third icon at the top ("Transform:" line) makes it rotate paths instead of layers.
• Rotate the path. Make sure the center of rotation (circle-cross) is the center of the circle. You have to eyeball the centering. Adding beforehand a couple of horizontal guides can help.
  
  
  Attachment:

  
  TAP1.png [ 67.63 KiB | Viewed 1644 times ]
  
  
  
• If you want the second text at the bottom upright you have to make the path go in the opposite direction. This is done by using the Flip tool (it can also transform paths, like the Rotate tool) on the initial circle path
  
  
  Attachment:

  
  TAP2.png [ 48.16 KiB | Viewed 1644 times ]
  
  
  
  
  Attachment:

  
  TAP3.png [ 41.07 KiB | Viewed 1644 times ]
  
  
  
• The bucket-fill has to be done on its own layer. If you don't add a new layer the bucket-fill will be done on the last active text layer, and since that layer likely has no pixels in common with the selection nothing happens.

If you want to use an Ellipse and not a circle, two solutions:

1) Do the thing on a circle (because that's the only way you can center things), then chain-link the three paths and then use the scale tool on the circle to make it the required ellipse. Due to the chain links the two text paths will be scaled accordingly. However, this method also distorts the letters.



2) Use my ofn-text-along-path script, that makes a lots of things easier (centering, positioning) and doesn't distort letters (even in the circle version with regular TAP see the difference between the T in "TEXT" (narrow bottom) and the one in "PATH" (wide bottom).