Hello all,
I'm new here, so, firstly, glad to join us (and sorry my poor english)

straight to the point I have the following problem

In order to get a "seventies" effect, i need a stroke around a text.
The problem is that the font I'm using (http://www.urbanfonts.com/fonts/Marcelle.htm) is not a tidy one, so, when I assign the stroke, it follows the sketchy path of the single digits, and not the ideal boundaries of the text.

I cannot figure out how to solve this (quite new to inkscape and graphics in general), can you help me?

I can give you further specs in case my english failed

Have a nice Saturday, meanwhile
Simone Borselli (Italy)

To get your stroke around the text you'll need to convert the text to path. Select the path and do path>break apart. Select all the paths and do path>union. Then set fill and stroke as you desire. This should work to give an unbroken stroke around each letter, however it will still probably not be a smooth line. I don't know of an easy way to do that. You'd have to probably manually trace the outline you want with the bezier tool to get that. Maybe you could post an example of what effect you're after to enable the board to give more specific advice.

Thank you very much!
I Thought I could "trace the outline", as you said, but I hadn't any idea on how to achieve it.
I try with your suggestion and look for an example (or maybe I create one from scratch with a "simpler" font).
I'll post the result later in the afternoon or tomorrow.

Simone

I'm still not clear on the exact effect you're looking for, but if it's what I think it is, with a simpler font you'd get the effect by converting to path and doing a path>dynamic offset and adjusting it to the right size. That's how the top left logo on this page was done. Same for the top right and the second from the top left.
http://files.myopera.com/llogg/files/benjlogos.png

llogg wrote:I'm still not clear on the exact effect you're looking for, but if it's what I think it is, with a simpler font you'd get the effect by converting to path and doing a path>dynamic offset and adjusting it to the right size. That's how the top left logo on this page was done. Same for the top right and the second from the top left.
http://files.myopera.com/llogg/files/benjlogos.png

ok, that's a good starting point

the effect i need is the top-left's one, but I necessarily have to use the font I linked above, and as you can see, the dirty effect in the font make it difficult to trace only the outer border of the whole text.

As an example in the third line you linked me (White "E" red squared). I dont want the stroke to fill the gaps inside the letters.

Now I'm not at the workstation, so I can't apply your suggestion, but, do you have any hint?

Thank you, you are being really kind

I don't know if it can work on every letter of your font but using Offset might help.

Type your text, duplicate that object and send it to back to be behind the original text. You can change it's color so the changes will be more visible. Then go to Path > Dynamic Offset or Path > Linked Offset. With dynamic offset you will lose the ability to edit that object as text, but with Linked offset you won't. When you enable that option you will see one node somewhere on the edge of the text, use the Node tool to move it so you get the text outline.

If the irregularities in the font are small enough they will not be noticed in the offset. If you can still see some of the "dirty" parts in the offset you can manually edit them to make them smooth, just convert the offset object to a path and edit it normally with Node tool (you'll probably just have to delete some nodes).

I'll try it for sure tonight, when I'll be back to home.

well, that's a wonderful forum indeed!

News about the result as soon as i get something different than a shapeless stain

Here's an example using that font. The top is no editing on the red offset. The bottom is after doing a path>simplify and then editing out some nodes inside the boundary of the object.

prkos wrote:I don't know if it can work on every letter of your font but using Offset might help.

Type your text, duplicate that object and send it to back to be behind the original text. You can change it's color so the changes will be more visible. Then go to Path > Dynamic Offset or Path > Linked Offset. With dynamic offset you will lose the ability to edit that object as text, but with Linked offset you won't. When you enable that option you will see one node somewhere on the edge of the text, use the Node tool to move it so you get the text outline.

If the irregularities in the font are small enough they will not be noticed in the offset. If you can still see some of the "dirty" parts in the offset you can manually edit them to make them smooth, just convert the offset object to a path and edit it normally with Node tool (you'll probably just have to delete some nodes).

OK, with this how-to i got this result:



That's exactly what I wanted, thank you.
About the irregularities inside the single letter, i think it's ok, all considered.

two last questions:
1. How do I fine tune the offset? I can only dragging the handle or I can specify a "radius" somewhere?
2. If you look inside the two "s", the "a" and the "d", you can see a darker region... how can I fill those regions with the outer, lighter color?

To fine tune it zoom in a lot and then drag, maybe turn the grid on for reference. While doing this the Duplicate window can help, with it you open a second window of the same document that updates automatically but you can set a different zoom level (among other things). So you adjust the offset in the zoomed in drawing while looking at the zoomed out window.

Select the yellowish object and use Node tool to select and delete nodes responsible for those holes/"bays" (I presume that's the object that causes it). You may need to convert that object to a path first if it's still in the offset mode.

ok, here's the final result



Thank you all, guys,
I learned more about layers today than ever

I'll post the resulting website as soon as finished