Hello all,

I'm new in Inkscape,but want to learn it, as I heard this is a great program
So now, I'm running into a problem.
Uhm..... I have to tell you all that not experienced at all with graphic programs and designing.

The version I use is Inkscape 0.48.2 r9819.

I've been looking some video tut's on how to dynamic offset text.

So I started a new image.
Started a new textbox with the letters "test" in it.
Resized it.
And then I use "Object to path" .(shift + control + C)
Excuse me if the translation is not perfect, I'm using the Dutch version of Inkscape.
First question: Can someone explain me why I see so much in tutorials, using "Object to path"?

After that, I need to go to command Dynamic Offset (Ctrl + J)
When I see different youtube-tuts, at this point there is coming a rectangle around the text with on 1 place a "diamond" to handle the offset.
I see a rectangle (selection), but no diamond.
And if I move the mouse over a letter, there's a red outline coming into view around that 1 letter.
I can select all letters together with the shift-key, but then I see all paths from all letters.
Unfortunatly, then I'm unable to do the dynamic offset.

Perhaps it's something stupid for you, but I tried different times and with different youtuve tuts.

Any help would be welcome.

Thank you.

Welcome aboard!

Path is the core of all objects in inkscape,
so for editing things by their nodes it is the first step in inkscape, maybe that's why.

You can dynamic offset paths, but after you run "object to path" on a text, it will turn to a group of paths.
More precisely, every letter will turn to a separate path, and the text will become a group of those.
To dynamic offset such text, after pressing the Shift+Ctrl+C, press Shift+Ctrl+G to ungroup the letters,
then press Ctrl+K to combine them together, resulting in one path that you can dynamic offset.
The diamond handle will be somewhere at the top of the bounding box.

Thank you!
This does the job indeed.

So resume for me
(I have to get used to all these shortcuts)

SHIFT + CTRL + C --> Object to path
SHIFT + CTRL + G --> Ungroup
CTRL + K --> Combine the selection to 1 path
CTRL + J --> Dynamic Offset

Probably another stupid question:
Is there somewhere a list of all availbable shortcuts?

In each case: THANK YOU, Lazur!
You've made my day.
I was struggling with it already for a couple off days.

Also, just to add to the post above, you don't usually need to turn the text into a path to use dyn. offset. What I do is duplicate the text and place it on another layer, that way, if anything gets screwed up, you have a duplicate to work with, and more importantly, if you keep a copy before it's a path, then you will always be able to click on it to figure out which font you used (I use so many fonts that I can't remember them all, so it's important to know, especially if you are going to sell a design with it).
Anyway, give it a try - using dynamic offset on the font as is, then you'll definitely see the diamond handle, you can still change it to a path after you apply the offset too. have fun!

Good tips, Flamingolady.
I'll keep them in mind.

Try with these, but also check this page too.

Maestral- great keyboard/shortcut info! Especially like the first one, am going to try to print it now! (I need to learn shortcuts). May I suggest that you do a post in the resource section for this - most people are not going to see it here... (puuullleasssee???) : )

ExSerCo - hmmm, about 3 yrs ago there were tons of really good Inkscape tuts, several on using dyn. offset too, so many have disappeared. I used one called something like 'Making Funky Text', which taught the use of dyn. offset, and was fun too, lol. If I can find the link again, and if it's still there, I'll edit this post to include it.