Text turns to squares?

Bowwow · Postby **Bowwow** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:26 pm

Now I'm a noob so bear with me.

Now I'm a member of a roleplaying forum were we control our own countries. I tried to make an .svg version of the seal for my country which is below.

That's the .png version, but when I saved it in .svg format, it comes out like this.

It turns out whenever when I try to use text on my projects, they all come out as blocks. Only when I save as .png does it turn out the way it should.

Can anyone help me on this? It would be greatly appreciated!

Postby **brynn** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:52 pm

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

When you say you saved in SVG format, what does that mean exactly? I'm guessing that you did not trace it, to turn into paths? And I'm guessing that you imported the PNG into Inkscape and then did Save As SVG? I actually haven't seen anything like this before. I'm not sure if I will be able to find the problem, but I'll grab your PNG and try the same thing (although I'm not sure if I'll be saving the problem, since I won't have the actual PNG file, but a copy). I'll post again with any comments

Postby **brynn** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 4:43 pm

Ok wait! At first I thought you meant that you had a PNG originally, then imported into Inkscape, added content and saved as SVG. But now I'm thinking that maybe you drew it originally as a vector, in Inkscape, and then saved as SVG. Or maybe you mean something else entirely?

I don't know though, any way you did it, I have no idea what the problem is. I would have to see the SVG file, to have any chance of finding the problem. You could attach to your next reply, or upload wherever you want, and then give us the link. Also, would you please tell us your Inkscape version and operating system, just in case it's needed?

Or maybe someone else will recognize the problem right away, without needing the SVG file? This is a new one on me :roll:

Bowwow · Postby **Bowwow** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:53 pm

brynn wrote:But now I'm thinking that maybe you drew it originally as a vector, in Inkscape, and then saved as SVG.

Yeah, I pretty much drew it from scratch based on an existing seal I had.

I'm guessing that you did not trace it, to turn into paths?

I have no idea what that means, lol.

Bowwow · Postby **Bowwow** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:57 pm

Oh yeah, I'm using Inkscape 0.48 and Windows XP if that helps

Postby **brynn** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 11:35 pm

Bowwow wrote:I have no idea what that means, lol.

No worries. I misunderstood what you said, so it's irrelevant.

Interestingly, when I open your SVG file, the image looks fine! (Win7, 64-bit, Inks 0.48.1)

: textissue.PNG (56.36 KiB) Viewed 2957 times

I realize that's a PNG, but that's how the SVG looks in Inkscape for me. (That's not an export from Inkscape, it's a screenshot.)

Edit
Oh! Is the image with rectangles instead of text -- is that what you see in Windows Explorer? I guess you could only see it in WE if you have the Renesis plug-in, though. Often the previews of my SVGs look really funky in Windows Explorer. But I'm guessing you don't have that plug-in..... Darn, I thought I had the answer :lol:

Anyway, have you tried opening the SVG file after closing it? Maybe it was just some weird glitch?

shawnhcorey · Postby **shawnhcorey** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:46 am

Do you see blocks when you open the file with Inkscape? Does the other software you use have access to the same fonts as Inkscape?

rich2005 · Postby **rich2005** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:12 am

I think the problem is using 'flow text into frame'

The OP svg shows fine in Inkscape but is mangled in Firefox & Opera browsers.

Using text-to-path works better here.

Dont have the Gothic font and I have left the circular paths showing.

shawnhcorey · Postby **shawnhcorey** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:22 am

Your attachment only shows the text in Inkscape and Firefox v16 on my system. Even GIMP doesn't render it correctly. But the blocks all appear at the bottom of the image rather than in a circle. I think it's safe to say that not all software can render text-on-path correctly.

rich2005 · Postby **rich2005** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 3:09 am

It could well be, it being a weekend, I am sitting dabbling on my netbook. Not exactly cutting edge.
Bohdi linux, firefox 12 & Inkscape 0.48

Works here, so maybe a Windows issue.

Bowwow · Postby **Bowwow** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:42 am

shawnhcorey wrote:Do you see blocks when you open the file with Inkscape? Does the other software you use have access to the same fonts as Inkscape?

No, the blocks don't appear when I open it in Inkscape, only when I try to save it as a vector from Inkscape. Saving the image as a PNG works out fine. I only use Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 in addition to Inkscape and they both have most or all of the same fonts.

shawnhcorey · Postby **shawnhcorey** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:48 am

I took a look inside and it's using flowRegion and flowPara, new elements in SVG 1.2 that I'm not familiar with.

I have no idea what it's doing.

~suv · Postby **~suv** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:15 pm

Inkscape FAQ: "What about flowed text?"

Tip: for single words/logos (or letters, as in the original seal file), don't use flowed text, use regular text instead:

When creating new text: Click, don't drag - click with the text tool once on the canvas, and type the text/letter right away, instead of dragging a text frame first (for the flowed text), and then entering the text).
For existing text: use menu 'Text > Convert to Text' to convert flowed text into regular text.

Postby **brynn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:21 pm

Bowwow wrote:No, the blocks don't appear when I open it in Inkscape, only when I try to save it as a vector from Inkscape.

I don't understand what you mean. If you open it in Inkscape (and you made it in Inkscape) it already is a vector. Are you trying to save as EPS perhaps, or PDF, or other vector format?

I've tried Saving As Inkscape SVG and Plain SVG, and both work fine. I can't view EPS or I would test that too. PDF looks fine.

When you see the squares, are you in Inkscape? Or otherwise, what are you using to view the image?

I do notice, in your screenshot, that the F is not a rectangle. And I see in your file that F is the only regular text object. All the rest are Flowed Text. And flowed text doesn't like to play on the internet. So perhaps you're viewing the image that's been uploaded to the internet? Since you do plan to use the image on the internet, definitely see ~suv's comments about flowed text (just above this). Even if you're not viewing on the internet now, you'll want to make that correction before you put it on the 'net. And like others have already suggested, that might solve the problem entirely

shawnhcorey · Postby **shawnhcorey** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:12 pm

~suv wrote:Inkscape FAQ: "What about flowed text?"

Thanks for the link. Now I know why I haven't heard of flowed text. I normally don't read draft version of standards; they're too likely to change.

Bowwow · Postby **Bowwow** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 10:42 am

~suv wrote:Inkscape FAQ: "What about flowed text?"

Tip: for single words/logos (or letters, as in the original seal file), don't use flowed text, use regular text instead:
When creating new text: Click, don't drag - click with the text tool once on the canvas, and type the text/letter right away, instead of dragging a text frame first (for the flowed text), and then entering the text).
For existing text: use menu 'Text > Convert to Text' to convert flowed text into regular text.

Ah, Thanks so much, text is coming out fine now. Again, thanks!

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