Hello Inkscape Forum,

I have looked for quite a while this afternoon, but every search seems to come close to the answer, but not right on it.

Please refer me to the proper post if that is easier!

Problem:

I have a basic text plus small image I created for a church. But I need it in a vector format so they may scale it down to business card or up to banners for events. The font that is preferred is very jagged and I was trying to find a tool, or filter, on Inkscapte to clean it up. I noticed some fonts are clean, but none fit the style wanted.

Font is "Rage Italic" and I will post a pic her. Mainly - I just need to clean up the font. I can work with the birds by manipulating the nodes.

Thank you friends!

Explaination:

https://imageshack.com/i/n8kj5up

And original

https://imageshack.com/i/ndwbrbp

Hi.

If all you need is this spcecific text you can trace it by hand.
About an hour of work.

Chime back if you want 'someone' to do it for you!

RGDS
Ragnar

Thanks for the reply. Been working with Inkscape for a few months - off and on - so how do you trace by hand? Beizer? But I have two other logos to produce this week.

I want to learn this, but with time constraint, maybe I need "help"

-Oeland

My apologies ... I think you meant Bitmap Trace. But that is what the center image is after that tool was used. Still jagged.

Did I miss something?

Hi.

Tracing the font can be done in two ways (or more), either by bitmap trace or manually.
The time difference between the two are normally small as you will have to 'fine-tune' the bitmap trace anyway.
I like to 'hand-trace' where I first draw bezier curves with straight line segments and then 'pull' the curves in place - smooting the outlines.

Will have a go at your text - stay tuned for updates.

RGDS
Ragnar

Hi.

First attempt;


You can edit nodes to your liking!
(With a little bit of luck - other users who are more artistic than I am might chime in with improvements.)

RGDS
Ragnar

I think you were right - I just needed to spend the time and smooth the nodes by hand.

1 - I "bitmap traced" it.
2 - "Fill / stroke" is important because I found out if I used Fill/Stroke that it smoothed over a great deal of the "jagged" edges !!!!
3 - "Edit paths by node" tool got me straight to work. Deleted a lot of nodes and smoothed it over.
4 - Still uneven because it was a "handwritten" font and that was the effect I wanted.

I put a gradient behind it and I think it is good enough for a bid. Puts the basic concepts in front of them, and then we can discuss alterations.

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1366x88q90/836/qiu0.png

Wow!

I just saw your work after I posted mine. Yours is dead on - thanks and I will most likely incorporate that into my "logo"

Thanks Ragnar

Peace - Oeland

I don't know about tracing the font by hand. I've tried that before, and for all the precision that Inkscape is capable of, my conclusion is that hand tracing font just can't be done in any short amount of time. I have no idea how fonts are made, actually, but it must take quite some skill!

Trace Bitmap, after a lot of trial and error, could probably smooth it out. Or I think there might be a filter that can do it. Here's one REALLY easy trick that usually works pretty well. Import the raster image. (Or if you actually have the font installed, type out the text.) Blur it. You'll have to experiment to get the right amount of blur, but it will probably need to be pretty much blur, to get rid of the jaggedness. Then use File menu > Export Bitmap, and export the image. Export Bitmap tries to guess at the boundaries of the blurred object, and apparently splits the difference between transparency and solid color, which has the effect of smoothing.

But it might be much easier to just find a similar font. And I know you've said you looked, but you didn't say where. Try these:

http://www.fontspace.com/
http://www.myfonts.com/
http://www.fontalicious.com/
http://www.1001freefonts.com/

And other members might know even more sites. I wouldn't be surprised if you could find a free font, but certainly for $20 or less, you can find one. If you expect ever to use that font again, it might be more worthwhile to find a new font, than the blur trick I explained above.

PS - Wow, 3 messages posted while I was t yping!

Hi.

My workflow;
Create layer and import bitmap to bottom layer.
Lock bottom layer to avoid moving bitmap.
Start drawing straight bezier segments;

Click Image for larger version

Move paths by dragging and adjusting node type and handles;

Click Image for larger version

'Rinse & Repeat for rest of letters - luckily many common letters in the words - used 'Duplicate' (CTRL D) to create 'copies'. Moved by keeping the CTRL button down while dragging.

Click Image for larger version

Result compared to original bitmap;

Click Image for larger version

The "transition" between letters could have been made 'smooter' but I kept it 'rough' as the individual characters 'stand out' - probably intentional in the original font.

Have fun.
RGDS
Ragnar

Why?


















































Why??

Hi.

Why not?

If you were more specific about the part you don't understand we might be able to help you!!

RGDS
Ragnar

Well I have been told to grab a beer and watch the clouds when I don't like what I see so that I can refuse being impolite.

But.

[italic rage]
Why on earth would a church want a logo?
Why don't they know that logos are working on the soul, building a false image of reality?
Why do they want to blend into this modern occult, often satanic field?
Why they feel the urge to compete with others with a branding?
Why on earth would they have a business card?
Why a church is functioning like a business?
Why?


Then, again.

Why would anyone get a logo design job, who knows nothing about it?
Why on earth would someone start with a raster font, then vectorise it, for vector needs?
Why would someone use an italic font, when clueless with the italic letter structure?
Why would someone design a lettering based logo, without a stabile knowledge in typography -and in this case, calligraphy?
Why would this problem be so specific that you need to ask for the exact solution, not taking care the tons of tutorials how is the basic workaround, that can suit it well?


Why should people with no respect to what they are doing be helped and overvalued amongst those, who actually do take care?
Why would anyone expect help for stealing some letterer's design, for their own commerical benefit?
Why am I overacting this that much?
[/italic rage]


Anyway.

Why rage italic is connected between "io", but unconnected at "oc"?

Font Name: Rage Italic
Family Name: Rage Italic
Version: 1.02
Other Versions: 1.01, 1.00
File Name: rage.ttf
Authors: Ron Zwingelberg M.W.
Copyright: Copyright Esselte Corporation 1997. Portions Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation 1999. All rights reserved.
Trademarks: Rage Italic is a Trademark of Esselte Corporation.
Font Vendor:
Unicode Ranges: Basic Latin
Latin-1 Supplement
Code Pages: 1252 Latin 1
Mac Roman Macintosh Character Set (US Roman)
Embedding: Editable embedding allowed
Licensing Info

Purchase & Download Rage Italic font for personal, professional or business use on workstations
License Rage Italic font for enterprises, web developers, for hardware & software redistribution or server installations
License Rage Italic font for use with CSS @font-face rule in websites.

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/font.aspx?FMID=1023

FONT DESIGNER – RON ZWINGELBERG

The American designer Ron Zwingelberg M. W. created the font Rage™ Italic in 1984. Rage Italic is one of the first casual brush script styles with a rough textured edge. The initialling capitals complement a lowercase alphabet which links together to create the look of true handwriting. Rage Italic is ideal for work which should have the spontaneous look of pen on parchment.

http://www.linotype.com/646/ronzwingelbergmw.html


http://www.linotype.com/1390/RageItalic-family.html

Some brush script influence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brush_Script

Away you go, you grey clouds! ,)

APOLOGIES
First I apologize that I have not looked at this posting for over six days. I have missed some great help and discussions. Thank you Ragnar, Brynn, Lazur, and Maestral for engaging my humble post!

Secondly, I want to apologize to Ron Zwingelberg for unfairly using his font. I misunderstood the source and thought it was a free download. Thankfully, I have not received any payment for this project and the image has not been chosen.

LOGO EXPLAINATIONS
Lazur, you asked some fair questions. Here are some answers I will offer.

I think the reason a church, or ministry, or group in the church, wants a logo for same reasons anybody does. Logos are identifiers. Group names are identifiers. Most people want to feel connection and belonging when they join a group. What is wrong with joining a group? Most logos seem to show the nature of the group, and the name of it. I was trying to show a feeling of change and freedom. But maybe I failed.

Many groups use logos and fonts to identify themselves – like Nike or Apple or breast cancer awareness http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org. How about fonts as logos? Like Greenpeace http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/ or Disney https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/ ?

I may be wrong – completely wrong – but Lazur you have a logo by your name. Why is that? But it looks cool to me.

NEWBIE EXPLAINATIONS:
The main reason I am attempting to sell a logo is a friend encouraged me to. She runs a website and liked my tshirt designs. She knew this group was looking for something new. She told them I could do it and quoted a price, even before telling me!

I am out of a job [but working three part-time jobs to feed the kids ] so making a logo sounded like a great opportunity.

Yes, I am unskilled, but very interested in learning Inkscape. The tutorials I found didn’t seem to help me in this particular problem. Notice the beginning of my post:

I have looked for quite a while this afternoon, but every search seems to come close to the answer, but not right on it. Please refer me to the proper post if that is easier!


COMMUNITY
Good and bad – THANK YOU for helping me! I will not “rip off” Rage Italic and I hope to grow in skill at Inkscape and all things graphic. I’m still developing a logo for my own humble business “220 Graphics” so if anyone wants to suggest something – I am “all ears” or eyes! btw – I only made $400 with graphics last year so I probably can’t pay you for the logo.

Peace today! Oeland

Sorry for me being impolite.

Logos are speaking to the soul.
It's a way to connect to the innermost of the people.
Use it as frequently as you can, with no changes -it will burn inside your subconscious mind.
Use it in places and situations the possible customer may prefer, and they will choose you no matter their choice is not coming from their logical thinking.
The positive feelings will be connected to the image of the brand, which, itself is not providing.

The way it works, is like the praising of the golden calf.
Yet the church "monopolised" a more ancient symbol with the cross before, isn't that conveying enough?
Does God changed, so there is a need of re-branding?

It is not the passion of people to be part of a community the problem, but if it is based on a false image.
(Personally I do think Christianity as a religion is stealing away from the people their own image and sense of God itself.)

Corporates use this "part of a team" feeling only for higher profits.
What if nike would be half priced because the advertising going on their products, wouldn't it be much better?


Apple logo and branding is highly occult.
Think differently, eat from the prohibited tree.
Only the ego matters. Igadget.
Or EYEgadget. Big Brother is seeing you.

Disney is belived to have three sixes in their logo.
Well not as straight branding as monster's, but disney is highly connected with mind control projects.

I'm not sure about the cancer or greenpeace logos, but their work is definitely building up the new order.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVgl1HOxpj8


For a logo, legibility is a must.
Italic fonts, brush letters are better handled with care.


Good point with my avatar. I would use always another image for "self branding", but it is far more easier to go with this one.
I made that first years back with vandalsquad's graffiti studio.
Could make a more polished one but don't feel the urge.


Don't be afraid of the skill, it will all improve with experience.
Just keep in mind that logo making is "bad for your health".


For lettering and italics:
http://westspacejournal.org.au/article/winter-2013/our-masthead/
http://www.iampeth.com/lessons_copperplate.php

On logo designing, some info collected here:
http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17427#p63980

On the problem with the unconnected o and c, if it was made with a brush, and not from typefaces, probably they would be connected.

Thanks friends ..... I will keep trying and watching the tutorials and looking for answers!

Lazur,

Thanks for you sincere words and clarifications. I know you are a super-veteran at graphics and it must be frustrating to work with newbies like myself.

I checked out your links and they were SOOO helpful. I've really just been gliding along with people saying "Hey I like that tshirt design" and not taking this process more seriously. I have so much to learn. Check out this great page with fantastic logos I also found: http://digitalartempire.com/2010/04/88-fantastically-creative-and-brilliant-logos/

I also appreciate your philosophy and I had not thought of those logos and businesses in those ways before. You seem deeply spiritual and God-seekeing and I respect that. I didn't quite understand all of the comments. But thanks for sharing with me!

I'm doing a tshirt run this weekend for my daughters class at school ... so designing will have to wait until I get a break. Maybe I will build an avatar one day.

Thanks again - Oeland