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Round Canvas

A topic by valhallaCNC created Apr 27, 2022 Views: 239 Replies: 8

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valhallaCNC1 year ago (1 edit) (+1)

Hi Charlie..

Is there a way to do a round canvas , other then drawing a circle layer ? I have some round projects , and want to see how everything fits on the round. Whats the best way to put text on a curve ?

Thanks Joe

DeftwareDeveloper1 year ago (1 edit)

Hi Joe,

Yeah, for now you just have to make a circle raster-layer to mask the canvas. Super early on before the first release there was a plan to support cylindrical canvas shapes but so much has been built onto everything since then that I'm thinking it's just going to stay the way it is with the canvas being a rectangular shape. After this next release of v1.61b soon the focus will be on the new content library system where users can add content from an online public library where users can share shapes and designs as paths-layers and raster-layers. There will be a base library of shapes like squares, rectangles, circles, stars, arrows, etc... which will make it easy to add these things to a project for whatever purpose, including masking off a canvas for a round project.

To put text on a curve you would create a paths-layer, draw out the curve you want - I prefer to use the curve as the centerline for the text, but you can draw a curve and have it be for the bottom or top of the text. Then set the paths-layer with the curve you want to use as the layer beneath the text-layer you want to conform to it by re-ordering the layers within the canvas layers list. While the text-layer is selected you then use the Text Along Paths function, under Layer Actions on the left side of the screen.

A pretty thorough explanation of how to use the Text/Raster Along Path(s) function can be seen in the PixelCNC Tutorial #03 video here:

(EDIT: The Along Paths function explanation begins at the 13:00 minute mark)

Let me know if you have any other questions about the Along Paths function :)

- Charlie

valhallaCNC1 year ago(+1)

Thanks Charlie...I missed that part on the tutorial. Got it working now except for one thing. when the text is on the bottom , I can't get it to read right to left with the correct orientation. I've tried flipping the original several different combinations. But can't seem to get this, probably staring me in the face.

DeftwareDeveloper1 year ago

Hi Joe,

The Along Paths function currently only maps layers along the direction the path is created with - and I'm just now seeing that the Mirror X/Y options haven't been included in how it uses a layer either. I'll make sure v1.61b includes the ability to flip the mapping direction on there. I think just an option next to the X/Y Axis mapping direction to flip it would be good. I thought that copying to a raster-layer while the text has Mirror X/Y enabled would create a layer that's 180 flipped and you could use that but that's not the case either. Looks like an impossibility with v1.60b. Dang!

Thanks for catching that one. I'm just working on finishing up a few things and aim to have v1.61b out during the weekend.

- Charlie

DeftwareDeveloper1 year ago

Ah, the only way it appears is to copy the text-layer to a raster-layer with Mirror X/Y enabled (or rotated 180deg) and then create a new raster-layer to merge that down onto. Then you would use that with Along Paths.

so:

Copy to Raster-Layer the text-layer
Enable Mirror X/Y options on the raster-layer
Create a new blank raster-layer below it
Merge mirrored layer down onto blank layer
Use result with Along Paths

A bit more convoluted than I'd like. I'll make sure that both the Mirror options affect Along Paths as well as including a Flip Axis option on the Along Paths so that there are multiple ways to go about it.

- Charlie

valhallaCNC1 year ago

Thanks for the work-around Charlie. I would never even think of that combination.

Joe...

DeftwareDeveloper1 year ago

Yeah, it's far from ideal - v1.61b will make it much easier :)

valhallaCNC1 year ago (1 edit)

Hi Charlie..

Working with text on a circular path. I generate my layer with text on a path , works fine . I use position offset to get it to the top of the circle. However when you get too many letter position offset max's out at 1 , cant center it to circle path top, when text is centered on the circle it seems. I have to generate the raster layer, and use rotation of the raster layer to complete positioning. Is there a reason it max's out at 1 ? Not an issue just a question.

Joe....

DeftwareDeveloper1 year ago

Hi Joe,

The Position Offset allows you to move where along the entire path's length that it positions the raster or text layer. A circular path has a node that acts as both the beginning and end of the path, which means that wherever that node lies is sort of a boundary that an Along Paths won't be able to cross. I realized this a while ago and haven't thought about different solutions yet. For now you'll just have to rotate the paths-layer so that the boundary node is on the opposite side of it from where you want your raster/text to be mapped to.

I think the simplest thing to do is just make it so that the 0.0->1.0 value range goes farther with continuous/looping paths, so that the raster/text can be seamlessly mapped around the entire path. I'll have to take a look and see what needs to be done.

- Charlie

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PixelCNC Has Moved: deftware.org

Round Canvas