a2jc4life Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 I'm running into an issue I'm sure is user error, but I can't figure it out and I'm hoping someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong. What I'm attempting to do is convert script-style text (with stroke and no fill) to shapes, and then merge together the letters so I have one nice, neat outline. I've converted the text to curves, ungrouped it, and then am using the "add" option from the context menu to merge the shapes into one. Most of the time, this works exactly as expected, to get rid of the ugly overlap. But occasionally, it's deleting a letter when I do this, and I can't figure out why so I can work around it. e.g. I start with the text attached as screenshot Mercy1. I can meld most of the letters together as seen in screenshot Mercy2. But if I try to combine the R, I get the weirdness shown in screenshot Mercy3. Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 Try the technique in my attached video and see if that helps. 2021-03-25 10-08-52.mp4 Roger Jackson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted March 25, 2021 Staff Share Posted March 25, 2021 Hi @a2jc4life, Welcome to Affinity Forums Adjust the kerning of the letters as necessary as a text object (so they overlap as you wish) then click the Add button. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a2jc4life Posted March 25, 2021 Author Share Posted March 25, 2021 4 hours ago, MEB said: Hi @a2jc4life, Welcome to Affinity Forums Adjust the kerning of the letters as necessary as a text object (so they overlap as you wish) then click the Add button. I got pretty similar weirdness using "add" without converting to curves first. @GarryP, your way worked better, but it made all the "holes" in the letters disappear. (E and y no longer had loops.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted March 25, 2021 Staff Share Posted March 25, 2021 It depends on the fonts. What font are you using? Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 13 minutes ago, MEB said: It depends on the fonts. What font are you using? I believe it is Blackjack. MEB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatGuy Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 you may need to smooth some curves before adding if you're getting funky results, but this usually works fine: 2021-03-25 17-07-41.mp4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted March 25, 2021 Staff Share Posted March 25, 2021 Hi @a2jc4life, Isn't this what you are trying to accomplish? Am i missing something? What OS are you running? single_text_curve.mp4 Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a2jc4life Posted March 25, 2021 Author Share Posted March 25, 2021 Yes, it's Blackjack. And yes, @MEB, that's what I'm trying to accomplish. Mine definitely didn't act like that, though; I don't understand why yours and mine didn't behave the same way. It's the not understanding that's bugging me, because not only can I not sort out how to finish this project; I don't know how to avoid the same problem with future projects. I'm running Windows 10. I tried smoothing the curves as @thatGuy suggested, and that isn't doing the trick, either. That video is a good illustration of the kinds of weird results I keep getting, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a2jc4life Posted March 25, 2021 Author Share Posted March 25, 2021 I think I got it. The solutions offered here helped, if only indirectly. I realized, fiddling around with it some more after my last reply, that smoothing the curves didn't seem to be smoothing them as much as I would have expected. Some more poking around on the forums suggested an alternate method, of converting the nodes to "smart" and then selecting action>smooth curve. That removed a lot more nodes, and I was able to successfully combine the letters after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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