Problem with Path Text

[Mastropiero]

Hi everyone,

 

I am having a weird problem designing a label. It bugs me because it is something I have done on one previous occasion and didn't come across this issue but now, for some reason, can't get it to work.

 

So, what did I do, I created an elipse, a circle rather, and placed an image on it. I did add some text and modify it to my liking, more or less. I am trying to add a path text along the shape of the circle and this is where things start to go south. As soon as I place the Art Text icon to follow the shape of the circle, the image I placed within the circle disappears, as I show you in my attachment. Also, for some reason, I cannot change the colour of the font, doesn't matter the colour I pick, the text remains black which, for obvious reasons, it doesn't really work against a black background.

 

I have attached a screenshot of the way I have my layers organized which, to be fair, is something I still have to learn properly.

 

Thank you for your help

[Alfred]

44 minutes ago, Mastropiero said:

As soon as I place the Art Text icon to follow the shape of the circle, the image I placed within the circle disappears, as I show you in my attachment.

That’s to be expected. When you create text on a path, the original shape is converted to a path. Since a path doesn’t have a stroke or a fill, you need to duplicate the shape before you add the text.

44 minutes ago, Mastropiero said:

Also, for some reason, I cannot change the colour of the font, doesn't matter the colour I pick, the text remains black which, for obvious reasons, it doesn't really work against a black background.

You should be able to change any of the text attributes. How are you selecting the text?

[loukash]

5 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Since a path doesn’t have a stroke or a fill, you need to duplicate the shape before you add the text.

Unless you edit the text frame/path in Publisher using the Text Frame panel.

[Alfred]

1 minute ago, loukash said:

Unless you edit the text frame/path in Publisher using the Text Frame panel.

That’s true. I should have mentioned it, but I inferred that the OP was describing the behaviour in either (or both!) of the other Affinity apps.

[loukash]

1 minute ago, Alfred said:

I inferred that the OP was describing the behaviour in either (or both!) of the other Affinity apps

You're right, the Layers panel screenshot is from Designer. (Or APu's Designer persona… )

[Mastropiero]

Hi guys, thank you for your help, I actually decided to do a bit more digging after asking and arrived to a more elegant solution, not to mention that it is better from the aesthetic point of view. I created a secondary elipse within the first one and placed the text around it; this has also solved the mystery of not being able to change the attributes of the fonts.

 

Oh, the wonders of messing around with software one barely understands.... 😆

[loukash]

1 hour ago, Mastropiero said:

messing around with software one barely understands

Take your time and experiment! We all were once at the same point where you are now.

[Mastropiero]

Right, guys, sorry to be a PITA, there's another issue that I've come across and don't understand why it happens.

 

I wanted to try and apply an outer shadow to some of the text, offsetting it a bit. For some reason, if I do it outside the image I am working on, ie on the canvas, then it works perfectly. However, as soon as I drag the text to its place, the effect disappears.

I attach screenshots so you can see what I mean, I have also included my layers panel.

 

Many thanks,

Stefan

[loukash]

You likely have the shadow blend mode set to Multiply. Any color multiplied with black is … black.

[Mastropiero]

6 hours ago, loukash said:

You likely have the shadow blend mode set to Multiply. Any color multiplied with black is … black.

Nope. That is not it. I had it set to Normal. I can't figure it out, I tried to place the text layer everywhere, tried all the options and no luck yet....

[walt.farrell]

6 minutes ago, Mastropiero said:

I had it set to Normal. I can't figure it out, I tried to place the text layer everywhere, tried all the options and no luck yet....

That's odd. Multiply is the default (for me, at least), and if I leave it on Multiply then I don't see the shadow:

But if I set the effect to Normal it's there:

 

If that's really not working for you, perhaps you can share your .afdesign file with us?

[loukash]

Works for me, and that's a CMYK document:

[Mastropiero]

Aaaaah, got it. I couldn't find the effects blend mode at the beginning, so I was using the layer blend mode instead. I found it and, indeed, it works now. Many thanks. See you guys in a few hours... 😅

[Mastropiero]

Last one, I promise. I have decided to add a bit of outer glow to the path text, the problem is that I only want to use that effect on the bottom part, on the word "joserra". Now, in my ignorance I selected that word, assuming this was the way to apply the effect just there. Much to my dismay, it isn't so. Whatever effect I choose to apply, it affects the whole text. 

 

Could you help me out? Afterwards I will show you the complete work, along with a rectangular label I have also made. A bit of background, the label is for a limited batch of an artisan shaving soap.

 

Nerd. I know.

[Alfred]

17 minutes ago, Mastropiero said:

Whatever effect I choose to apply, it affects the whole text.

I don’t think it’s possible to apply layer effects to part of a layer.

Duplicate the path text object and edit each copy so that one contains the text SCNHG 2021 and the other contains the text joserra on its own, and then apply the outer glow effect as desired.

[Mastropiero]

50 minutes ago, Alfred said:

I don’t think it’s possible to apply layer effects to part of a layer.

Duplicate the path text object and edit each copy so that one contains the text SCNHG 2021 and the other contains the text joserra on its own, and then apply the outer glow effect as desired.

 

That makes sense. I assumed that since I can choose different fonts within the same layer, I could also apply an effect only to a selected/highlighted area. 

 

Cheers

[Mastropiero]

So, I did promise the final result: