Symbols on a circular text path don't align correctly

[Max Kaladin]

I'm trying to put stars around a circle.  Looking online, it appears the way I'm supposed to do this is to create a circle, turn it into a text path and then use the artistic text path tool to put text on it.  I create a star symbol using the star symbol tool and copy/paste it to the path and they go nowhere near the path I want.  I try this with actual text and it works fine.  If I try the symbols on a random wavy line I made and it works fine.  What am I doing wrong with the circle?  If it's inherent to the circle tool somehow, is there a way I can draw a circle or a half circle or something using other tools?  

Thank you!

[Alfred]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, Max.

Unless you really mean ‘Symbols’ (as distinct from simple shapes) in the Affinity sense, I’ve no idea what we’re doing differently!

[Max Kaladin]

I'm using the "Star Tool" on the left side of the screen to make a star and then I copy it and paste it into the text. I suppose that counts as a simple shape?

Basically I do this:

1. Use the star tool to make a star.
2. Use the circle tool to make a circle
3. Select the circle and use the "Layer" dropdown and select "Convert to text path"
4. Select the star and copy it
5. Select the "Artistic Text" tool on the left.
6. Hover the mouse over the circle until the cursor changes to indicate it's over the path and click.
7. Paste one or more of the copied stars.
8. Wacky placement ensues.

 

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, Max Kaladin said:

• Select the circle and use the "Layer" dropdown and select "Convert to text path"
• Select the star and copy it
• Select the "Artistic Text" tool on the left.

Simply clicking on the circle with the Artistic Text Tool will convert it to a text path, so you shouldn’t need an explicit step for ‘Convert to text path’ (but it should still work if you do it that way). If you really did click over the path, I can’t understand why there isn’t at least one star over the circle.

[firstdefence]

The problem with the stars inline with the text happens if you then try to scale the circle text path, the stars go all over the place and is likely a bug.

Before scaling

After scaling

Scaling with the text node bottom right below the bounding box node, scales without distortion.

 

[Max Kaladin]

Ok, so that's progress of a sort.  I created a new circle and didn't tweak the size in any way (I had previously adjusted the size of the circle by typing in position, height and width in the lower right corner before converting to a path).  I then selected the artistic text tool and hovered over the circle and clicked to convert to a path and started pasting stars.  Everything went the way I'd expect it to with the stars in the right spots.  When I then tried to change the size of the text path, I got the behavior I've been seeing.  So apparently the only way this is working is if I can somehow make the circle the exact size I want when creating it and don't adjust it in any way.  

[firstdefence]

 

[Max Kaladin]

Ok, I've tried that and it does seem to work fairly well.  Is there any way to do that with the Transform panel so I can just enter values since I know what I want? 

[R C-R]

27 minutes ago, Max Kaladin said:

Ok, I've tried that and it does seem to work fairly well.  Is there any way to do that with the Transform panel so I can just enter values since I know what I want? 

No, but it has been requested a number of times so amybe someday it will be added.

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

[Max Kaladin]

I'll have to look into doing it in Photo or Designer then.  Thank you!

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

[Hilltop]

On 3/22/2023 at 5:12 PM, Max Kaladin said:

I create a star symbol using the star symbol tool and copy/paste it to the path and they go nowhere near the path I want.  I try this with actual text and it works fine.

You answered your own question: don't use shapes but text. If you have a PC and MS-Office installed, position the cursor at the point in your text where you wish the star symbol to be. Open the Glyph Browser (Window/Text/Glyph Browser) and select Segoe UI Symbol font. Type 'Star' in the search box and double-click the shape of your choice. If your on a Mac and/or don't have Office, perhaps someone else can point you to the correct font. 

 

[Alfred]

18 minutes ago, Hilltop said:

If you have a PC and MS-Office installed, … select Segoe UI Symbol font.

Segoe UI Symbol has been supplied as standard since Windows 7, so you don’t even need to have any MS Office products installed.

[Old Bruce]

Be aware that you will need to have that font with those symbols on all the computers which may open that file. @Alfred's suggestion of Segoe UI Symbol means I would not be able to work on the file as that font is not present on my Mac. 

[Max Kaladin]

I'm on a Mac and I ended up finding a star in wingdings using the font book and then copy/pasting that to make a text path with that character.  I wanted a circle of stars and I kind of had to play with the start and end points of the text to get an evenly distributed circle (using Justified All spacing) but it works and I got where I wanted.  If I ever want to use a symbol that isn't in a font, I'll have to try the photo/designer trick.  

 

Thank you all!