Fonts/words

[berrows@comcast.net]

In microsoft word, you can do anything with letters or words. You can shadow, 3d, and you can turn them into different positions. your just not looking at something like looking at this type one dimensional. It allows you to turn the letter/word so that you see it as something that was cut from wood so you see the thickness of each letter or word. At one time in Mword I figured out how to use word to cut things and make it look unique, it's been several years since then and I haven't found the way yet! However, in Cut2d we do have ROTATE which I think doesn't even come close to the above and I don't seem to be able make it work in that way. I can create, save and bring it in to 2d via Paint to save, but once in after using rotate and trace bitmap everything has an outline of the work nothiing inside. So how can I get 2d to recognize the whole thing??? Does anyone know how to remedy this? Thanks for any and all advise...Doug

[Adrian]

All depends on the font you use. Cut2D will use any font installed in Windows and there are many sites where you can download new ones. There are many fonts that have the "3D" look you mention that you can use with the text tool.

Tools like offset, distort, text on a curve etc will give you many different looks from a base font as well.

[adze_cnc]

That Word excels at manipulating text should be obvious by its name. There are freely available tools to style text and then output that to a format that can be imported into Cut2D or VCarve, etc.

It's funny, there are many posts on this forum saying that a certain piece of software excels at doing things better (rendering 3D images, text manipulation, bitmap manipulation etc.) than the Vectric products do. But no one ever laments that Word, Maya, Photoshop etc. can't produce toolpaths to drive a CNC or laser cutter...

[berrows@comcast.net]

Thanks to both of you for getting back to me. I realize everything you mentioned, I just thought there might be something I was missing. FYI. Don't get me wrong, Cut2d has made a world of differense in all I do with it, it is what I needed to enhanse all I do. It's kind of a bummer that 2d can't v-carve and that you have to buy extra software to do it. But I do have other software though, and it's what I use to v-carve, it's just having to use a completly different venue. I do in integrate these two for some of my projects it just takes longer...Thanks for listening...Doug

[adze_cnc]

I don't have access to Word (or PowerPoint) to test this out but I believe I know a way to take those augmented text objects from Word and export them as an SVG vector file that can be imported into Cut2D. I expect that it works with PowerPoint and Word should have similar text manipulation capabilities.

I'll describe how you would do it in PowerPoint. On a slide create a text box and populate it with text. Manipulate the text how you want (add shadows, twist it, turn it, etc.). Draw a small rectangle (or some other shape) over an area of the text, Make it small enough that it doesn't exceed the bounds of the text item you are drawing on. Select the text and the shape you just drew. In the Shape Format tab select the Merge Shapes drop-down and choose Union.

PowerPoint will join the text object and shape into manipulable vectors (much like converting a text object to vectors in Vectric programs), You should now be able to export that item as an SVG (or perhaps a PDF) file. Import that SVG or PDF file into Cut2D.

[KCarpenter]

Or use Inkscape.
Inkscape is a free vector-editing program that uses SVG as it's native file format. It exports all sorts of bitmap and vector files - several of which are useful in the Vectric apps.

Or use GIMP.
Gimp is also free. It's a true 3D Modeler/Animation software. The learning curve is steep, but creates actual 3D models of things - and text is actually easy to create/modify if you follow a couple tutorials. Gimp exports STL and other formats compatible with Vectric programs too.

[LittleGreyMan]

Gimp is also free. It's a true 3D Modeler/Animation software.

You're probably confusing it with Blender. GIMP is an image editor.

Doug, can you post an example of what you would like to have in Cut2D? Post a snapshot of a WordArt example you would like to produce in Cut2D.

[adze_cnc]

It turns out that Word can't merge two shapes but as I described above PowerPoint can. Just inset a text box and under "Shape Format" use the "WordArt Styles" to alter the text.
 

 
The merged object can then saved as a picture using the SVG format:
 

 
But, shadowed text comes in as a vector representing the base text and one representing the shadow (which makes sense as we saved a vector graphic and not a raster graphic):
 

 
Attached crv file is text imported without the shadow but warped via the "WordArt Styles" functions.

[KCarpenter]

Gimp is also free. It's a true 3D Modeler/Animation software.

You're probably confusing it with Blender. GIMP is an image editor.

Actually, it's more a case of being stupid-tired and unable to focus on what one is writing. You are correct, Blender is the free modeler and Gimp is the image editor. They are excellent - unlike my writing.