©2005 Pat Curci
I have never been happy with TurboCAD's Text Along a Curve tool. It always seemed to be a struggle, and I never got exactly what I wanted. Creating text along an arc is very useful in some of the marquetry I do on some panels. So I came up with this technique to meet my needs. The first time I used this procedure was with v8.
Start a new drawing and create layers and layer colors as follows:
Now draw a panel, using the Rectangle tool, on the Panel layer, with pen color set to "by layer". In my example, I've used a rectangle 12" wide by 8" high.
Next create a circle, using the Circle Center & Point tool with the desired radius on Const layer, with pen color set to "by layer". I've used a circle with a radius of 20". Place the circle in proper relationship to the panel: the arc should represent the baseline of the location of the intended text. I relocated the reference point to the top quadrant of the circle and moved the circle as necessary.
Select the Text tool. Set the layer to Text, with pen color set to "by layer". Go to Text Properties and choose Mode>Flexible. I like this type of text because it is easier to saw out on a scroll saw. Solid filled text is more difficult. Snap the text to the top quadrant snap point of the circle. This will reduce distortion in spacing of letters when they are placed and rotated on the circle. Type the text you want to "curve". I've used Bookman Old Style as the font in my example.
Resize the text width to fit panel. Be sure to hold down [Shift] when resizing to preserve the text's aspect ratio (users of v9 or later can use the Keep aspect ratio option in the local menu). You will be moving the individual letters up, so be sure that everything looks like it will work, and the text will still be on the panel. Now is the time to adjust text and circle size and location.
Once you're happy with the general layout, select the text and explode it twice so you can work with individual letters as polylines.
Draw lines, on the Const Layer, snapping from the center of the circle to the "center of extents" of each letter, using SEKE [C] & [E]. Be sure the Const layer is selected, and pen color is set to "by layer". Once these lines are drawn, you can turn off (hide) the Text layer.
Use the Multi Shrink / Extend Line tool to extend these construction lines to the top line of the panel so the upper end of these lines will be easy to snap to later on in the process. These lines will be used to place each letter on the arc and rotate the letters to the proper angle based on the circle. They will also maintain the correct proportional spacing necessary, based on the text style you choose.
Once these lines are drawn, you cannot move or re-size the circle to relocate text. If you do alter the circle, these lines will have to be redrawn to maintain proper spacing of the text, and the text will need to be relocated as well. You can now turn off (hide) the Const layer, and turn on the Text layer.
Draw a line, snapping to a vertex at the bottom of first letter to a vertex at the bottom of last letter. If you have chosen a font that does not have obvious snap points, draw a horizontal line with a length longer than your text and visually place it at your best estimate of the font's baseline. This is the base line of the text, and will be used as the base for the next set of lines. Place this line on the Text layer.
Using the Perpendicular line tool, snap lines from the base line to each letter (center of extents, SEKE [E] twice). I created these lines on the Text layer too. Once these short lines have been created, you can delete the base line to reduce clutter.
Group each letter with the its short vertical line. This will result in the same number of groups as letters. Move the reference point of each group to the bottom vertex of the short vertical line. Note: the reference point is not necessarily at the bottom of each letter.
Turn on the Const layer. Snap each letter group (using the new location of the group reference point) to the intersection of the circle and the appropriate radial line (running from the center of the circle to the upper edge of the rectangle).
After the letter group is moved, and while the letter group is selected, place the mouse pointer over the rotation handle (the one labeled with an "x" if using the 3D Selector) and pick it up using CTRL + Left Click, and snap it to the top vertex of the short line. Do not de-select the group yet.
After the rotation handle has been relocated, pick it up again and snap it to the top vertex of the appropriate radial line. This rotates the letters to the proper angle (in essence, perpendicular to the tangent of the circle). Hide the Const layer.
Congratulations, you have now created your text along your arc.
If you have questions or comments about this page, please send them to Pat Curci.
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