How do I wrap text around a ball in Gimp?

Question

I have a picture of a ball which is rounded as usually balls are, and I'd like to create quickly some text and place it on the ball.

The result should create a feeling that there is really a label on the ball which copies a surface of the ball. The ball on the picture is not a good example. The text should create a little 3D effect. Another example is tea pot or glass where you can place a label.

I don't want to create a text from an image because it would be slow process, I would prefer the text tool or similar quick way of creating text, because I need to append text to many similar images.

Answer 1

Since The GIMP isn't a 3d rendering app (the ideal solution) you need to fake it.

I'd probably set your label as a layer, then select the image area, and then go to the PERSPECTIVE TOOL.

This perspective tool is poorly named, as it's really a traditional DISTORT tool where you can grab each of the 4 bounding corners and move them independently of each other. With some practice, you can usually get your selection to appear to be on a 3-d plane.