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enter image description here

See those red shapes. I want to crunch text BWT into the red area so that the text is still readable but deformed so that the red area is filled.

I have tried to use the black stroke-only version of the red shape as a bounding box (=a path effect) but it only makes a rectangular blob around the BWT without affecting its form.

Path effect Bounding Box maybe is not the right way or I do not understand how to use it. Any idea how do it right?

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  • Most often it's easier to copy an existing shape and edit the copy to retain a contour which matches the original shape. Often any "bounding box" is not really that helpful. I don't know Inkscape.. but I'm sure someone will answer who does.
    – Scott
    Commented Dec 9, 2020 at 19:32
  • Thanks.... the shape I am editing has many points. so it just looks.... terrible when I try and do it that way.
    – Julian Campbell
    Commented Dec 9, 2020 at 20:21
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    Adding a screenshot might help answers.
    – Scott
    Commented Dec 9, 2020 at 20:25
  • Hi. Welcome to GDSE. Can you please post an image showing the shape, and what you have tried/what has failed. It's almost impossible to answer questions like this without seeing what you are actually trying to achieve. Thanks.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Dec 9, 2020 at 21:05
  • Thank you for having me. I have... no idea how to add a screen shot. give me a moment.
    – Julian Campbell
    Commented Dec 9, 2020 at 21:08

1 Answer 1

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There are several methods possible.

  1. You could use the Envelope Deformation path effect to distort text which has been converted to paths in Inkscape.

  2. Another possibility is the Lattice Deformation path effect.

These are both available in the Live Path Effects Selector

enter image description here

Both these path effects are quite tricky to apply, so you will have to experiment. They're not perfect. These are also very new features in Inkscape, so hopefully the Inkscape devs will be able in time to improve their usability.

If after making the transformations there are still some wonky lines that you'd like to fix, you can do Path > Object to Path to remove the effects, then edit the paths manually.

  1. There was at one time a Bézier Envelope extension. Unfortunately the extension doesn't work in Inkscape 1.0 as far as I know, at least I couldn't get it to work. I even tried to get this to work with 0.92, but no joy. Maybe install Inscape 0.48 and try it out. The extension is here. There's a good tutorial for using this extension on youtube here.

  2. If you have access to Adobe Illustrator, it also has an Envelope Mesh feature which is a little easier to use. Although again still not perfect, and also can be quite tricky to use.

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  • Do you know why Envelope Deformation has separated bend paths, instead of having a unique box? It's cumbersome to modify envelope in that way. I think it is like this for a reason but I don't know why.
    – Mario Mey
    Commented Oct 19 at 1:34
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    @MarioMey Sorry, I'm not party to "why" decisions as these are made by the developers of the software. However, I actually find it useful, because you can choose to use top and bottom, without the sides, or vice versa. Also since the paths are not a box, you can separate them away at the corners, allowing for some quite extreme distortions if required. The tool isn't perfect though and usability is an issue, as explained in my answer here. What I wish I could do is simply click on the paths on screen to select them, rather than use options in the effects panel.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Oct 19 at 9:07

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