I know it's not strictly Poser but it's texture related so it's relevant.

Now, I know recent version of Photoshop have the ability to make text follow a circular path but my version doesn't and I don't have the funds to buy a more recent version or subscription, since that's the way they roll now. So, is there a free package that will do this, or a simple, standalone app to do it, or even some kind of fudge/workaround/plugin that works with my ancient and wheezing Photoshop 7.

I'm on Win7 Pro, 64 bit.

Alas, this is NOT an easy work-around but it is suppose to work. HERE

Many thanks, Boni. I'll try it out later and report back.

Microsoft word

it's online

https://flamingtext.com/logo/Design-Round

Gimp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=26&v=eOx7QOo5ePo

Well, Boni, it doesn't work anything like as well as the tutorial would have you believe. The characters are distorted and it's impossible to get text to go in a complete circle. All you get is a semicircle, at most. The effect I want forces undistorted characters around a circular path.

I remembered that I have tried the arc filter in the past but gave up on it, since it doesn't do what I need. Thank you, anyhow.

Thanks, RK. I'll take a look.

After a little experimenting, I have found a way to get this right. It's a bit of a faff, but it works.

1. Draw a circle the size of the path you want the text to follow. Centre it on your document. You'll have to rasterize it, then use CTRL+C CTRL+V to paste it, which will drop it dead centre.

2. Make a cross, using the line tool. Select a small line weight, such as 3, then draw a line any length you like. Centre it, using the same method as for the circle. Duplicate the line, rotate 90 degrees. Merge it down to the first line. This will provide a reference for the centre of rotation.

3. Type each letter on individual layers, centre each one using the same method as above. Link all layers, then move to the top centre of your circle. Unlink them.

4. select your first letter, then select "Rotate" from the Edit menu. At the top of the screen, you'll see x and y coordinates for the centre of rotation, and a small shape in the middle of the selected letter. This is the centre of rotation. Either drag the centre of rotation to the centre of the cross, or use the x and y boxes to type in an appropriate value until the rotation centre is aligned.

5. When you move the letter, provided you did everything right, it should follow the edge of your circle. When it's in position, hit Return.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for all letters.

Yep, it's long winded and fiddly but it works. The downsides are, you have to have a pretty good idea of your text size to circle ratio before you start, because - having rasterized each letter beforehand - you can't change 'em after. Unfortunately, I don't know of any other way to ensure each letter is aligned correctly without rasterizing.

Centring the letters on the document, then aligning to the edge of the circle before you position them is key to ensuring they all rotate correctly.

Here's the text, still with the guide circle and cross in place. This is a quick and dirty example so the spacing between letters may not be great but you can see it works just fine.

Silly me. Of course you can centre text without rasterizing; go to Rotate, then select the centre of the page in the x y coords boxes. That forces the letter to the centre.

So, omit the rasterize text bit. Also - and obviously, once you have your circle in the centre of the page, you can forget about creating a cross, since - knowing the size of your document, you'll know where the centre is. Duh. It's morning here, and I've not had much sleep. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Anyhow, revised mini tutorial:

1. Create a document. For the sake of argument, we'll use 1200 x 1200. Should be a within everyone's reach; I imagine most of us are using 4k monitors by now.

2. Create a circle the size of your text path, then centre it, using Edit - Rotate, and set the X Y coord boxes to 600, 600.

3. In the Layers pallette, change the circle's fill to 0 and add Stroke from the layer styles dialog. This is simply to provide an easy, non distracting guide and not absolutely necessary. A Stroke for the outer edge is always a good idea, though; it makes the circle visible even if you're working on a different layer.

4. Type in your text, one character at a time so that each one is on a separate layer.

5. Centre each letter in the same way as you centred the circle.

6. Link all the layers of your letters and move them to the top of the circle. Unlink the layers.

7. Select your first letter, then choose Edit - Rotate. Move the letter centre point out of the letter's bounding box, then set it to 600, 600 in the x y coords. Now, move your letter around the edge of the circle until it's roughly where you want it. Hit Return.

8. Repeat step 7 for all letters until they are arranged round the circle. You may need to move a few of them to correct spacing. Again, use Edit-Rotate and make sure you set the centre of rotation to 600, 600 (or whatever the centre point is on your document).

9. Finally, if your text doesn't complete the circle, as in my pic above, create a horizontal line for a guide. Then, link all the letter layers, and again, using Edit - Rotate and a centre point of 600, 600 (or whatever your centre is), rotate all the text until it's evenly set, relative to the guide.

10. Something to note: Changing the font size after all the rotations will play hob with their alignment. Although, for rotation purposes, letters have a centre point, font sizes seem to originate from the bottom left of each character, so it's best to have a very good idea of your font size, the size of the circular path and the spacing before you begin.

Here's an example of the result, using the revised version. You can see the horizontal guide I used to make sure the text was evenly set.

I still use WinXP vintage PhotoImpact X3, which needs to installed in a secondary folder (^not^ ProgramFiles) so as to avoid problems with User Account Control on Vista and later Windows.

In PIX3, I would draw a path (such as your circle), then use add text to path. That function has options for spacing, repeating the entered text, etc.

With your path object selected, see if your program has any such command available. My PIX3 is as old as your PS5, and lower on the food chain, so I'd be surprised if PS5 doesn't have equal/better tools.

P.S. Originally a ULead software product, Corel now owns it, and still offers it for sale ($30 USD): PhotoImpact X3 When I bought it, you also got ULead's GIF Animator 5 with it for free. I still use GA5 to assemble GIFs, Flash, and video, and create animated lightning effects, using the GIF-X 2.0 plugin.

Nice one, Ghost. Have no spare cash at the moment but I'll grab it when I can.

You'd be amazed - or maybe not - just how many things I don't have installed in Program Files.

SamTherapy posted at 1:14PM Thu, 14 June 2018 - #4331800

You'd be amazed - or maybe not - just how many things I don't have installed in Program Files.

I'm right there with ya. I have an entire remote "ProgFiles" folder on a secondary drive to allow me to use old programs which would butt heads with Vista+ UAC.

This is what I see in PhotoImpact X3 once I've created a path object and said path object is selected ("active")

Once I click on the Wrap:Add text to active path command, a text tool UI appears:

In your PS5, once you've created the path circle, and with that circle selected, do you see any such command available? In PIX3, the commands don't show until you have a path object selected.

Sorry, Seach. For some bizarre reason, I thought it was Ghostship who replied.

It's PS7 and there's no such animal. It's widely known the ability to do the text to path thing didn't happen until later versions. I believe it came in with PS CS2.

Any road up, here's what I did with all that malarkey. Based on the Electro Harmonix Bass Balls.

Looking good Sam. I don't recall how I did it, if I did it at all, in PS7, but yes, it's easy enough in my PSCS2.

I also seem to remember doing text on a path in my old Paint Shop Pro on a Bezier curve. At one time I had versions 7, 8 and 9 on my old desktop, so don't recall which one I was using when I did it. I have PSP7 on this puppy, but don't remember how I did it, so it might have been with one of the later versions.

I'd have to look, but I think you can do this in GIMP. And it's free.

Cannot get Gimp to install on my system, The installer always falls over and dies, no matter what.

I am on a windows 10 laptop, 64 bit. I didn't know there were any issues with it. I've always had pretty good success.

Win7 64 bit desktop here. Beats me why it does this. Never had any luck with it.

Another newly available free software for designing things is Gravit Designer - there's an installable version or portable (just drag the EXE to where you want and run it). There are a good few tutorials on YouTube.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it out.

SamTherapy posted at 10:13AM Tue, 19 June 2018 - #4331900

Cannot get Gimp to install on my system, The installer always falls over and dies, no matter what.

You could try the portable version if you really want GIMP - the key being that it doesn't install.

https://portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures/gimp_portable

You don't need the PortableApps platform (although it does check for updates for you) and of course there's no need to actually use it in a portable manner. Just set up a shortcut to the EXE file.