Text-Handling in GIMP

From GimpGUI

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

  • 1 Introduction
  • 2 Vision
  • 3 Functionality
    • 3.1 Field survey
    • 3.2 Internationalisation
    • 3.3 Annotations
    • 3.4 Text box
      • 3.4.1 Text box geometry
    • 3.5 Text
    • 3.6 Rulers
    • 3.7 Typography
  • 4 User scenarios
    • 4.1 Photographer (Annotations)
    • 4.2 Creating Original Art
      • 4.2.1 text as graphics
      • 4.2.2 text as information
    • 4.3 Icon Design
    • 4.4 Web Images - Production
  • 5 Evaluation
    • 5.1 Photographer (Annotations)
      • 5.1.1 text placement
      • 5.1.2 adding second element
      • 5.1.3 basic font-style-size settings
      • 5.1.4 resize
      • 5.1.5 move
      • 5.1.6 switch annotations on/off
    • 5.2 Creating Original Art
      • 5.2.1 text along path and custom text-box shape
      • 5.2.2 font family and style/variant selection
      • 5.2.3 native font variant versus variant toggling (?faux)
      • 5.2.4 transformations of text(-box) (e.g. for perspective)
      • 5.2.5 Advanced Typography
      • 5.2.6 tool presets/styles
    • 5.3 Icon Design
      • 5.3.1 glyph palette
    • 5.4 Web Images Production
    • 5.5 General
      • 5.5.1 placement of tool options
  • 6 Analysis
    • 6.1 Text
      • 6.1.1 Typography Overview
    • 6.2 Vector object container
      • 6.2.1 Glyph placement
      • 6.2.2 specific text-shape objects for complex shapes?
      • 6.2.3 container for complex shapes?
      • 6.2.4 holes/wrapping around vectors
    • 6.3 Paths
      • 6.3.1 Text along path
      • 6.3.2 Text from path
    • 6.4 Combinations
      • 6.4.1 Positioning
      • 6.4.2 Overview
    • 6.5 Transformations
      • 6.5.1 resizing
      • 6.5.2 rotation
    • 6.6 presets/styles
    • 6.7 control/menu behavior
      • 6.7.1 editor
      • 6.7.2 Toolbox, Editor and HUD
    • 6.8 misc
      • 6.8.1 font family and variant selection
      • 6.8.2 effects/transformation and boundaries
  • 7 scope of text-tool
  • 8 Current state

[edit] Introduction

Going beyond just looking at the Text tool, this project is about the complete text handling in GIMP. Examples of what this project addresses are: typographical control to the highest degree; wrapping to paths; arbitrary vector shapes for text boxes; placement and stacking order of multiple text boxes within a layer.

[edit] Vision

To guide all of the design work of this project, a vision was formulated for it. We combined GIMP’s product vision with insight into the activity and needs of core GIMP users where it comes to text, and added into the mix GIMP’s roadmap (i.e. GEGL). Boiled down to the essence, the vision is as follows:

  • Text in GIMP is always part of the composition—unless it is an annotation
  • The canvas is not a page; there is no such thing as paging in GIMP
  • Text in GIMP is both for reading and used as graphical shapes; meta data in text—mark-up, semantics—are not supported

GIMP users get:

  • Minute control over typography and the layout of text on the canvas
  • internationalisation of text handling, for all locales supported by unicode
  • text remains editable forever
  • super-fast workflow, when they are experienced

[edit] Functionality

[edit] Field survey

In order to compile a comprehensive list of what future text-handling in GIMP should include, we did a survey of other software packages in the field of GIMP.

Text in InDesign

Text in Scribus

Text in Photoshop

Text in Inkscape

Additionally a review of current text-functionality in GIMP, its technical background as well as capabilities of current or future libraries has been done.

Updated Text Functionality in Gimp 2.7.4

Processing of Text Input in Gimp

Pango features

Harfbuzz

note: just about all traits and transformations described below that can be applied to text, can be applied to:

  • a point in the text
  • a span
  • a paragraph
  • the whole text instance
  • several instances of texts

[edit] Internationalisation

  • multiple writing systems in the same text-box

[edit] Annotations

  • add, edit and delete annotations
  • show/hide
  • relate annotation to canvas
  • file-wide search of annotation text

[edit] Text box

  • add and delete text boxes
  • set position, size and stacking order
  • cut, copy + paste of boxes
  • wrap text to box or dynamic text box
  • text overflow from box to box

[edit] Text box geometry

  • text boxes of any shape
  • text (baseline, top of caps) along path
  • alignment axis (left, right , centre) along path
  • box geometry transformations

[edit] Text

  • add and delete characters
  • full support for all characters covered by Unicode
  • insert and overwrite
  • cut, copy + paste
  • mangage line-breaks, paragraphs, etc.
  • transformations
    • to upper, to lower, capitalise
    • rotate
  • execute spell check
    • select language (…-100s)
  • search + replace, for this text, whole file + all open files
  • rendering glyphs: fill, stroke and line style; see work on vector tool

[edit] Rulers

  • text specific rulers
  • grid (see Wikipedia on Grid page layout )

[edit] Typography

  • presets can be added, edited, deleted and applied
  • manual access to all characters of a font: Glyph palette

Character level

  • set font family (…-100s)
  • set font variant (1-~20)
  • set size(values between 1-infinite)
  • set color
  • set hinting (2-5)
  • set kerning (value)
  • set tracking (value)
  • toggle faux bold+italics (0,1)(0,1)
  • toggle underline (0,1) + (options)
  • toggle through-line (0,1) + (options)
  • set baseline shift (value)

see the list of non script-specific OpenType features (68) examples:

  • historical ligatures: Some ligatures were in common use in the past, but appear anachronistic today. Some fonts include the historical forms as alternates, so they can be used for a 'period' effect.
  • superscript: use to automatically access the superior figures (more legible than scaled figures)

+ there are the script-specific features (also ~68)

  • set glyph scaling (vertical and horizontal) (2 values)

line and paragraph level

  • set margins (4 values)
  • set leading (value)
  • set indent (value)
  • choose alignment (justification (1 [?+4 for last line]), flush (2), center)
  • set inter-paragraph spacing (value)
  • choose text-flow (all 4 directions)

[edit] User scenarios

[edit] Photographer (Annotations)

(see scenario 1a)

  • open file
  • apply changes
  • add text information to image
    • no effects, basic font+style+size
  • place text closer to part of image the note is about
  • on/off for annotations when wanting to work undisturbed

[edit] Creating Original Art

[edit] text as graphics

  • [no-text work]
  • freely define text-box-shape
  • enter text
  • experiment with font-family/variant/size/color
  • apply effects on all text elements
  • apply overall effect (let text "interact" with other parts of the composition)
  • transformation of text(-box) for perspective, 3D, paths.
  • fine-tune text, making use of advanced typography and optional manual replacements
  • apply more effects/brushwork/…
  • change wording

[edit] text as information

  • create several text-boxes (e.g. info)
    • define overflow direction
  • enter text / paste text (formatted or plain)
  • work on typography
    • basic settings font family + variant + size + color
    • set paragraph or text-box layouting (e.g. alignment, justification, writing direction, hyphenation)
    • fine-tune text, making use of advanced typography/OpenType and optional manual replacements
  • move, resize, reshape, reorder boxes
  • save/export/print
  • return later - load file
  • change wording/correct text
    • maybe change font (other computer)
    • adjust typography
  • save/export/print

[edit] Icon Design

  • Open/hot link to vector image
  • Polish & refine the icon
  • add very small amount of text
    • manually pick a glyph
  • deform text (vector-based)
  • apply pixel-based effects
  • Review icon & make changes to vector image (& edit text in GIMP). Go back to the 2nd bullet, and repeat.
  • Save Icon

[edit] Web Images - Production

text use mostly in buttons etc.

  • insert text, where it needs to be graphically altered or integrated with the pixel level
  • replacement of text for production of multiple instances of the same design element
  • Make sets of image elements, see how they work together
    • see how use of text in different parts works together - adjust typography accordingly
  • Export parts in optimised web format

[edit] Evaluation

evaluated tools: GIMP (2.7.4), Inkscape, Scribus, InDesign, Photoshop

[edit] Photographer (Annotations)

[edit] text placement

one-click or define frame first (Gimp, Photoshop, Inkscape)

  • + gives most flexibility
  • + is easy to handle with one button
  • + feels real. You can grab a pen, place it and start writing right away

the mouse pointer is important. A Cursor I is not useful for creating a box and a + is not handy to start typing right away.

Mandatory fixed-box definition (Indesign, Scribus)

  • - may disturb the work-flow in a graphic tool but is appropriate for desktop publishing. In a graphic-context users should decide whether they want to break lines manually with the Enter-Button or by pre-defining a vertical border (e.g. the right and lower side of the box).

[edit] adding second element

click anywhere outside the text-box

  • + fast
  • + text-tool does what can be expected

confirm editing, then click outside the text-box (Photoshop)

  • + (see moving the box)
  • - gets in the way of quickly creating multiple boxes

[edit] basic font-style-size settings

select tool preset and apply it:

  • + quick
  • + anytime, because applying to whole text is enough
  • - tussle between using a general default for every box, having to pick one every time, or taking the last-used settings

[edit] resize

grab corners/sides of box and drag (GIMP, PS)

  • + quick, inside the tool

select transformation tool (Inkscape, Scribus)

  • - leaving text-work for minor adjustmens

[edit] move

select move tool, then click

  • - disturbs workflow

select transformation tools, then click on text (Inkscape)

  • + all transformations in one place
  • - disturbs workflow

click and drag anywhere on the canvas, outside the text box (PS)

  • + fast, basic transformations on hand

[edit] switch annotations on/off

not possible in GIMP

[edit] Creating Original Art

[edit] text along path and custom text-box shape

path and text, then "merge. No text-box shape transforms (GIMP)

  • + can be done anytime
  • - text DOES NOT stay editable
  • - order things are done is mandatory: both, text and path have to exist in the first place
  • - also the path has to be selected in the path dialog, though the text is selected on the canvas, to attach one to the other.

first path, then text (Photoshop)

  • + It feels intuitive to move text tool on or inside a path and thereby "attaching" the text to it
  • + one tool to place regular text, attach it to a path or wrap it to a shape
  • + stays editable
  • + warping presets can be applied anytime
  • + nice to define either baseline or box shape in the same way using the path tool
  • + option of flipping text to other side of path/use ascender instead of descender to aline with path
  • - no direct way to later make an already written (and formatted) text go along a path

first path then text with special text along path tool (InDesign)

  • + stays editable
  • + text boxes can be directly transformed by grabbing a corner, etc.
  • - no direct way to later make an already written (and formatted) text go along a path
  • - special tool can only be used on path anyway. PS gives a better solution

path and text, then "merge". Text-box form is part of text properties (Scribus)

  • + can be done anytime
  • + text box shape as part of text properties is really effective
  • + separation of path and text-box form makes sense. However, when making text go along a path the path becomes the form of the text box.
  • - order things are done is mandatory: both, text and path/shape have to exist in the first place

path/shape and text, then "merge" (Inkscape)

  • + can be done anytime
  • + nice universal solution, only the last step ("along path" or "flow into form") differs
  • + text and path always editable
  • - order things are done is mandatory: both, text and path/shape have to exist in the first place

[edit] font family and style/variant selection

all-in-one (Inkscape, Gimp)

  • + only one selector needs less menu space
  • + immediate overview of all available font options
  • + 1 click selection
  • - list grows in length by a considerable amount
  • - hard to tell sub-fonts of the same family and different fonts apart

two separate selectors (Photoshop, InDesign, Scribus)

  • + Good overview of families
  • + good for work in one family
  • - users don't see what variants exist, but have to actually select a font to get this information. This takes time when browsing through (Open Type) fonts.


find a middle way

Additional remarks

  • A preview in the font selection tool comes handy and saves time as users can omit unnecessary tryout clicks.
  • An icon showing the font's type (TTF, OT, etc) helps (also visually) when browsing the font list.

[edit] native font variant versus variant toggling (?faux)

GIMP At current state GIMP does not behave in any of the ways mentioned above. Buttons for faux (presumably) b./i. exist. The display does not indicate a switch to an existent pre-defined sub-font. Also, the toggle buttons do not have any effect when a respective sub-font hast been chosen. (no double bold). A decision should be taken about the way this works and feedback needs to be give to the user.

no faux bold/italics, only font-integrated options available (Scribus)


faux bold/italics toggles

if implemented an automatic switch to pre-designed (Inkscape) applies a change not in the place where user sets it. At least an indicator should be present.

An explicit faux b./i. switch (Photoshop) seems more intuitive and gives more control to the user (double bold).

[edit] transformations of text(-box) (e.g. for perspective)

select desired transformation tool, apply

  • + universal
  • - only applicable to text. box is not an object itself
  • - text is non editable afterwards (only if transformation is undone)

Photoshop

  • simple shape:
    • scaling changes box
    • rotating changes text+box
  • + stays editable
  • complex shape:
    • original shape is copied to a text shape
    • transformations always effect text+box
  • - easy to lose the ability to edit text

Inkscape

  • scaling changes text (and box)
  • rotating changes only text
  • other transformations change text+box

[edit] Advanced Typography

Photoshop (and InDesign):

The most basic settings are in a toolbar. For quick typography this does the job. The toolbar also includes a button to open the typography window.

The typography window with it's two tabs and an included menu contains all options available. The first tab shows all settings on a character level, the second one on the paragraph level. The menu hosts all the settings plus a few extra options, like a reset.

Character tab: font family and variant come first. The next section contains metrical adjustmens of font size, leading (line-spacing), tracking (letter-spacing) and kerning. Whereas the former three work on any selection, kerning needs to be adjusted for individual pairs of letters. Therefore the cursor has to be placed between the two letters, to make the the kerning setting accessible.

  • - confusing that entry boxes show unit ( Pt ) but this is not changeable.

The next section allows for vertical and horizontal glyph scaling, plus setting a baseline offset and selecting a text color.

Next comes a row of buttons for toggling faux bold, italics, capitals, small capitals, superscript, subscript, underline and through-line. Last comes a language selector and a drop-down menu to choose hinting.

Paragraph tab: All settings affect the whole paragraph.

First comes a line of alignment buttons. Justification options are greyed out, when text is in a dynamic shape.

The next section allows for setting a first line indent, as well as general left or right indents and spacing before and after the paragraph.


Overall:

  • + the tabs are a functional way of using rare space
  • + tabs provide better overview through structurization
  • + the grouping is mostly understandable


Inkscape:

Inkscape offers a toolbar and an extra window for text-settings.

Extra Window

Editing tab: Plain text

Font tab: Select font family, variant and size. Also alignment, text-flow and line-spacing. A preview is in the bottom line.

Toolbar

font family, no variant (!), size, bold and italics, alignment, super- and subscript. Leading, tracking, spacing between words, kerning, vertical shift, glyph rotation and text-flow.


  • + clear icons
  • + good control for metric settings
  • + glyph palette
  • - distribution of settings


OpenType is only available in Photoshop (basic functionality) and InDesign (extensive functionality). All Options are accessed via a menu in the typography window. They are presented as as on/off switches.

  • + too much for direct access via toolbox
  • - when wanting to select more than one, users have to open the menu again and again.

Checkboxes seem to solve the above issue

[edit] tool presets/styles

tool presets (GIMP, Photoshop)

  • + give users the option to customize and build a library of often used settings
  • + integrate well with the rest of the program. Universal solution
  • - users cannot apply them to already existing text, eliminating a big number of possible use cases. In GIMP one can apply them to a selected text, but only to the whole box. (Also, the behavior is not always predictable: Switching between tool presets changes the text orientation. Bug?)

text styles (Scribus, InDesign)

  • + give users the option to customize and build a library of often used settings
  • + always applicable, making it possible to write first and format later with some predefined styles. This gives more freedom.
  • + can be put next to the text settings, giving quick access and making it easy to see they take effect
  • - need toolbox space (toolbox, because they only make sense when quickly accessible)

Inkscape does not save any user settings in the text tool besides setting a default.

[edit] Icon Design

[edit] glyph palette

not available (GIMP, Photoshop)

  • - A switch to other tools takes time to open the tool and searching the desired font again

[edit] Web Images Production

settings not applicable to several texts (unless style-markup exists)


[edit] General

[edit] placement of tool options

tool options (on side)/ toolbar (on top)

  • + more (all) options on screen
  • + no extra dialog
  • + users can do many changes with one-click
  • - uses space
  • - the options need to be divided, some features (e.g. OpenType features, advanced functions) are put in a menu


extra window (text editor, options)

  • + all of the functionality in one place (at least that's possible)
  • + good overview
  • + focus on textwork makes it especially fast to work with
  • + comes handy in cases where effects/layouting disturb editing.
  • - Having some of the formatting options only available in external dialog (Inkscape) is bad for the workflow.
  • - Changes are not in the context of the work (no live update on canvas)

GIMP currently uses a combination of toolbox, extra window and heads-up-display

  • + separable radius of effect: toolbox for whole text-box, hud for selected text.
  • - above also presents difficulties:
  • - in none of the three, ALL options be found
  • - a checkbox does not seem the right way to start the text-editor

[edit] Analysis

In GIMP text handling there are

  • text, as text itself,
  • vector object container and
  • paths, which modify text.

Text (down to glyph level), vector container and path must all be able to be manipulated individually.

[edit] Text

  • Text, as text itself
    • it has no container
    • but a position
    • and typographical parameters

[edit] Typography Overview

spacer

(missing: inter-paragraph spacing, text-flow)

These are all properties that are part of the text itself and do not need an additional object (e.g. a container) to take effect.

The followig are text properties but need an external object to take effect:

  • margins (debatable whether left and top margin have an effect in text without box. They could shift it according to the original coordinate.)
  • justification

[edit] Vector object container

  • Vector object containers

The text vector container spans from:

    • a simple text container
    • to a complex geometric vector form.
    • the text is contained
    • the text layout is modified by the vector shape
    • it provides a reference for typographic features that depend on it. (margins, justification)

The actual space for holding text is the inside of the vector container minus the respective margins.

  • Margins are a property of the respective paragraph.
  • They can differ between different paragraphs.
  • They are not a property of the vector object.

[edit] Glyph placement

principle: Text in vector object means nothing is outside! e.g.:A glyph can only be placed, when around it, there is enough space for all margins.

? What is first set: the first baseline or the first glyph?

A glyph is moved to the next line, when

  • placement of the glyph on the current line

leads to

  • its body dimensions (or outline/blackbox) plus the margins

being on the edge or outside of

  • the vector object container


  • Text runs endlessly
  • The placement described above refers to visibility
  • After the last possible (e.g. bottom-right) glyph has been placed, text can still be entered and is stored as part of the text object.
  • It can become visible through
    • increase of vector object size
    • decrease of margins
    • decrease of font-size or general in-text spacing
    • definition of a next vector object container for text overflow
    • etc.

[edit] specific text-shape objects for complex shapes?

For complex shapes the question arises whether it is the original vector object that contains the text, or if a copy of it as an specific text-shape is better suited.

pro original vector:

  • unified approach
  • no doubling of tools
  • creating + later modyfing are the same
  • changing vector means changing text shape. This is especially important, as this starting point implies a close binding of text to the canvas setting.
  • if users want to losen this binding, a simple copy of the original vector is easily created

pro specific text-shape

  • independence of vector
  • possibility of adding text-specific controls

[edit] container for complex shapes?

a rectangular container around complex shapes provides advantages

  • specification of left and right
  • provides a good way of keeping original vectors as shapes while still providing text-specific controls to it thereby adressing some of the points above.

[edit] holes/wrapping around vectors

text can not only be inside a vector s

gipoco.com is neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its contents. This is a safe-cache copy of the original web site.