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A Fish Named Wallyum
10-13-2005, 07:40 PM
I've been working on the U.S.S. Atlantis decal from the JimZ site for a couple of weeks. Since it isn't for an actual 1:1 Atlantis, but for my BT-60 based clone with the FlisKits Deuce engine mount, I haven't worried too much about making it EXACTLY like the original. I'm down to the last part of the project, but I can't figure out my next move. The only thing I still need to do is recreate the "U.S.S. Atlantis" name that is at the back of the large circular decal that mounts on the top of the rocket. (Pardon me if I have trouble identifying what I'm talking about. :rolleyes: ) The problem I've run into is that the "U.S.S. Atlantis" name is curved, and I can't figure out how to get my program to recreate it in that fashion. I'm using Paint Shop Pro Studio. Do any of you have any experience with this program? Anyone got an idea of how I can get this to work?

EchoVictor
10-13-2005, 08:57 PM
Bill,

let me have a crack at this one. I can create that kind of curved text using WordArt in PowerPoint. I'll make the text, and then export it as a .jpg. Will that work for ya? Just give me a day or so to play with it.

Here's an example :D ....

Later,
EV

Bob H
10-13-2005, 10:14 PM
The problem is that the text is an inside curve rather than an outside curve.

I can get text in Paint Shop Pro to follow an outside curve on a circle but haven't had any luck with the inside curve.

Bill, I feel for you. I have been trying to figure this out (off and on) all summer.

A Fish Named Wallyum
10-13-2005, 10:15 PM
Bill,

let me have a crack at this one. I can create that kind of curved text using WordArt in PowerPoint. I'll make the text, and then export it as a .jpg. Will that work for ya? Just give me a day or so to play with it.

Here's an example :D ....

Later,
EV

Well, that's part of my screen saver here at work now. ;-)

A Fish Named Wallyum
10-13-2005, 10:23 PM
The problem is that the text is an inside curve rather than an outside curve.

I can get text in Paint Shop Pro to follow an outside curve on a circle but haven't had any luck with the inside curve.

Bill, I feel for you. I have been trying to figure this out (off and on) all summer.

Glad I'm not the only one. I figured out most of the other problems I was having, but this one really has me stumped.
Maybe I should try reading the manual.
Nah. :cool:
I also re-drew the decals for the Centuri Nomad. The part on those that is giving me fits is the two large "U.S. NAVY" decals. I haven't tried any of the new techniques that I learned with the Atlantis project on that yet. When I re-did the words like "VENT", "DANGER", and "ACCESS", I got lettering that was outlined, not solid. I liked it that way, so I left it alone, but eventually I'm going to want to do solid letters, so that's another trick I need to learn.

hoverhans
10-14-2005, 05:40 AM
I don't know PSP very well as I use Corel Draw 11 for all my decals, but maybe this will work for you.

If you type out your words and then flip them 180 degrees, and then form it to the curve, you might end up with what you want. I'm just guessing here, but it might work.

Corel is really a much better program for decals as it is vector based rather than raster based. In Corel there is a tool that will put text on a curve any way you want to set it.

If you would like to see some of the decals I made for scale R/C models go to

www.heavydatehobbies.com I made all of them for R/C, but have done my own rocket decals as well.
Hope that flipping trick works for you.
Hans

EchoVictor
10-14-2005, 10:48 AM
Bill,

here's my first shot. It uses a standard Arial font. It'll take me a while to search through the free font sites to find one that matches closely. Anyone out there have an idea on the name of the font used on the Atlantis?

Later,
EV

CPMcGraw
10-14-2005, 12:46 PM
The problem is that the text is an inside curve rather than an outside curve.

I can get text in Paint Shop Pro to follow an outside curve on a circle but haven't had any luck with the inside curve.

Bill, I feel for you. I have been trying to figure this out (off and on) all summer.

I used PSP in the past, but I use PE now...

Photoshop Elements has a neat feature where you can warp the text in either direction and watch it as it changes, to get the curve just as you want it. The little dialog box uses a slider bar control, with the center location set for "normal" text...

Another possibility -- try using one of those "CD-DVD" label creator programs. They all have a text-wrapping widget for placing text around the edge of the disk...

Phred
10-14-2005, 12:55 PM
I use Coreldraw 11 as well. Letters that follow a curve are a real pain. Sometimes they are distorted no matter what tricks I use.

I drew my own version of this a few years ago and forgot how I did it! But if you cannot solve this, I can save in just about any format and send the lettering to you...

Ph