Carl Sabanski wrote:
>I have noticed on a number of different sundials that the Roman numerals
>used for the hour numbers are sloped to match the angle of the hour line.
>Is a special font, technique or combination of the two used to do this? I,
>and I am sure others, would be very interested in learning how to do this.
It is very easy to perform this essential task in Adobe Illustrator as is
any kind of text manipulation. Place text on curves, spirals, increasing
or decreasing in size along the line etc. The only hard bit is learning
to use the software in the first place.
Here is the sequence I use most frequently for skewed RomNums to fit them
to two guide 'serif circles' in place on your dial face. These circles
should be on a separate locked layer to avoid unwanted deletions etc.
1. Find any sans serif font with a suitable style and type X V and I.
For most dials I use my own hand-generated versions but a standard font
is a good starting point.
2. Select the three letters and in the TEXT pulldown menu choose 'Create
Outlines'. These shapes are now distortable.
3. Group the three letter shapes and pull one corner of the marquee to
fit their size your intended 'chapter ring'.
4. COPY and PASTE sufficient copies to complete your dial layout and
distribute them approximately to their location. A single 'I' is
sufficient at each point which, after skewing, is COPY/PASTED.
5. Using the black arrow drag an X to the Noon location and fit one
corner of the letter to the inner guide circle. This will be the pivot
point.
6. Select the ROTATE tool from the toolstrip and click the pivot point.
Click/Drag/Rotate the letter to sit on the inner line.
Now comes the clever bit which takes a bit of practice.
7. Select the DISTORT tool from the strip. It is a black arrow in a
rectangle. With the letter selected and showing an outer marquee grab
the upper mid point handle THEN depress the ALT key (Mac - not sure for
PC). Sequence is important.
8. Drag/skew the X to align its marquee with the vertical hourline.
9. Trim to fit the serif curves using the Pen+ tool to add extra points
and the Pen- tool to delete overlapping areas.
10. The curved-to-fit serifs are then cut from the serif circles using
the scissor tool and DELETE to remove the intermediate bits.
Doubtless you will encounter some frustrations learning Illustrator but
it is well worthwhile for text manipulation alone. Curved Equation of
Time graphs are a snap too but I'll leave you to work that one out for
yourselves. ;-)
Have Fun
Tony Moss
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