Making warped text in Gimp or Inkscape was a challenge until recently.
In this tutorial im gonna show you how to warp text into an envelope shape with ofnuts 'Bend Path' plug-in.
A quick word on the history of this effect:
There was an experimental script by saulgoode, that worked but took ages (like 30minutes) to render the text.
It was slightly quicker in Inkscape but not easier. Node editing is still a lengthy process and the Bezier Envelope, an extension written for Inkscape 0.48, has its problems.
When Inkscape 0.92 introduced the 'Perspective/Envelope LPE', things improved slightly, but its still far from perfect and has to be performed on individual letters, often followed by more node editing.
In comparison, making warped text in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop is easy. Its flexible and has a ton of options. But then again Adobe products arent free :)
Here are some examples of classic warped text, with the names borrowed from Illustrator.
This situation inspired ofnuts of Gimp-Forum to write another excellent path tool for us at the end of 2017.
Its easy to use, lightning fast and maintains straight lines on the vertical.
