Achieving specific design elements, looking for help...

[lancer525]

First, let me say that I have little to no idea what I'm doing, nor how I am going to do it.

 

Having said that, I am hoping to put together a shirt with the team name of an old school, and I've seen several team shirts with text oriented in the specific manner I am looking for.  Since  a picture is worth a thousand words, this images shows text in the form I am wanting to create:

 

 

Note that all of them have significant curvature, but that the letters aren't radially-oriented. In other words, each letter is pretty much straight up and down, and the word is drawn in such a way that the letters "droop" and follow a curve, rather than being angled to rest on the curvature. What I mean is there is no radial orientation, like this:

 

If you notice, the red lines converge at a single point below the line of letters, and each is radially-oriented from that point.

 

 

This is not what I am trying to achieve.

 

My question is this: What is the name of this technique that curves words without altering their vertical orientation?

 

Also, since I am trying to do this on a budget, are there any free graphics programs that will allow me to take my own font, bend it along a curve in the same format as the top photo, and create the graphic image I am looking for?

 

For what it's worth, I haven't really considered fonts yet, and I have no knowledge of how the logo-design process works, so if the experts in the field who populate this board are willing to jump in with advice and guidance, it would be great.

 

Thanks!

[PaleVermilion81]

In Adobe Illustrator, this effect is done via Effect > Warp > Arch. The effect itself is an Arch effect.

[lancer525]

13 hours ago, PaleVermilion81 said:

In Adobe Illustrator, this effect is done via Effect > Warp > Arch. The effect itself is an Arch effect.

 

Okay, I'm halfway there... Now that I know what it's called, all I need to do is find a free graphics editor that will do it. Wish I wasn't still paying off those blasted college loans! Heh...

[slapshot]

The examples in the team names above are called "Vertical Arch" (or "vertically arched"). This is the format used for the lettering on the backs of the 

Red Wings and Avalanche jerseys, and formerly of the Atlanta Braves during the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz era. The vertical strokes of the letters remain upright, and either the tops or baseline is arched.

 

The example with the AAAAA's is called "Radial Arching" (or "radially arched"). The baseline of each letter forms an arch. The letters are actually rotated and aligned based on a central point. This is how almost all name lettering is seen on the backs of MLB jerseys.

[lancer525]

4 minutes ago, slapshot said:

The examples in the team names above are called "Vertical Arch" (or "vertically arched"). This is the format used for the lettering on the backs of the 

Red Wings and Avalanche jerseys, and formerly of the Atlanta Braves during the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz era. The vertical strokes of the letters remain upright, and either the tops or baseline is arched.

 

The example with the AAAAA's is called "Radial Arching" (or "radially arched"). The baseline of each letter forms an arch. The letters are actually rotated and aligned based on a central point. This is how almost all name lettering is seen on the backs of MLB jerseys.

 

Yes, thank you... As I said, that covers half of my question... The most important part of it is, What would be a decent, preferably free, graphics/text editor that I could download, that would do that? I've already tried it in Word, and it simply won't curve in the middle, only at the ends. Therefore, Word is not a viable option.

 

So, what's a good answer to the second half of my inquiry? 

 

Thanks!

[slapshot]

I don't know any free apps that can do this. Maybe Inkscape?

[mattb6]

23 hours ago, slapshot said:

I don't know any free apps that can do this. Maybe Inkscape?

The only way to curve text on Inkscape results in the radially arched look. A vertical arch look can be achieved, however, by manually distorting the letters individually.

 

So you'll probably want to look for a different program if you don't have much experience.  

[lancer525]

As much as I hate to say it, this is really frustrating.

 

For what it's worth, I've tried six different programs, all of which claimed to have "arched" text in their documentation, and every single one gave me the radial "curved" text.

 

Thanks for all your assistance, guys. Much appreciated!