Re: [Gimp-user] Select > Grow / SHrink Disabled

[Steve Kinney <admin pilobilus net>]

On 03/19/2016 11:32 PM, dmcentee wrote:
> Hi,
> New user here. I'm trying to make an outlined text. So I created a new project,
> default size, added a line of text. I selected the text using the move tool - I
> can move it around so I know that it is selected.
>
> Now I want to Select > Grow,  but grow and shrink are grayed out and I can not
> use the grow or shrink option.
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Normally, to grow text one would activate the Text tool, select all
the text in the text area window, then change the text size using
the control box above the text area window.  Resize the text area
window if/as required when growing text.

More scaling options are avaialble, along with shearing,
perspective, drawing precise outlines, etc., by converting your text
to a path and working with that:

Activate the Text tool, left-click on the text and select "Path from
text."  This creates a new path that is an outline of the text, not
visible on screen.  This path can be scaled to any size, converted
to a selection and filled with a color (usually on a new transparent
layer) with the Scale tool in the main toolbox.

To make a Path visible on the image canvas as a red line, click next
to the path's icon in the Paths dock to turn the "eyeball" icon on.

To scale a path to any size, activate the Scale Layer tool in the
main toolbox, and in its Tool Options dialog set it to scale paths,
not layers:  There is a row of three small icons in the top left of
the tool options dock, the default option (scale layers) is the one
on the left, the scale paths option is the one on the right.  Once
that function is selected, right click on your path to bring up the
scaling tool.  (Don't forget to reset the Scale tool to work on
layers when you're done.)

Note that you can scale the path made from your text with its aspect
ratio locked, or stretch / squash the path as desired to change the
appearance as well as the size of the text.

Now, back in the Paths dialog, you can do "Selection from text",
then drag and drop from the color selector to a new empty layer to
make the visible text you want as a finished product.

Annoyance:  When scaling paths, the click-and-drag box that appears
on the image canvas is the size of the whole image, not just the
path; this requires a bit of fiddling around and estimating to get
the new size and/or proportions you want.  Or, you can scale the
path by entering the new size in pixels or percentages, plus or
minus, directly in the Scale tool's dialog box.

Note that using the "Path from text" command described above, then
using the "Paint along path" command to draw on a transparent layer
under the text, is an excellent way to make outlines around text.

Note also that tools like the Move, Rotate, Shear, etc. can also be
used with paths, rather than layers, by changing the selected mode
in their Tool Options dialogs, as describe above for the Scale tool.

:o)