Converting Frames
From Scribus Documentation Project
Simple Conversions
We are using this term to apply to a situation when you are working with a frame type and decide you want it to have some other content. Thus, Text Frames and Image Frames can be converted back and forth. Even though the text or image may disappear, if the type is switched back, you will see your text or image reappear.
Converting a Text or Image Frame to a Polygon is also a simple process, and your text or image is no longer displayed. As we shall see, converting Polygons to other frame types is typically done for a specific purpose.
Conversions for Effect
One of the more common reasons for converting frames is to use a Text or Image Frame that has something other than the default rectangular shape. One can certainly use Properties: Shape: Edit Shape, but in many cases one would like to use something that can be easily generated by Insert > Shape or Insert > Polygon. In this case, you can make your Shape, then convert to a Text or Image Frame, then enter text or load an image.
Another common operation is Attach Text to Path -- covered in its own chapter. For our purposes here, we will merely restate that in order for a Shape or Polygon Frame to be used in Attach to Path it must be converted to a Bezier curve. The Attach to Path operation causes the original frame to be hidden, though its contour can still be edited as explained in the chapter Attach Text to Path. Also see A Rising Sun Text on Path in Tips and Tricks.
See Custom Frames and Creating a Tiled Image in Tips and Tricks for some examples of inserting images or text into Shape Frames.
Conversion by Necessity
Some fonts may not be able to be embedded, which may relate to some characteristic of the font, or there may be licensing issues that do not allow embedding, since embedding means including font descriptors in the final PDF.
In this case, Convert to Outlines is your solution. You can wait to do this when you export to PDF, but there may be instances when you will do this in advance. This will convert each character in your Text Frame to a shape, so on exporting to PDF, these letter shapes are in the Document, not font descriptors. As might be expected, this can interfere with later extracting the text from the PDF. As of this writing, converting back to a Text Frame may be problematic.
A side effect of Convert to Outlines is a marked increase in saved file size, perhaps 25 to 30 times or more. There will be less difference in PDF sizes.
There are also some interesting effects achievable by Combining Polygons of your outlines and conversion of your outlined text to an Image Frame. See Filling Text With an Image and Text Over Images in Tips and Tricks.
| This diagram shows the possible conversions for various frame types. Conversion from Text to Outlines would seem to be reversible, but on testing is problematic, so may be a one-way process. |
