Inkscape Tutorial: Neon Text Effect

Use Inkscape to create a vector neon text sign.
Learning Curve Pro font: www.fontsquirr...
This tutorial is for Inkscape version 0.92 and is intended to teach beginners how to use the software. Inkscape is a great free alternative to Illustrator and Corel Draw.
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Intro song: "In Da Mood" by Combustibles, used with written permission

[@richarddowney8722]

In newer versions of Inkscape the Interpolate settings (at around 7:50 in the video) need to be different. Exponent should be 1 and Interpolation Method should be Split Paths. Great tutorial!

[@carlosmaldonado3202]

This guy really knows his thing... of course it took me like one hour to get the same result :D

[@LogosByNick]

It gets easier with practice

[@beautyandthelilbeast6897]

I quit at the nodes by something!

[@livingonhighvibe]

practice makes the master.

[@mikerodrick2430]

If you had been using it as long as he has, you'd be good too!

[@sahilsagwekar]

@Kasen Jimmy ok buddy

[@christofferrosenkilde8460]

After trying to interpoltae for 4 hours and it not working, i ended up manually selecting the colours. Worked for me

[@johnmcglasson3287]

Nick rules. I just opened a screenprint shop and art has always been my greatest expense because I'm at the mercy of artists who don't share my sense of urgency on a design. I knew I had to take control of this aspect of my business and become the artist. I"m not without skills, I've used Coreldraw for years but only very basic stuff, Inkscape is infinitely easier to use and more intuitive imo, but it would be worthless to me if people like Nick didn't do these vids. What a great service to humanity, thanks Nick.

[@cdpoloz]

Nice tut! I've found what I think is a less time-consuming way with the interpolate step. Instead of interpolating the objects, which depending on the complexity of the object itself could take a lot of time, what I do is just make 2 little squares with the extreme colors (in this example white and pink). With only 2 squares the interpolate is fast and generates 2 more squares with the middle colors needed, then you duplicate que object 4 times and with the dropper assign the fill and stroke to each duplicate from the squares and continue with the next steps. You'll notice that for this design the purpose of the interpolation is only to generate the middle colors, not to alter the shape of the text (that will come later with the blur). This also avoids the artifacts (or weird looking text) that some users have been commenting here as a product of the interpolation process. Hope it helps :)

[@XsmilingducksX]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was going through message boards and reading the comments and nothing else worked, but yours was super simple and a really creative solution to the interpolate issue. Thanks again!

[@RUSTICW0LF]

Your tutorials are still helping people Nick! I just completed this one, love it. Big Thank You ! on to the next lesson now.....👍🐺👍

[@mayureshwaghmare46]

Wow, even just watching these logos being made is somewhat exciting, great job sir!

[@JDoerp]

I’m not a graphics designer and I don’t use Inkscape but I still watch your videos because they make me feel calm😂

[@Morph4777]

thanks for all your awesome tutorials! you remind me of bob ross because you're so nice and patient, thanks for being that way (: at the end of this video you explained how you can hold ALT and click to switch between objects on top of each other, i just wanted to say that you can also hold ALT and roll the mousewheel while your mouse is over these objects to select your desired one (:

[@eliax600]

OMG Nick, I know this video it's like two years old, but I thank you, I'm learning so much from your videos!!!

[@HeidiSchigt]

Omg I am so happy to know about Alt+click! Thanks! Also, great tutorial :)

[@sahilsagwekar]

this makes me fall in love with vector art

[@TracyKMainwaring]

I actually followed along and made this! In bright greens, for my son....then remembered he's colourblind and probably won't be able to see the shading LOL. I didn't realize my test was much bigger than yours and after I had blurred everything, I noticed that my two largest texts had their top, bottom and side edges blunted. I had to make my strokes quite a bit smaller to get the roundness back. In the end, I'm really happy to have created an impressive piece, all be it, probably useless LOL. Learned a ton!

[@rajshree1544]

sign of true genius is they make it look all so easy. what he just did is mad hard to imagine. kudos!

[@rdsingh6953]

Interpolate not working Error Syntax warning: "is" with a literal. Did you mean "=="? If stroke style is 'color': Syntax warning: "is" with a literal. Did you mean "=="? If fill style is 'color':

[@SiJeix2]

Yep, script is broken. It's easy to fix though. Go to Inkscape folder, then Extensions, open interp.py in any text editor (I recommend VS Code or Notepad++) and replace "is" with "==" at lines 115 and 125. That would fix Interpolate and it would work with no issues.

[@Kevmalvs]

@@SiJeix2 sadly it still didn't work for me

[@kirashere]

Instead of using text, use 2 boxes with your base colors. Object to path them, then follow the interpolate steps. Then just use the dropper tool on the boxes 👍

[@ashleymassie5834]

I've used Inkscape for years and my mind is blown just by this video... Awesome tutorial and happy to report that I made it without issue!

[@rohinshyam3659]

Thank you Nick..I have learnt so much from your tutorials on inkscape and find that it is truly an amazing software to work with. I am starting to explore laser cutting and making lamps. Your tutorials have helped a lot and now I am learning really awesome things. Your explanations are wonderful and its easy to follow the step by step approach. I look forward to your other videos and learning from it

[@nithinshibu2202]

my PC didn't supported the interpolate so i just created two copies of the word and i selected the color manually and it is looking very well , thank you for this wonderful tutorial .

[@shlomobachar4123]

Extremely beautiful.

[@joehartlaub881]

Thank you for another great tutorial. You and Brad Traversy rival the best teachers I've had in a traditional classroom setting.

[@argenisjimenez8118]

You are a magician of Inkscape

[@777ProP777]

Thanks a lot for this video. I didn't make a neon sigh. I was just struggling to make a freaking faded circle with bright border, but your process and shortcut keys gave me a eureka moment

[@ONEMusic801]

Awesome tutorial,as a newbie to inkscape this is the kind of tutorials I need

[@princejoemonie2839]

This guy is just good he knows what he is doing

[@RichardConnor1]

Hi Nick. Just wanted to tell you that I really appreciate this tutorial. I'll be using this to create a new logo. It was just what I wanted. Thank you.

[@androkaaylim7173]

Nick, thank you so much, all your tutorial are great, really well made. I'm amazed by all the cool things you teach us. I've used Inkscape (very poorly) for a long time but never found good tutorials, I've always struggled with it. I've only discovered yours recently, and I wish I did before! Thaaaanks!!

[@LogosByNick]

Glad to help!

[@RachelBruner]

Yet another fabulous tutorial. Simple, yet effective! Thanks, Nick!

[@PierreDelore]

Great vidéo Nick. Once finished, you can edit the text by using the "XML editor" included in Inkscape. You need to edit the text 4 times (in your video there is 4 layers of text) and after you will probably need to center the text on the rectangle. This method works even if the "texts" are grouped.

[@Maverick_Gaming]

When I intrapolated the text, I got an error that crashed inkscape... How do I fix this?

[@ch1nux1430]

Hi Nick, thanks for this awesome tutorial. I was looking how to apply a neon effect on a logo I'm making on Inkscape (I'm a frontend Javascript developer, not a designer). Best regards from Venezuela, new sub here! Cheers!

[@ProgrammerSheep]

Make a series on replicating popular companies logo's in Inkscape!

[@michaelkrailo5725]

Cannot get that Interpolation to work. Tried all the advice in the comments (Kenny and others), no joy. Looks like splattered paint on the canvas. Very frustrating. What i ended up doing is just making two more duplicates and using the ink dropper to copy the color from the interpolated splatters.

[@mlbullbooks]

Really cool tutorial 👍

[@dancu9271]

As always, you do awesome videotutoriales‼️ thanks for sharing‼️

[@recycledminis]

It’s like magic

[@sivadmg]

good job Nick

[@LifeGeneralist]

Impressive

[@monicascott9687]

Great tutorial ✔️

[@colig54]

excellent work, couldn't interpolate on mine either, i just manually changed the colours. Thank you kindest sir!

[@DiegoAmorim]

Parabéns pelo canal. Material muito bem feito!

[@LanoraZhanevideos]

i love ur intro song btw

[@ОлегГусев-ж5ж]

I used your tutorial to create my logo :)

[@mykodagames]

Absolutely amazing love this tutorial!!!

[@chadzulu4328]

Really great explanation, nicely paced too!

[@dahlbergt]

Fantastic! Thank you! 👍

[@hassanchedaf4127]

Thank you so much bro

[@miztee1891]

Wow, this is so awesome. Thanks for this tutorial.

[@thefacts9830]

Can you make a video showing us how to make an esports character, I have been having a lot of trouble making one, It would be great if you made a tutorial!!!!

[@michaelwebster8844]

LOVE THIS TURORIAL!!!

[@timtrevlig]

Thank you for this high quality tutorial!

[@rinkydas8074]

thank you sir... I have learnt so much from you

[@akaliko22]

Thanks

[@mimiShiratama]

Thanks a lot. Your tutorial is very helpful.

[@celialusma4618]

OOOOUuH that was dope thanks for the tutorial Nick

[@bhinderbinder]

My interpolation didn't go too smoothly...! I followed all the steps correctly and double-checked myself. I don't think this makes a difference, since any text is converted to a Path, but when I went to download the font, I saw that Learning Curve offered TrueType and Postscript versions. I downloaded both. Anyway the interpolation created a bunch of extra nodes that gave the interim letters a drippy appearance. But hey, I learned more cool tricks!! Thanks Nick!

[@ignis1511]

Exact same thing for me...

[@ignis1511]

Here's what I did : after the interpolate, I duplicated twice my first letter path (the very pink one). For each duplicate, I changed the color using the dropper, copying the color of the drippy letters, and simply deleted those two drippy letter paths.

[@grizzlycougar]

Great tutorial as always, looks amazing

[@julietadiazstafuza6781]

Gracias por el tutorial!! saludos desde Argentina!!!

[@renaks1]

with the interpolate option the paths turn out really ugly, some kind of a glitch. I just copied the color codes and applied to duplicate copies.

[@velikiautobus2455]

me too

[@a_d_z_y__]

Yeah actually you don't need interpolation because the two paths that will be processed are just the same

[@surinfarmwest6645]

Nick, thank you very much, a small project for New Years day. Happy New Year! West

[@PraveenAV]

Awesome tutorials!

[@joaohenriquemacedo7588]

Maaaan you are FUCKING AWESOME that worked like a charm i was trying to create a logo for my website and it's beautiful

[@Dante-ev2mh]

I was like: "...wHAAAAAAATtttttt.....?!?!!!!!!!" nice

[@jinanks]

Brilliant Boy...

[@Gritt4reel]

To the last point where you select the different layer: You can also use this effect when you hold down the ALT key and use the mouse wheel. You can "rotate" through the different layers plus the other layers get reduced in their opacity, so you can see better which layer you are selecting. (Not sure if my english is correct but just try to select and use ALT + mouse wheel)

[@LogosByNick]

Yes that would work as well. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@ameenlouie717]

impressive!!!!!!!

[@rajendraumrao9674]

You can also press "space" to move the canvas

[@joelance1588]

Nick hunny, For some reason, when I click on interpolate nothing happens. How do i fix this?

[@MyS1var]

Change to text to path

[@jamesscott6864]

@@MyS1var I did but still nothing happens

[@jamesscott6864]

@@andreaferreiradev thanks, will do.

[@manoelserafim7953]

@@jamesscott6864 did you manage to fix ?

[@Schnabeltassentier]

@@manoelserafim7953 Make sure to turn object to path, unify all letters, and only then create a copy

[@robertstriker6290]

well done, sir! Thanks

[@deepankardey5935]

wonderful work!!

[@Focoedeterminacao1]

Consegui! Fiz azul 😃Ficou lindo! Obrigada 🙏

[@nububu]

thank you very much !

[@r0075h3ll]

Awesome Video!

[@freewings84]

Thanks : ) 👍

[@nkmfuncraft893]

Thanks! Great tutorial.

[@IrmaWalter]

when using interpolate in 0.93 I got some slight distortion in the two new texts. I set interpolation method to 1 and it worked.

[@antibording6213]

SO GOOD

[@kenkaras298]

Really like your tutorial videos. I'm new to inkscape so they're very helpful. I'm a graphic designer myself but have not done it for a long time as I have been focusing just on artwork. I would like to update the look of inkscape with the dark tool areas and icons as you mentioned in some of you videos but I can't seem to find where that info is on how to do it. Thanx.

[@zakaryaa7484]

Awesome

[@approxahmed]

Thanks this was really helpful

[@ThiagoPrego]

Thank you. May the Lord bless you always.

[@wowerman]

Great stuff. How many years have you been doing it Nick?

[@yoxxilja]

that is awesome

[@BenBen-lf8wg]

So good ! Thank you :)

[@wandarrahpreschool]

Hi! I was just learning Inkscape and your videos help heaps. There is one thing I donot get the same result as I follow through your tutorial in this video. When I tried to interpolate, the menu on mine has different option than yours. I can only choose either "Split paths" or "Discard extra nodes" as the interpolation method. I tried both but I cannot achieve the same result as what you did. Please help. Thank you.

[@nobrainer2058]

Help: Interpolate does't work! I have the same settings, both text selected and when I hit "Apply" it is doing something for 2 sec but I get nothing! Any suggestions?

[@zuzudan3956]

1) select first text object, apply path > object to path 2) ungroup, keep selection 3) path > combine 4) repeat for second text object 5) apply interpolation

[@nobrainer2058]

@@zuzudan3956 thanks for the reply! Will try tomorrow!

[@GHILLIESARCADEANDMORE]

Cool

[@halvarmc671]

Well, I guess, I need to find updated tutorials. :/ InkScape doesn't have that option in interpolate.

[@lapatjani3171]

Interpolate makes my two middle words shaky (like it's hand drawn) and I have no idea why. I still managed to do the effect since I blurred them anyway but when I imported it to png the blur effect almost entirely disappeared. What should I do?

[@mychkineplot7677]

I've the same shaky kind of things problem...

[@AxellTh]

Do you have a tutorial on doing interpolation in photoshop like you do in this video?

[@mykerotch3053]

Hi Nick, your tutorials are amazing to watch and learn from. I have this issue and hope someone could help me. I have tried to convert the the file from svg to png or jpg and the text change to default font instead of the Cookie font. Am I doing anything work or is there any way to prevent that from happening. My regards

[@marcfritz5281]

Thanks for this great tutorial. However, it seems that the font has changed because the letters are not connected when typing "neon". Or did you make a video cut and connect the letters by "stroke to path", "ungroup" and moving the letters together ? Thanks again for your great tutorials. BTW: I had also problems with the interpolation. I had an error and there were no duplications (Inkscape Version 1.0.1)

[@fatkur]

very awesome

[@abdessamadskz7159]

Up Fast I Like this

[@pigdev]

Nick something I noticed while you group and ungroup objects is that it seems to be very quick and smooth, currently my Inkscape takes 2~3seg to group or ungroup any number of objects, a drastic slowing down in performance. I have a good PC so it's not hardware related I guess, and I remember back an year ago it wasn't laggy. I don't remember when exactly it began to happen. Any idea why this is happening, or any suggestion where I can find something related to this? I already searched in official, and some unofficial, forums but they always say it is normal and expected, but it wasn't happening before...and it is not expected that this happens with high end computers.

[@LogosByNick]

That's odd. I don't know to be honest. The downside of open source software is that it sometimes has quirks. Sorry I couldn't help further than that.

[@pigdev]

It's OK, don't mind on that. I'll format my PC soon so...maybe it gets better. Thank you for the attention :D

[@mtarlo]

I had same problem, but was fixed with reinstall of inkscape.

[@chrisr6314]

How can I then take the text off the background, and use it on another image?

[@qianbang_]

Nice

[@rubenvanderzee7171]

Nice!

[@inazaid]

Is it possible for you make make tutorial of a neon logo simular to the one you made in this video but in gimp? I know Inkscape and gimp have similar features but I cant find any other tutorials and I know you name good logos 👍

[@MadZell]

I am having trouble getting the same neon color even using the RGBA code..... it just isn't neon like yours what could I be doing wrong. Spent like an hour or two playing with the colors trying.

[@jesusvalagua9412]

The Strangers Tings logo please

[@prod.seppuku]

lol