text on objects

8/8/2019 Text on Objects

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Tutorial: Text On Objects By Bernard Peh

Introduction

The question of adding text to objects has been asked many times but there were not many answers. If the text is 2D, thenthe common solution will be to export the texture to Photoshop, add the text, then re-wrap it again back in Max. Anothersolution is to use a 3D Paint plugin to paint the texture directly on the object within Max. These methods can be fast andreliable but what if we want the Text to be 3D? Can we paint a 3D text nicely? I think it is possible when we have the righttools but maybe we need to pay some money for the tools or scripts. This tutorial offers another solution to adding 2D/3D te

onto the surface of objects (even if the surface is undulating) using the conform space warp.

Method Detail

1. Create/Geometry, Create a sphere, radius = 80, segment = 128. Add noise modifier, check fractal, x = 30, y = 30, z = 30.

2. In the front view, Create/Shapes/Text, add the text "the3dstudio.com", size = 20. The length of the text must be within thewidth of the sphere.

3. Create/Space Warp/Conform, check autogrid. Move the mouse over the sphere and you should see 3 new axis followingthe mouse. These are the surface normals of the sphere. Select a point where you want the text to be mapped on, then clickand drag to create a conform space warp object. Under pick object, select sphere.

4. Select the text. Then, go to Menu/Tools/Align. Now, click on the conform object. The alignment window will pop-up. Checx,y,z for align position and orientation. The text should now be aligned with the space warp.


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5. Link the text to the conform object. The text should now follow the conform object whenever you move it. Space warp bindthe text to the conform object. The text should now fit itself nicely onto the surface of the sphere. The text will deform nicelyas long as it is within the width of the sphere. If some part of it is outside the sphere, move the conform object to re-adjust itsposition.

6. The text will not appear when you render now because it is still a spline. To make it renderable, select the text and undermodifier stack, select text and add an edit mesh modifier to it. If you render now, you will see the text appearing but somepart of it may not be visible because the text does not has enough points to be deformed properly on the surface.

To solve that problem, select the text again and go to its modifier stack and select edit mesh. Under sub-object, selectpolygon. highlight all the polygon and click on tessellate. Change the stack back to conform binding and render again. Theoutcome should be better. If you want 2D result, just add material to the scene and you are done.


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Downloaded from www.The3dStudio.com

5. To get 3D result, select the text and click on Menu/Tools/Snapshot. You should get a new text02 mesh object. Hide the o

conform object and text01. Select the new text, under sub-menu, select polygon. highlight all polygon and click on extrude.Enter the amount you want. Render again.

Conclusion

This technique may be cumbersome for some but I believe it may come in useful for many.

text on objects

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