How to achieve 3D bevel effect for text

Nadano

Hi everybody,

I've been trying to achieve this effect that is used in the movie Fantastic Beasts logo. I do belive that this is a 3D object so it can have the cool enviromental reflections and waterdrops on in and not just something done in Photoshop for example. I'm using 3ds Max and I've started by writing text as a spline but where to go from there? If I convert the spline to editable poly I can't simply choose the polygon and use the bevel. Here the letters go to this hard edge in the middle. Is this done by hand for each letter somehow or is there a some clever way to get this effect done?

Any ideas or help?

PhantomFox

Seems like the text has an edge in the middle going around the shape of the letter and is then simply raised to create a pyramid/triangle shape. The connections/intersections of that middle edge will be the tricky part. I would get your text nicely outlined in photoshop or illustrator and export it to your 3d programme to convert to an editable poly and model it from there. Would be the easiest hand modelling way to go about it.  

As for a quicker way you may be able to achieve the same thing easier and faster with a good displacement map which you will need to have black and white values to raise the geometry to match the effect your looking for. 

There is probably a different and better way to go about it however. 

PhantomFox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GESxYSUZaI0
Theres a video on exporting text from photoshop to max. 
Good starting point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtrezhtCxaw
And a video on using a displacement map which has similar effect your looking for (although not very clean end result it may be usefull viewing) using simple black values for the displacement map and tweaked in 3ds max to create the bevel effect. 

But there may be a better way to do this still that somebody else may know of.

poopipe

To model it neatly what you want is the median curve or a straight Skeleton of each letter's ngon.  AFAIK the only 3d package that has a tool built in for getting these is blender - I'd be surprised if you couldn't use houndini's volume tools to derive one though. 

 In max you can get halfway by doing an Inset and then cleaning up manually.  In maya you're probably on your own. 

Personally I'd cheat and use heightmaps 

Thanez

Nadano, always try the simplest method first. 
http://www.fontspace.com/fz/animales-fantastic
or mby http://http//www.fontspace.com/hackfonts/fontastic-beast
IDK, google it to find the best one.
Now you can do the text directly in 3dsmax, and do some poly modeling on it.
Personally I would try and to get a heightmap working in photoshop with layer effects, and just do displacement in max.