Workshop #1 - MoP
polycounter lvl 18
So, I don't have time to do a full model of this since I'm going on holiday this Friday and have other stuff to do until then, but I thought I'd throw together this quick tutorial and idea, maybe people might like to try it.
Basically it's a way of making fully editable, bevelled text which will work for any floating geometry, for baking normal maps. You could also then add Bend, Taper or Path Deform modifiers on top to make this text wrap to any surface, which may have interesting applications
This is all completely non-destructive through the modifier stack - no manual mesh editing is done at any stage, so there is nothing that can really "go wrong". You will always have the text and bevel settings fully editable!
Overview:
Examples:
Basically it's a way of making fully editable, bevelled text which will work for any floating geometry, for baking normal maps. You could also then add Bend, Taper or Path Deform modifiers on top to make this text wrap to any surface, which may have interesting applications
This is all completely non-destructive through the modifier stack - no manual mesh editing is done at any stage, so there is nothing that can really "go wrong". You will always have the text and bevel settings fully editable!
Overview:
Examples:
Replies
Will try it for my piece.
I rarely see people in game dev building up complex modifier stacks (hardly ever seen anyone with a stack above 3-4 modifiers to be honest!) but if you know how to leverage the right modifiers in the right place, you can really end up with a very interactive (and as a side-effect, easily animatable!) result which is ultimately non-destructive and very flexible.
For text, though, this may seem overkill in a lot of ways, since doing it in Photoshop with the NVidia filter or Crazybump is mostly going to be almost as flexible and fast (and won't require re-baking the normal-map!), and you rarely need this kind of detail on text anyway.
Still, it doesn't hurt to know how
However, I just realised my initial setup was bone-headedly complicated!
I've updated the original post with the new method, which is much simpler and way easier to edit, with more options for end results and less editing time.
Apologies for misleading anyone with my original method - that still works, but it is far from optimal or easy compared to this method.
These hints are purely about the text effect and using the Sweep modifier with a profile spline to create quick but complex meshes.
Also, wingdings!!!1
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/469564/parametric_text_01.jpg
I can see being able to adjust the angle of the bevel when baking, being very handy. Is it continuous or is there a break at the first spline vert where the sweep starts and stops. If that ever causes a problem I guess you could preform one destructive edit poly on top of the stack to weld and smooth the ends. Still fully editible stack undernieth as long as the number of verts doesn't change you won't have to redo the edit poly.
Was your original method to use actual geometry and PathDeform(WSM) it around the text?
Per, it just started up the day before yesterday so you're not missing much yet, but I get what you're saying people might miss out on the goods if its not more public.
HAHAHAHA thanks I was going nuts trying to figure that out. I am such a noob
edit the shape was too big, but i still get intersections
You're going to have to provide some more information if you'de like help.
To start, you must have some idea of perhaps why it isnt working, or atleast you should be able to tell us what i does do(other than not work). Like specifically what happened when you tried to set it up. Showing some images of your stack/the result that you did get would help too.
The "profile" spline actually starts out quite small. The nice thing about using the Sweep is that you can just edit the "profile" spline and see the results update on the fly with your text, so you can tweak it quickly if the spline is too big or the wrong shape.
You can also play with the Sweep settings to choose where the "center" of the profile spline is relative to the text, if you look in the modifier settings for the Sweep you will see a little grid of 9 buttons with dots and lines on them - try clicking different buttons there to see how the "profile" spline moves relative to the text.
If I get some time later I'm also going to look into getting the same result in Maya using nurbs curves.
always much to learn from you on this board
ok....i can't stand it anymore. i've never used text or sweep. i can't for the life of me figure out how to NOT get geo lapover in the center of the V.
Shot at 2009-06-13
then....when i create a spline....everything just goes bananas and no matter how much i manipulate the spline....it's just too crazy to figure out what is going on.
Shot at 2009-06-13
Though when I try this, the turbosmooth rounds the corners too much, because it is missing the extra edges to uphold the corners, is there some setting I missed? Or is it that just some fonts are suitable for this?
@keizza, this image shows how big the spline is I use for this, hope that helps. I also have similar problems with different fonts though.
edit: added image to clarify
There should also be a spinner to change the steps or subdivisions of the text spline. I should really amend these images with some better guidance once I get back from holiday!
Anyways, enjoy the holday!
Also, you are right that some fonts work better than others - but I found that a good half of my font selection (including weird custom ones) worked fine.
EQ: Yeah, that'll work, but the point of this method is to be nondestructive and 100% editable, so any manual poly cutting should be avoided.
I think I actually used the bevel profile modifer in the past to do similar things, it was nice to check out the sweep modifier since I have never touched it. Thanks for the post!