Creating Beveled Text

In this tutorial we will describe how to create beveled text.

This tutorial assumes familiarity with 3D Canvas and that the 3D Canvas Basics tutorial has been completed.

This tutorial uses the Bevel operation which is part of 3D Canvas Plus/Pro. If you do not have 3D Canvas Plus or 3D Canvas Pro you will be able to create simple bevels using the options of the Extrude operation.

bulletDrag and drop a  3D Text object on to your scene. This opens the Text Object Building Tool. Type "3D" in the Text entry location.

Normally when creating text we would add the depth to the text in the Text Tool by clicking on the grid to define a path for the text. In this case we do not want to add depth. Beveling of text works best if you add your depth as you bevel.

Click the close box. Answer "Yes" to updating the object in your document.

 

 
bulletWe now have what is essentially a 2D object.

 
bulletChoose the Point and Face Selection tool from the Edit Toolbar.

The key to creating a good bevel for text is to create an "increasing" bevel. That means selecting the rear faces and adding depth to the rear and increasing the size of the text at the same time. If the front faces were to be beveled, it could result in unattractive overlapping of faces.

Right-click on one of the rear faces of the text object and choose Select->By Direction. This will select all of the faces that point the same direction as the face clicked. In this case this selects all of the rear faces.

Click the Bevel operation.

 
bulletVirtually any bevel is possible using the Bevel operation. We will create a relatively simple bevel.

Click on the grid approximately 3/4's of a unit to the right of the green point. This will add what is called a "control point". This point indicates the path that you want the bevel to follow.

With a complicated object such as this beveling can be time consuming. Each change to the bevel may take a few seconds depending on the speed of your computer.

Now click slightly above the first control point to create a second control point. Click on this second control point. It turns blue to indicate this is a "fixed point". These "fixed points" are used to create a hard edge along the bevel path.

Click to create a third control point as shown.

If you need to move a control point simply click on it and drag. If you have added one you want to delete, ctrl-click on the control point.

Click OK when you are finished.

 

 
bulletOur beveled 3D text.