Blender Tutorial

Warped Text

This tutorial shows how to:

• Beautify text.
• Warp text.

Setup

1. Press CTRL-x then Enter to delete current scene.
2. Press Del then Enter to delete the cube.

Sphere and Text

1. Press SPACE.
2. Add » Mesh » UVsphere.
3. Click OK and then click OK again.
4. Press Tab.
5. Press NUM1 for the front view.
6. Press SPACE.
7. Add » Text.
8. Press Backspace four times to delete the current text.
9. Type Curved for the new text.
10. Press Tab.
11. Change Extrude: to 0.100.
12. Change Bevel Depth: to 0.010.
13. Press ALT-c then Enter.
14. Do it again.

    Text must be converted to a mesh, as only meshes can be warped.

15. Press F9.
16. Click Centre to shift the text.
17. Press g then. y then -1.5 then Enter to move the text away from the sphere and towards the camera.

    

    Text and Sphere

Beautify the Text

Beautification is a process applied to a mesh to make it render better after being manipulated. Although shown here for text, it can be applied to any type of mesh.

1. Press z.
2. Press Tab.
3. Press a to select all the vertices.
4. Press ALT-f then Enter.
5. Do it three or four times.

   This performs a "beauty fill", which re-orients any long, horizontal edges. Long, horizontal edges, by the way, look ugly when warped.

   

   

   Beautification in Action
   

6. Press ALT-j to convert the three-sided faces into four-sided faces.
7. Press CTRL-n then Enter to make sure the normals point outside.

Warp Text

1. Press NUM7.

   Warping from a different view will not work as expected. Stick to the top view and it will work out fine.

2. Press CTRL-m then 1 to flip the text along the X-axis.

   Warping the text will cause it to flip. This step counters the warped flipped effect with a pre-emptive strike, er, mirroring.

3. Press SHIFT-W then 120 then Enter to warp the text 120 degrees around the sphere.

   

   Warped Text

Render

1. Press NUM1.
2. Press Tab.
3. Press z.
4. Click Set Smooth.
5. Press NUM0 to change to the camera's view.
6. Click RMB on the camera's outside border to select it.
7. Press n to display the Transform Properties panel.
8. Change the camera's properties:

   LocX: 0.000, LocY: -6.500, LocZ: 3.000
   RotX: 65.000, RotY: 0.000, RotZ: 0.000
   

9. Press F9.
10. Change Lens: from 35.00 to 55.00.
11. Enable Ambient Occlusion.
12. Press F12.

    

    Text Warped and Rendered

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