Curved text

My problem is we need to have the lettering on the concave side of the sign. How would I make the flat lettering I have in the elevation shot follow the curve of the sign in the plan view?

I usually do most of my autocad drawing in 2d, I've done a few things in 3d but I'm not that experienced. I say that because I was thinking maybe I could make a 3d model of the flat elevation shot and bend it into radius I need.

Whats the best way to make this work?

Is this printed, engraved or shape of text removed from material?

You could make the text a .jpg and apply as material or extrude the text (search here for methods) and subtract from curved surface.

It will be engraved in concrete.

I'm kind of lost on making the text to .jpg and apply as material. Are there tutorials out there for that?

In a modern CAD program like Autodesk Inventor you could do an Emboss (engrave) feature with Wrap to Face to have the text wrap the curve.

Students and faculty can download Inventor for free from http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity

I'll post example when I get a chance.

That looks great JD, just wish I had Inventor or a school email address. Autocad needs that wrap feature bad.

Looks like I'll have to try something similar to whats in this thread

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?49055-3D-Text-on-a-model&highlight=extrude%20text

I think I would download 30-day trial of Inventor - the AutoCAD method looks too much like torture.

(Students no longer need edu email address to join Autodesk Student Community - any student of any age anywhere in the world can join the student community.)

You guys make it sound like you're having a root canal. This took longer to render than it took to do. Create the text, explode it, clean it up, extrude the text far enough to reach through and subtract it from the wall. Draw another wall same as the first, only offset the inside of the curve the depth you want the text and union them. Presto, engraved lettering. Ain't hard.

Jack: Stop showing off with that ancient CAD program.

Jack: Stop showing off with that ancient CAD program.

You should have seen what I could do back in the day with Mechanical Desktop!!

Create the text' date=' explode it, clean it up, extrude the text far enough to reach through and subtract it from the wall. [/quote']

 

Sounds all wrong to me - doesn't match the real world geometry - post your file.

I sure hope if I ever have to have a root canal that the dentist does a better job.

good work Jack

Sounds all wrong to me - doesn't match the real world geometry - post your file.

I sure hope if I ever have to have a root canal that the dentist does a better job.

I'm not sure what you mean by "doesn't match the real world geometry" but you are welcome to see the file.

If you are looking for a production ready document, no this ain't it. When you go to the monument maker, he will redraw the thing anyway to give an approximation of what you want based on what he can produce. Then you get to sit down and approve or revise based on his "real world" capabilities.

WALL - Standard.zip

Your text is not wrapped to the face.

All of the lines are parallel for every letter cutting into the curved face.

good work Jack

A trivially easy solution that is wrong.

I would have suggested the simple extrude if it was correct.

I do not consider something done incorrectly as "good work".

Now if you are referring to matching the actual dims from the original post, no its nowhere close. The object was to show the technique, not draw the sign for him.

Here's what I did:

Drew an arc, some random size. Then I offset that arc and connected the ends with a line. Then I copied that and offset the inner arc some distance and trimmed it. Then I made some mtext, scaled it up till it looked about right, exploded it, cleaned up the text so that presspull would create some solids. Positioned the "text" where it looked ok, and pulled it up far enough to reach all the way through the wall. Subtracted that to make holes in the wall. Extruded the smaller wall created earlier to the same height as the other one, matched up the outside corners and did a union.

Paid absolutely no attention to actual dimensions, or layers, for that matter. None of that mattered. The process is the same no matter what size it is. No, the letters aren't bent around like in JD's inventor solution, but they don't need to be. You will get what the monument maker can produce, and he will make his own drawings when you approve the design.

Now if you are referring to matching the actual dims from the original post' date=' ....[/quote']

 

No - I don't really care about the dimensions (other than the fact that extrude foreshortens the wrap and text position). I understood what you did before seeing the file. The cut sides of the letters should not all be the same direction resulting from extrude. I'm a bit surprised that this is fairly obvious. I guess it is more obvious when wrapping a cylinder.

A trivially easy solution that is wrong.

I would have suggested the simple extrude if it was correct.

I do not consider something done incorrectly as "good work".

according to you everything not done in inventor is trivial, so i take little stock in your thoughts these days.

A trivially easy solution that is wrong.

I would have suggested the simple extrude if it was correct.

I do not consider something done incorrectly as "good work".

I do not consider "buy Inventor" as the solution to every thing that comes up either. Out in the "real world" as you referred to it, that is rarely going to be an option. You use what you can afford or what your employer provides. Downloading the student version and using it commercially is illegal so suggesting that is not a good thing either. Most companies don't grant users the rights to install anything anyway, so they couldn't even if they wanted to and it wasn't a legal issue.

As I said in the previous post, lettering on a monument is going to be what the maker can provide. This method is a quick, easy way to communicate the concept with less than "modern" software. If you can afford Inventor, sure, no question that it is superior. If your employer will spring for it, great. Most won't. Take a look at what people use that post on this forum. There are guys on here still using R12, and everything out there since. Now if you think you have to have it, with some effort the letters can be laid out along the arc so that they are "perfect". Yes, it's labor intensive, and completely unnecessary, but will still achieve the result in the same manner. Unless you are intimately familiar with their capabilities, you are not going to produce a drawing the vendor can use. He'll have to redraw it to match the capabilities of his facility. Even the guys that engrave with lasers still have to convert the drawing into their own formats. You can get anything you want, photos, artwork, any font under the sun, but it will still be done off their own drawing.

There are guys on here still using R12' date=' and everything out there since. ..[/quote']

 

The problem can be done correctly in AutoCAD (there is a link in this thread to show how to do it in AutoCAD).

I'm only stating that your solution is incorrect - when I get a chance I'll post an example that cleary shows where you went wrong.

The most accurate modeling approach would depend on the method of engraving. A large 3 axis (2.5D) engraver may very well produce geometry similar to that shown in post #12 (though, the plunged face and edges would probably all be perpendicular).

A 5 axis engraver would probably maintain a perpendicular Outside Face/Plunged Edge condition - the plunged face and outside face remaining parallel.

Casting would offer even more possibilities.