Croweyes1121 Posted August 15, 2022 Share Posted August 15, 2022 (edited) I'm attempting to create a "D20" (20-sided die) for a friend of mine. He would like the numbers to be cut (or recessed) into the die. I've gotten the numbers on the die faces, but I can't figure out how to extrude them into the die. As I understand it, you can only explode text in the "top" view. But if I explode the text in that view, then I actually have to figure out exactly how to rotate the exploded text to each of the die's faces. And with so many unique angles, that's a TON of math I don't really feel like doing if I don't have to. Is there any easier way to do this? I placed the text on the die faces by typing "UCS" and then typing "F" and selecting each face I wanted to place text on. Surely there's an easy way to do the same with exploded text. Or is there maybe a way to reorient the "top" view so that it is aligned with each die face? I just don't want to have to figure up every one of these angles manually and individually. EDIT: I think I’ve figured this out. I did all of the numbers as a 2D drawing first, exploded the text, extruded, and then reoriented the z axis for each rotation and looked up the angle that each triangle needed to be turned to create the 20-sided die. Bit of a PITA, but it worked. I’d still like to know if there’s an easier way. dice3-2013.dwg Edited August 16, 2022 by Croweyes1121 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadgad Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 I was unable to open this in Autocad 2016, because it appears to have been saved as an Autocad file type later than 2013. I opened it in True View though, and yeah, it looks like a PITA, for sure. In the future you might wish to save your uploaded file as an earlier version file, Autocad 2013, or Autocad 2010, so that more forum members can open it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croweyes1121 Posted August 16, 2022 Author Share Posted August 16, 2022 Just now, Dadgad said: I was unable to open this in Autocad 2016, because it appears to have been saved as an Autocad file type later than 2013. I opened it in True View though, and yeah, it looks like a PITA, for sure. In the future you might wish to save your uploaded file as an earlier version file, Autocad 2013, or Autocad 2010, so that more forum members can open it. Good tip, will do. Yeah I’m using 2018 and didn’t even consider that I should save to an earlier version. Sorry about that! This is how I sorted it. I made my friend a video. Yeah, it’s royally annoying, but this approach does actually work: https://youtu.be/By-a4d_pAT4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadgad Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 (edited) How about creating a copy of it, SAVED AS Autocad 2013, as I would enjoy being able to access it with full functionality? You might want to update your user software profile too. Dynamic UCS might be helpful, and as you already figured out, UCS FACE option to get the ball (sort of) rolling. Edited August 16, 2022 by Dadgad typo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croweyes1121 Posted August 16, 2022 Author Share Posted August 16, 2022 7 minutes ago, Dadgad said: How about creating a copy of it, SAVED AS Autocad 2013, as I would enjoy being able to access it with full functionality? You might want to update your user software profile too. Dynamic UCS might be helpful, and as you already figured out, UCS FACE optionto get the ball (sort of) rolling. There you go. Updated the dwg file, and changed my software version. The updated file is the finished version that I got to work. The numbers on the die faces are their own layer, and are recessed into the die itself when turned off. Turned out well, just took a bit of work since CAD won't allow you to explode text unless you're in the top view (see YouTube video above), which kind of made the UCS/face command useless for this particular project. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadgad Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 (edited) An Icosahedron it is then. Happy to see that the opposing face numbers total 21, as they should. Well done, it looks pretty interesting in X-Ray Visual style too. Something that I really enjoy about CAD, is the ability to Model 3d Solids, or just draw 2D shapes which would be extremely difficult to create in an analog environment. I would hate to have to draw a 57 sided polygon on the board, for instance. I just watched, and was pretty entertained by the link from your earlier post. I commented on the video. If you will be doing this again for your friend, with different numbers of faces, you will likely get pretty good at this. A nice puzzle to solve. The Action Recorder functionality might come in handy. Edited August 16, 2022 by Dadgad added information 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croweyes1121 Posted August 16, 2022 Author Share Posted August 16, 2022 (edited) 25 minutes ago, Dadgad said: An Icosahedron it is then. Happy to see that the opposing face numbers total 21, as they should. Well done, it looks pretty interesting in X-Ray Visual style too. Something that I really enjoy about CAD, is the ability to Model 3d Solids, or just draw 2D shapes which would be extremely difficult to create in an analog environment. I would hate to have to draw a 57 sided polygon on the board, for instance. Yeah, I know nothing about table-top gaming. I followed a 2D pattern that my friend sent me. Basically, it laid out the pattern as if you were cutting it out on paper and could then fold it into the spherical shape. That’s what I went by. A game-changer for this kind of work that AutoCAD could introduce would be text explode functionality in 3D views. It would be great to be able to create the shape first, use UCS / face for placing the numbers, and then explode / extrude, instead of having to do everything in the top view, extrude, then do the math to create the shape. Edited August 16, 2022 by Croweyes1121 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadgad Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 DAMN! These Platonic Solids open up quite a Rabbit Hole. This looks like it might have been an easier template shape from which to start your mission. This one would be entertaining! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croweyes1121 Posted August 16, 2022 Author Share Posted August 16, 2022 This is the template I used. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadgad Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 (edited) This link is to a downloadable free 3D Solid Icosahedron. COOL! Misidentified...it is actually a Dodecahedron, sorry, 12 sided. Edited August 16, 2022 by Dadgad additional link not a model, removed correction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croweyes1121 Posted August 16, 2022 Author Share Posted August 16, 2022 (edited) That one looks like a 10-sided die, not 20-sided. Thanks for the share. Anyway, this is a fun project. I’ll eventually be doing all types of die for this same friend. This was just a proof of concept. Ultimately, they want to put custom number font styles on the faces. I can’t wait to see how that looks. Edited August 16, 2022 by Croweyes1121 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadgad Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 Good point, it is not an Icosahedron, but rather a dodecahedron, which was misidentified on the link as a regular Icosahedron. I didn't stop to inventory the faces, I figured the person who posted it would have! A ProSteel solid, if I am not mistaken. A dodecahedron has 12 faces. Some of the more advanced ones really make my brain hurt...fun to look at though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGAL Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 Look up txt2geom by Seant it explodes text into primitives so can then make into extruded shapes. I have made text on curved surfaces etc by rotate3D so just a guess make all the numbers and can rotate3D to align to a face then move and subtract raft from tetra what ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEANT Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Thanks Al, for the reference. The Text to Geometry - Text to Geometry 2015 Testing - Application Beta Testing - AutoCAD Forums (cadtutor.net) – can be employed on custom UCSs as well as World (see linked screencast). The “As Region” option can be used on most Fonts, though not all. Save often whilst using any add-in. Text Geometry placed on Face | Search | Autodesk Knowledge Network Also, the other screencast shows an alternate method for deriving an Icosahedron. Icosahedron construction | Search | Autodesk Knowledge Network Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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