Tutorial: Text On Objects By Bernard Peh

Introduction
The question of adding text to objects has been asked many times but there were not many answers. If the text is 2D, then
the common solution will be to export the texture to Photoshop, add the text, then re-wrap it again back in Max. Another
solution is to use a 3D Paint plugin to paint the texture directly on the object within Max. These methods can be fast and
reliable but what if we want the Text to be 3D? Can we paint a 3D text nicely? I think it is possible when we have the right
tools but maybe we need to pay some money for the tools or scripts. This tutorial offers another solution to adding 2D/3D text
onto the surface of objects (even if the surface is undulating) using the conform space warp.

Method Detail
1. Create/Geometry, Create a sphere, radius = 80, segment = 128. Add noise modifier, check fractal, x = 30, y = 30, z = 30.

2. In the front view, Create/Shapes/Text, add the text "the3dstudio.com", size = 20. The length of the text must be within the
width of the sphere.

3. Create/Space Warp/Conform, check autogrid. Move the mouse over the sphere and you should see 3 new axis following
the mouse. These are the surface normals of the sphere. Select a point where you want the text to be mapped on, then click
and drag to create a conform space warp object. Under pick object, select sphere.

4. Select the text. Then, go to Menu/Tools/Align. Now, click on the conform object. The alignment window will pop-up. Check
x,y,z for align position and orientation. The text should now be aligned with the space warp.
5. Link the text to the conform object. The text should now follow the conform object whenever you move it. Space warp bind
the text to the conform object. The text should now fit itself nicely onto the surface of the sphere. The text will deform nicely
as long as it is within the width of the sphere. If some part of it is outside the sphere, move the conform object to re-adjust its
position.

6. The text will not appear when you render now because it is still a spline. To make it renderable, select the text and under
modifier stack, select text and add an edit mesh modifier to it. If you render now, you will see the text appearing but some
part of it may not be visible because the text does not has enough points to be deformed properly on the surface.

To solve that problem, select the text again and go to its modifier stack and select edit mesh. Under sub-object, select
polygon. highlight all the polygon and click on tessellate. Change the stack back to conform binding and render again. The
outcome should be better. If you want 2D result, just add material to the scene and you are done.
5. To get 3D result, select the text and click on Menu/Tools/Snapshot. You should get a new text02 mesh object. Hide the old
conform object and text01. Select the new text, under sub-menu, select polygon. highlight all polygon and click on extrude.
Enter the amount you want. Render again.

Conclusion
This technique may be cumbersome for some but I believe it may come in useful for many.

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