I discovered MoI recently and gave a second try to learning modeling. My first try a couple of years ago was with TrueSpace - what a nightmare of a user interface! I'll be a MoI customer when its available for purchase.

I have text (converted to curves in my drawing program) that I would like to recess into a solid cylinder to give an engraved appearance. What is the best method to wrap the text and recess it?

Ed

Hi Ed, here is one method. Starting with this text:



I selected those curves and then used Construct / Extrude to punch them up into a solid:



You can then delete the original curves. Then I added a cylinder shape:



Finally, select the cylinder and run Construct / Boolean / Diff, then select the extruded letters and push "Done" (or right-click in a viewport) and that will cut the cylinder by the letters, engraving them into the surface:



MoI does not currently have any tools for bending or warping the text, so it will be quite a bit more difficult to do some things like apply the text around the circumference of the cylinder instead of along a straight line. You could try it by rotating individual letters around to orient them. Some other programs like Rhino have more tools for warping or bending objects around, MoI doesn't really handle that particular kind of warping stuff for version 1.0 .

Hope this helps though,

- Michael

Thanks Michael - I'll play with that.

Yes, I really need to wrap recessed text or designs around the circumference. Hope that goes on your "wish list".

In the meantime I'll try it using one letter at a time.

Regards,
Ed

Seems to me that you can project your texte like a real wraping with the function Construct /Curve / project :)
In some action
project up line curve of the letter on one cylindric surface
project down curve line of the letter on one less cylindric surface
reconstruct the letter
Make boolean Cylinder / new letter = your real wraping text :)

Here you have just make a "straight" projection not a "rotative" projection :)

You can do it, its just an extra step.
Project the wires of the lettering onto the surface of the tube.
Then you create a solid from the projected wires
(that's a few extra steps)
then boolean the new letters from the surface.

Mike Fitz
www.3dartz.com

there is a free download for curving text www.deskam.com go to downloads then {"desk engrave" it's free hope this will help it will save as a dxf or g code

the only detail is that you can't put it inside Moi :)

After you project the letter curves, if you trim your original surface with them, you can extrude the new letter surfaces using *Set dir* , *Cap ends* and *Both sides*
to create a cutter that will boolean out from the original object at a consistent depth, while following the contour of the surface.

Excellent! I hope these kind of tips find their way into the MoI documentation :)

Ed