outline text

[sadkkf]

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere in the forums, but I'll be buggered if I can find it.

I'm looking to draw text -- NOT like handwriting, but as outlines. This thread:

http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2529&highlight=draw

is kind of what I'm looking to accomplish, but I want this animated.

A perfect example is the beginning of Noel Rubin's demo reel:

www.teknoel.com

Look for the countdown numbers at the beginning.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

:grimey

[richpr]

Some of it has the 'wireframe' look to it... There are some threads on that... Like transitions from a shaded objects to show some of its underlying wireframe structure...

Lots of luminous lines... Like almost Illustrator type of drawings with a thicker line and glowing... ;-)

Alternatively you could incorporate the look into your textures...

Lightwave can show some edges too, if you play around with those settings... Like in the global scene settings... Edge thickness I think...

Or 2 point polygons connected into shapes or maybe splines for that matter with a thicker width... some of that can be used to create lasers as well... Well a laser with bit less glow might get you some of the fonts or pictograms...

Finally... there are some outline fonts which might be useful... They usually have no front face...

[sadkkf]

Thanks for the help, Rich. I'm really looking to animate the drawing the outlines. Start with a point (or two) and end up with the outline of the letter.

Think of a point tracing the outline of a letter and as the point moves around, it draws a line, like a pencil.

Is there an easy way (or not so easy way) to do this? So far, I've created motion paths and applied nulls to follow the outlines of letters -- no problem there -- but how to draw a line as they go?

[richpr]

A very low-volume particle admitter that follows your curves and spits out your points behind it...?

[sadkkf]

I thought about that, too, but the results are a bit uneven.

Have you seen this? THIS is what I want.

http://www.cgfocus.com/AnimDetails.cfm?AnimID=122

[richpr]

Nice clip!

The first part looks like 2D to me and could probably be done with Flash... However these curls in 3D with the face....

It reminds me of the tuturiol on unrolling a sheet of parchment... Except not a 3D sheet, but a 2D curl...

I am not at the animation point yet (still learning to model), but I look forward to it... ;-)

Also what I read on expressions might be useful... This curl also reminds me of the Golden Mean... See Fibonacci etc.... If you would use something like that in an expression... Math required ;)

[sadkkf]

I also thought it looked 2D, Flash or After Effects-like.

I may end up doing something in Flash after all, though I prefer LW.

Well, thanks for the input!

Good luck with your modeling!

[GoodieBR]

Hello!

Well, I don't know if you have made it or not but, if I *had* to do this in LW, I would probably use some combination of Serpent + Clip Map...

Hope this give you some new "insights"! :)