Section 124. Add 3D Text

124. Add 3D Text

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

119 Align Objects

120 Add Text to a Drawing

SEE ALSO

125 Apply 3D Effects

When you want fancier text, convert that plain two-dimensional text to three-dimensional text. You can control several aspects of the 3D conversion, and you'll quickly spruce up your headlines, signs, and banners. Once you convert text to 3D, you can modify some of the three-dimensional effects, such as the rotation of the text. Text can be rotated along three axes: the y-axis, x-axis, and z-axis. If you could hold your right arm straight in front of you and the left one straight behind, they would form the z-axis. If you held your arms straight out to the sides, they would form the x-axis. Meanwhile, a pole running straight through your head and down to your toes would form the y-axis. These imaginary axes do not have to run through the center of an object at all; Draw provides a mark that denotes the center of rotation that you can move to rotate a 3D object off-center.

NOTE

You cannot edit the characters inside text itself once you convert that text to three-dimensional text. You can edit the text's image properties, however, just as you can edit any graphic image.

124. Add 3D Text

NOTE

You can convert a 2D object (such as a rectangle) to a 3D object (such as a cube) by following these same steps. To create simple 3D objects by just drawing them, see 112 Place Shapes on the Drawing Area .

1.	Type Text to Convert Click the Drawing toolbar's Text tool and type the text you want to convert to 3D. Change the size and font of the text so it's close to the size you wish to make the 3D text. Check the spelling of the text and make any necessary edits before converting the text in the next step.
2.	Choose Modify, Convert, To 3D Click to select the text object. Choose Modify, Convert, To 3D from the menu. Draw converts the text.
3.	Prepare to Rotate the Text You can rotate the text to change the 3D appearance. To rotate the text, you must click to select the 3D text (green resizing handles appear) and then click the 3D text once again. The resizing handles turn from green squares to red circles. These are the 3D text's corner handles . Your mouse pointer changes to a rotate symbol to indicate that the 3D text is ready for rotation. If desired, click and drag the center-of-rotation mark to move it off-center. KEY TERM Corner handles Red circles that act as 3D resizing handles that you can drag to rotate 3D text.
4.	Rotate Along the Z-Axis To rotate the text around its z-axis (arms straight out and behind), drag one of the four corner handles up or down. The 3D text seems to tilt side to side.
5.	Rotate Along the Y-Axis To rotate the text around its y-axis (the pole from your head to your toes), click and drag one of the top or bottom center handles. The text seems to spin around that center "pole."
6.	Rotate Along the X-Axis To rotate the text around its x-axis (arms out to both sides), click and drag one of the left or right center handles. As you do, you'll see the 3D text tilt up or down.

TIP

Once you convert 2D text to 3D, you can apply Draw's 3D effects to the 3D text. See 125 Apply 3D Effects for more information. These same effects can also be applied to a 3D object .