# 3D text in substance stager Stager has a tool for making basic 3D text elements. To get to the tool, go to the Assets panel on the left side of your interface, choose **Starter Assets > Models icon > Basic Shapes** section. The icon looks like a big capital **T**. ![[3dtextIcon.png]] ## text properties Substance has some basic text formatting tools for adjusting some parameters of your text, such as font, letter-spacing, leading, and alignment. Go to the **Properties panel** on the right side of your interface and choose the **Object sub-menu**. This is where you can change the actual text content and other text formatting options. ![[3dtextProperties.png]] Setting the **Size** of your text element is the same as in most word processing programs, although now you can also add **Depth** since we are in a 3D environment. With just a few sliders and adjustments, you can create quite interesting dynamic 3D text elements. ## bevel By default, the characters are simply extruded back to give depth. This can look fairly blocky. For more interesting forms, toggle on the **Bevel** option and open up the menu to see a variety of sliders and variables to manipulate. ![[3dtextBevel.png]] By default, the **Classic** bevel is a simple diagonal edge cut, however there are a number of different profiles available under the drop-down menu. ![[3dtextBevelProfile.png]] The **Repeat** slider allows you to add a number of bevels in a stair-step style. The **Space** slider controls how far into the letterform the bevel goes. ## materials Although the text elements display as solid objects, they are actually made up of several different elements that can have different materials applied to them. In the **Properties panel**, choose the **Material sub-menu**. ![[3dtextMaterial.png]] By default, everything has the same boring gray material applied. Selecting one of the material objects and scroll down to the Material menu. The quickest tweak is to change the **Base Surface > Base Color**, although you can spend plenty of time playing with the sliders for various material options like Anisotropy (reflections), Emission (glow), Sheen (shininess), etc. You can also add any of the many complex **Materials** from the **Starter Assets**. The material will be globally applied all the different options, so you can’t have wood sides and metal faces. It is all or nothing. ## limitations The 3D Text tool is pretty good for building basic dimensional letterforms. Like all things in Stager, the basics are good but simple. There are some limitations to what you can do with the tool. The settings are global; they affect the entire element. You can’t do something special to an independent character. If you want to a variation, you will need to create a separate text element and then work on positioning it into the right location. The text elements come in with straight baselines so you can’t create text that curves along a path. Similarly, since Stager doesn’t have any warping features, you can’t curve the text after the fact either. Rotations happen at the whole object level. ## baking Your 3D text remains as an editable text element so you can always go back and change the content or any of the variables as needed. This flexibility can be wonderful, however you can also “bake” it to turn your 3D text into standard 3D meshes. Use the pull-down menus for **Object > Convert to standard object** and your 3D text becomes a regular 3D object. ![[3dtextBaked.png]] One advantage to baking your 3D text is that each character or glyph becomes its own separate object that can have its own material and be transformed independently of the other characters. ![[3dtext.png]] --- Learn more… - [3D text from Adobe Help](https://helpx.adobe.com/substance-3d-stager/objects/3d-text.html) --- tags: #3d #resources #substance #stager home: [[! 3d modeling - substance]]