Use Text to create editable text splines using Type 1 PostScript¨ fonts or any font installed in your Windows NT system.
The Text tool has several additions, including kerning, leading, justification, multiple lines, and a manual update.
All spline based shapes share the same General Parameters. See Splines for an explanation of these parameters.
Once you have created text, you can make changes using the following parameters:
Font list: Choose from a list of all fonts available to 3DS MAX. Available fonts include:
Italic style button: Press this button on to generate italicized Text.
Underline style button: Press this button on to generate underlined Text.
Align Left : Press this button to align text to the left side of its bounding box.
Note: The four text alignment buttons require multiple lines of text for effect because they act on the text in relation to its bounding box. If there’s only one line of text, it’s the same size as its bounding box and has nowhere to go.
Center: Press this button to align text to the center of its bounding box.
Align Right: Press this button to align text to the right side of its bounding box.
Justify: Press this button to space all lines of text to fill the extents of the bounding box.
Size: Sets the text height where the height measuring method is defined by the active font. The first time you enter text, the default is 100 units.
Kerning: Set this to adjust the kerning (the distance between the letters).
Leading: Set this to adjust the leading (the distance between the lines). This only has affect when multiple lines of text are included in the shape.
Text edit box: The Text edit box allows for multiple lines of text. Press Enter after each line of text to start the next line.
The controls in this area let the user select a manual update option, for situations where the complexity of the text shape is too high for automatic updates.
Update: Click this to update the text in the viewport to match the current settings in the Text display window. This button is only enabled when the Manual Update checkbox is checked.
Manual Update: Check this to turn on manual updating. When manual updating is selected, the text that is typed into the Text display window will not be shown in the viewport until the Update button is pressed.
Text shapes maintain editable text as a parameter so you can go back and change the Text at any time. If the font used by your Text gets deleted form the system, 3DS MAX still properly displays the Text shape. However, you cannot edit the text string in the Text edit box until you choose a new available font.
The Text in your scene is just a shape where each letter and possibly pieces of each letter are individual splines. You can apply modifiers like Extrude, Bend, and Edit Shape to Text shapes just like any other shape.