Fixing text topology in blender - part 1

[@fullyleaded]

YES ! HES BACK! I've not even watched it yet but I know I'm about to become wiser! This is without a shadow THE best channel for Blender and polygon modelling. Thank you for sharing. 🙏

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers fullyleaded! Hope you like it. It's going to take a rew videos to get through it all. It's a big subject but once I show you how they can be used it will hopefully all be worth it! Making the twisted animation at the start is an eye opener. Some clever stuff happening there with only 5 key frames in total! I wonder if anyone can guess how it is done!

[@fabriziolorito]

Again. By far the best topology-related tutorials in KZbin. Packed of "modelling tricks" that go far beyond the topology usage. Thanks, Ian

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers fabrizio! I try to get as much in as I think people can handle! I sadly have to miss out many many great tips as I think it would be overwhelming! They will all make it into future videos at some point though!

[@rbettsx]

Great! You're back! In all your bloody-minded glory! A little side-note for folks it would fit. If you enable the shipped '3D Viewport Pie Menus' add- on, it includes an 'Origin Pie', which can be handy. Among other advantages, it works in Edit Mode, to a mesh selection. One of its features is 'Origin to Bottom' which will put the object axes, oriented to World, at mesh min. World Z, centre XY, respecting Transform Pivot Point 'Median' or 'Bounding Box' centring. P.S. Oi! Where's my knight? 😜

[@ianmcglasham]

Nice! I did not know about the "Origin to Bottom" command. Ive been doing it like this for years! I'll take a good look at that. Knight shouldnt be too long! I just want to get this out of the way first! Cheers.

[@rbettsx]

@@ianmcglasham It seems that the add-on doesn't just give you menus, it tweaks some operators, too. 'Origin to Bottom' isnt in the standard UI. So you won't have seen it, without.

[@lucacervellera]

Always a privilege learning from a pro. Thank you Ian, for sharing your knowledge. You really deserve WAY more subscribers. I wish you all the best.

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers luca. Cheers me up when I hear that my videos are liked. I wish you all the best too!

[@quadgon]

You are truly the Topology God of blender! It may take a while, but the letters using your methods are 1000% perfect! :D The shrinkwrap method idea was a genius way of adding more verts to parts of the mesh. Amazing!

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks quadgon! (I like your name) yeah the shrinkwrappi g is what really makes it all possible..essential when working with logos too.

[@pZq_]

So precise workflow to the degree of engineer XD. Thank you for sharing! 🧡

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks pZq_ Means a lot!

[@SB-gy2vx]

Best Blender tutorials on youtube!

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers SB!

[@mjmuftah271]

After watching the video, which carries a lot of very valuable information and techniques،Very useful and wonderful, waiting for more videos, thank you very much❤❤

[@radovanhalirramos3638]

I have to say thanks, for years this was a problem for me, outstanding tutorial, you have changed my life.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks radovan. I'm really happy to hear that it helps you.

[@juancarlosuribe]

Amazing Ian! i have never seen such an in depth and well explained topology tutorial, i love your content, Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks Juancarlos. Really glad you like them!

[@markdarling5513]

This series has been incredibly helpful.

[@thehypest]

Wonderful Ian. Can't wait for the next one. I was going to ask for a video on gstretch and you used it right away! Maybe you can, in future videos, expand on that or even on all loop tools.

[@ianmcglasham]

Yes. I will cover Gstretch much more in coming videos. Cheers!

[@PaintedMessiah]

Amazing tutorial, clear and concise. Always makes me want to go back into Blender.

[@tasmansea1620]

on edge of my seat here! =) wicked good video - thank you for sharing

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers tasmansea!

[@sniqe]

Golly. Again, you make it look easy. So many tricks and tips. I'm hooked. More, more, more. I'm a little disappointed at how damn good it is, in a way, because I'm trying to code an automatic process and this gives me a lot to live up to!

[@ianmcglasham]

It gets easier the more you do it!! Once the whole font is retopologised I would love to chat more.

[@sniqe]

@@ianmcglasham Looking forward to that :) I've abandoned the notion of taking cues directly from font files (using FontTools), by the way (although I might revisit it), in favour of taking any curve-based object in Blender (and only using Shapely). Save for some edge cases where Blender doesn't handle what I'd actually consider broken font files, though, it's basically the same thing by using Blender's font management. Lots of tidying up to do to handle general cases but I'm on top of most of it... sorted out self-intersection of loops, cross-intersection of loops and (importantly) the sense of contained loops being holes not solid pieces. Bits that turn out to be relatively easy (with a little jiggery-pokery) include edge loops that surround boundaries... that I was always aiming for.. nice consistent evenly-spaced points where possible (respecting fixed points defined by bend points - controlled by a variable akin to autosmooth angle) no problem... The bits that turn out to be relatively hard (but can be kluged to various levels of elegance) include arranging the inner topology with minimal distortions but also ANY sense of good editable loops used to tighten corners... I'm absolutely going to have sharp corners sharpened (by having much closer points [closeness controlled by angle of bend] - this is limited by the planned inset in the case of angles aligned to reduce the shape but puts no limit on "widening" bends)... but in the final accounting it will produce shapes with the edge-tightening baked in... and whilst you will be able to control with ease the loops that hug contours (because consistent bevelling requires it)... the loops that are introduced to tighten corners will, in my version, get lost into the topology in a way that will NOT allow them to be editable later... on the flip-side of that, I can have the effect controlled by parameters in the automagic process... Sorry, more long rambling comments from me :D Looking forward to catching up one day when I've got something closer to a usable product... it is very instructive to see how a seasoned pro goes about it... keep up the spectacularly good work!

[@ianmcglasham]

@@sniqe sorry I must have missed this message This all sounds great. I am excited to chat at some point. Cheers!

[@1971spvman]

Now I can go back to fix my typo problem, amazing tutorial, thanks!

[@mjmuftah271]

Finally the video I've been waiting for days ❤❤ awesome 👌 ❤

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks mj!! Good to see you here.

[@mjmuftah271]

@@ianmcglasham u r welcome, I am glad to be here 😊🙌🏼

[@mediaman1346]

As always, a great learning experience and flawless topology!! thanks Ian!!

[@richochet]

Brilliant, thank you! Please can you add on-screen short display, I think a couple things may have been a little harder to keep up with. Thanks

[@TheSapphireflyer]

this video is such a big help! Struggled a lot with text topology! I have some logos I want to use this method on but need to bevel the edges somehow afterward? Is there a way to create a clean chamfer on the edges while still keeping the good topology? Kinda stuck with this part. Thank you for the great videos!

[@Th3Funto]

a lot of techniques learned on this video, thanks

[@krgr1449]

Thank you, this is golden!

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks Kr Gr!

[@bamberghh1691]

Thanks for the video Ian and thank you for answering my question from the past video's comment! I think I understand it now :)

[@ianmcglasham]

No problem. I will go over it again in more depth at some point as it was an excellent question!

[@X-mordred-X]

Hey, @ianmcglasham Hope you are sound and well. I revisit your videos all the time. I hope you can come back with more some day.

[@andreascarlsson744]

Love your videos, this is really awesome content! I learned alot, thanks man!

[@sudipto30]

Excellent work Ian

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you sudipto and cheers for the coffee!!

[@firiasu]

This is a magic and you're magician!

[@santiagobetancurbetancur4406]

OMG!!! you are Master of Masters!!!! Thank you. I have a question. This process must be made always on every text, logo or phrase I use? even if it is a slogan?

[@eniskarabacak]

Great video, as always. Thanks

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you!

[@ahmahm040]

That was super useful BIG THANK YOU🌹

[@ianmcglasham]

Oh good! Cheers!

[@ZergRadio]

When I pressed i to insert and type 0.01 and press then continued to 9:58 and typed -30 the Faces engulfed the entire lower part of the A. I did it over a few times but did not work as your example. I eventually typed 0.001 for the insert and then -30 and it came out as yours. So I am wondering why mine was so different to yours.

[@joshhockey9]

For some reason the shrinkwrap modifier is a bit wonky for me. It lets me move the vertex outside of the target text object... Luckily the edges still stick to the target, and when you apply the modifier the vertices snap into place. I watched all the text topology videos before, and now I'm back to actually do the work. Current goal is to do one or two letters a day as a daily exercise between learning other areas of Blender.

[@ianmcglasham]

Hi Josh. If you turn on the "on-cage" button in the shrinkwrap modifier, the vertices should not be able to move outside of the target shape. Id love to hear how you are getting on with the letters. Let me know if you have any problems and I will help you out.

[@joshhockey9]

Yep, on-cage did the trick, thank you. The letters are coming along great! I should be able to do most of them without referencing the videos. Slow at it right now, but that's a matter of experience.

[@ianmcglasham]

@@joshhockey9 Great. You wont be slow by the time you get to the last letter! In the next video I will be showing how to speed it up further by doing multiple letters at once!

[@leodegrance5609]

Not sure why, but holding my mouse to one side or the other of the open edge doesn't create an adjacent face. I'm using 3.6 as well. Still amazing process and a lot less tedious than the crude method I was using before. Thank you!

[@ianmcglasham]

Hi Leo. I don't think I mentioned it in the video!!!! You need the "f2" add-on enabled in preferences!! It really is all about your mouse position. I will get round to making a video just about the f2. Completely my fault! Thanks for pointing this out!

[@MubangaDNB]

Great tutorial as always Ian! Although I think we are at #22

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you. #22 it is!!!

[@martinvivian9772]

I've been trying to apply this technique with a font with serifs. I found the outer edge flow to be awkward with the serifs. My approach was to make the serifs terminate the edge flow rather than fold around and go back. What would your approach be for serif fonts? I was using Trajan Pro, specifically.

[@asimov2144]

Hi. I use the 4.1.1 version. The shrink modifier has no 'on cage' option now. When i switch to edit mode i can't select the points. And if i convert to mesh before that it doesn't stick to shape either like you show at 3'57. Do you have a solution plz so i can go on ?

[@Unreality3D]

What would happen if we skipped the filling and then deleting the filled faces and just made sure there are the right number of evenly spaced vertices? Does filling then deleting do something important to the normals, for example?

[@ianmcglasham]

Nope. It does nothing at all!! I just put that in so that people who were new to this method (which would be everyone really!) - would know where in the process they are. It can look confusing when I do it without the fills so I put them in to make it a little clearer! I wouldn't normally do the fills!!

[@Unreality3D]

@@ianmcglasham that makes sense! That is a thoughtful step. Your style is very quick and easy to follow. Thank you for the reply!

[@PieterHanja]

Thank you! You are the best.

[@Shack263]

Shouldn't we use an alternative to evenly spacing vertices? I think there is one called "set flow" as part of a plugin. Ideally, points should be denser near tighter curvature.

[@vidcheckr]

I'm attempting to apply this technique to a letterISH logo. When I get to the step to select the boundary loop (8:27) it seems that my boundary loop is in sections. Is there a way to correct that?

[@santiagobetancurbetancur4406]

which is the best criteria for mark seam loops?? could you please explain us?

[@MrKezives]

🤩🤩

[@SholvaBeats]

Good lesson. I just don't understand why blender doesn't do this for you. Why is the topology so crappy on text?

[@etma_]

why did you mark edges as seam rather than sharp?

[@ianmcglasham]

I use mark sharp for something else! (partial control loops) - I have not used that in any videos yet. I will explain it soon!

[@CherineNduta]

Wow

[@lucas-correa]

Fonts in Blender have the worst user experience ever. I love Blender, but we have to agree on that

[@Tincit]

omg just omg

[@xonx209]

Is there an add-on for this?

[@CaioTrinchinato]

🐴🤔

[@ianmcglasham]

Soon!

[@nathanield8876]

🙏 *PromoSM*

[@mspeir]

Ad id das? Adidas? 🤨

[@ianmcglasham]

Yes. It's a German word. That is the original pronunciation. American dialect changed it to stress the "i" but it should be pronounced without that!