2017

X Shear field Displays the shear of the offset along the X axis. Editable.
Y Shear field Displays the shear of the offset along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Shear field Displays the shear of the offset along the Z axis. Editable.
X Centre field Displays the centre of the offset along the X axis. Editable.
Y Centre field Displays the centre of the offset along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Centre field Displays the centre of the offset along the Z axis. Editable.
Vertical Pivot box Select the vertical position of the pivot point for the selected text characters.
Horizontal Pivot box Select the horizontal position of the pivot point for the selected text characters.
Show Pivots button Enable to display the pivot point for each individual text character in the 3D text
string, displayed in the image window in red. When disabled, only the master character pivot point is
displayed (in green). This setting can also be found in the 3D Text tab.
Geometry and UV Map Tabs
The settings in the
Geometry (page 567) and UV Map (page 568) tabs are the same as for the Geom node.
Changing Tessellation Properties
Tessellation is the process of tiling the curves' shapes with polygons. Smoke offers different tessellation
methods for use with 3D Text:
Tessellation Type box Select the tessellation type you want to apply to the geometry. More settings appear
if you select Delaunay or Medial Axis.
■ Standard (GLU) is the fastest tessellation option, although it is also the least efficient.
■ Delaunay generates a mesh composed entirely of triangular polygons. This method gives consistent
and predictable results, and in particular, it will not give different results if the tessellated objects are
rotated.
■ Medial Axis creates concentric contour lines along the medial axes (averages between the input boundary
curves), morphing from one boundary shape to the next.
The Wireframe box is also provided in the Tessellation menu. It is the same setting as in the Geometry tab,
but repeated here for ease-of-use.
Each method has its own set of options, described in the sections that follow.
Standard (GLU)
The Standard (GLU) tessellation method is the legacy tessellation option; while being very light in its
processing requirements, it is also the least efficient and precise. And compared to Delaunay and Medial
Axis tessellation methods, it has no options to fine-tune the resulting tessellation.
Delaunay
The Delaunay tessellation method (or more precisely, constrained Delaunay tessellation) generates a mesh
composed entirely of triangular polygons. This method gives consistent and predictable results, and in
particular, it does not give different results if the curves are rotated.
598 | Chapter 15 Compositing in 3D Space with Action