Text as Sketch help

[Anonymous]

I was really excited to see the new Text as Sketch command in the latest update, this was a HUGE hole in Fusion 360 from my point-of-view. However, I found it very confusing to actually use so I thought I would add a quick note here to aid others with the same problem....

I was expecting the Text command to work like the Circle and other Sketch commands - after all it is on the same menu! It does, in that you create flat text on a surface just as you would a circle. However once it is created it is not treated the same as a circle or other sketch element. You cannot Push/Pull it into a solid as you would to turn a circle into a cylinder. Instead you need to go to the Create commands. Instead of using Push/Pull you must Extrude the text. This will give the same results as pulling a circle. You can also use the Revolve and Sweep for some interesting results!

[Anonymous]

An extra note on Fonts:

Fusion 360 can display OpenType fonts in Sketch mode but can't extrude or otherwise model them. 

[jakefowler]

Many thanks for raising these issues about the Text tool. It's very true that we still have some work to do on this tool: this is just ‘version 1’, and we’ll be improving the functionality in further updates.

You’re correct that the modelling tools that you can use directly with text are limited at the moment; it’s already in our plans to expand the support for the other modelling tools. 

For now, a trick you can use is to Explode the text (right-click the text while editing the sketch):

 

This will convert the text object into sketch curves, which you can use with any of the regular modelling tools.

The OpenType issue is also something we need to fix. We’ve escalated a ticket to the development team to see if we can get rid of this limitation.

Hope this helps, and let us know if you hit any other problems.

Thanks!

Jake

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the explanation, BUT I do not get the "explode text" alternative.  How can I find it? 

[herzinj]

Hi Javier,

After you choose to sketch your text and finish the operation, you should be able to click on it, right click and see the option to explode text.  After that you can extrude or push/pull.  If you're not seeing this option, could you please post an image of what you are seeing?

Here's a screencast of what I did:

[iuries]

Thanks a lot!

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for the informative video.

[kidd_milan]

Hi @Anonymous ,

It would be nice to be able to 'Explode Text' for multiple text boxes at once.

I'm creating a layout for laser cutting, and have a separate sketches for cutting paths and for etching labels for the various parts.  There are ~30 text boxes, so doing them all at once would save some tedium.

Thanks!

Milan