How do I Taper Font

[rlester]

Hello,

How do I taper Font? I have the font extruded and was trying to use the More tab in extrude to taper, but it either crashes or looks like nothing is changing. Maybe I'm using the wrong font or the font is too small. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

The font I'm using is Arial Black .075 and trying to extrude .017 in height.

Autodesk Inventor Professional 2016

Thanks

[mcgyvr]

I just made the words "TAPER FONT" .075" height and extruded .017" and was able to add a -5deg taper to everything without problems using Inventor 2017..

Now it could be certain letters that are causing problems,etc..

Wondering why you need to even taper the font at all really..

[Frank.Edgar]

Well I am in a similar boat. Certain letters of certain fonts will taper. Others will not.

I am making 3D printed blanks to be used in casting. Having a reasonable taper to everything is absolutely essential.

I have tried the new Convert to Geometry, but that only supports SHX fonts, which honestly look like garbage for what I am doing.

Anyone have a work around? I have tried a few things, including extruding, then projecting geometry and copying the result to be used as a new base sketch, that way I can edit things. Unfortunately certain letters still want to be a pain in the ass. 

Does anyone have an idea how I could maybe loft from one letter to a smaller version on a workplane that is slightly offset? Thats my next idea. 

Any input would be great 🙂

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! This issue is font and alphabet specific. There might be a workaround by using Ruled Surface. Could you attach an example failing to work? I can take a look and see if the workaround will work for this case.

Many thanks!

[kelly.young]

@rlester you should be able to extrude taper that font, if you go too far negative it can start to chop it up.

• Offset from Plane
• Create your text
• Extrude offset distance with positive taper. 

Just another way to go about it.

• Explode the text
• Offset plane
• Project the text
• Offset
• Loft

That works well for logos and complex taper edges.

You could also try chamfer or face draft but that is a bit much for text.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Frank.Edgar]

@johnsonshiue

Okay, I have attached a file which should have most of what is needed. 

Basically I need to put a 3-5~ degree taper on the letters for the sand casting. Also, I honestly like the look of it. 

I have the text box included, but I doubt you will be able to see it without installing the three different fonts used to create it.

So I extruded it, projected the geometry, and called that a day. 

I have tried lofting. I tried using the chamfer command and the draft command, with limited success each. (I really wish there was a way to chamfer on a loop) I have tried offset. My last resort is hand drawing in polylines and hoping noone notices its not perfect lol

In this file, the letters in the name "BOBBY" all work fine, as you can see once you open it. 

The letters of "HENDRIX" all work fine with the exception of the D

None of the "AMBER" work at all, which makes sense because that font is a jumble of curves. 

I am interested in your ruled surface suggestion. I don't really know much about that command though, so advice would be grand.

Thanks for your interest in my predicament. 

[kelly.young]

@rlester@Frank.Edgar for your AMBER letters try:

• Offset from Plane to the height you want
• Project the Geometry of each letter
• Break link
• Use Scale from a central point to generate a smaller profile of outer profile
• Repeat for inner profiles separately
• Drag lines/points to inside of larger letter
• Loft outer profile of larger to smaller letter
• Loft Cut inner profile (of letter A, B, R etc) 

I couldn't get Ruled Surface to work on all the letters, try the method above and see if that helps!

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Frank.Edgar]

@kelly.young

Thanks, I tried to freehand that, but I don't know how to find the central point of geometry that is so... complicated lol

Is there a tool or a trick for finding the central point reliably? 

I will give it a shot tonight when I have some time, Ill let you know if it works for me. 

[kelly.young]

@Frank.Edgar unfortunately there is no easy answer to this, you could just draw a cross and find the midpoint that way.

Without drawing extension lines off the outer edge at a perpendicular set distance from each point it will be hard to make exact.

It might just depend on how much you like the look vs how much you want to tinker with it to get it to taper like you want.

The more you get away from standard fonts and smooth edges the more difficulty you're going to have.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Frank,

I took a quick look and played around with the 'A' in Amber. I am able to use Ruled Surface (or Extrude Surface) to create the desirable geometry. Could you try it out and see if it works for you?

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

I know that this form is getting old, but I want to taper a font negatively to an edge.

I want to be able to 3D print a metal stamping tool, and these work best with sharp edges for stamping.

I could go through the process of generating a profile for each letter of the alphabet, and then arranging them as required.

(I have done this before, and it is a time consuming task.)

Is there a font / process that can result in sharp edged lettering - whether extruding to an edge with a negative taper, or tapering out from an edge?

BTW

I then need to bend the result to make a wheel.

[kelly.young]

Hello @Anonymous can you attach a general example of what you are trying to accomplish? Does it have to be a specific font? Some work better than others. 

Please select the Accept Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hi Kelly

A simple way of creating the general text would be incredibly useful.

Not the branding - that creates it's own set of challenges.