textomatic(1)

NAME
textomatic - interactive program for creating 3d text

SYNOPSIS
textomatic

DESCRIPTION
textomatic is an Inventor program for creating beveled, 3D text. It supports arbitrary bevels, arbitrary messages, assigning different materials to the front, back and sides of the text, and supports pasting into other applications (like showcase or SceneViewer).

The textomatic window is split into four parts:

The top of the window is an Inventor examiner viewer, displaying the 3D text and allowing you to rotate and zoom it. By default the "decoration" of buttons and thumbwheels used to control your view is turned off; you can turn it back on using the popup menu that will appear if you press the right mouse button in this window. Help on how to use the viewer is also available from the 'Functions->Help' menu entry on that popup.

The lower-right of the window contains a Motif text widget, which can be used to change the 3D message displayed. Just click the left mouse button in the window and start typing; the 3D text is automatically updated 1 second after you stop typing.

At the bottom center of the window is a representation of the bevel used for the sides of the text. You can use the left mouse button to add points to the bevel and will immediately see changes in the 3D text. For example, position the cursor in the middle of the cyan line, where the two red lines cross. Press and hold the left mouse button, then drag the mouse up and down a little. Notice how the bevel on the 3D text changes to match the cross-section defined by the cyan line. Try adding some more points. You can use the backspace key to delete points, and you can move existing points by clicking on them (notice that a little white cross is drawn when your cursor gets close to them).

The lower-left of the window contains four buttons:

Copy
    Will copy the Inventor scene graph used to draw the 3D text onto the X clipboard, where it can be viewed (use the xclipboard program) or pasted into another Inventor application (like showcase or SceneViewer).

Edit Parts
    Brings up a material editor and some radio buttons that let you independently turn on or off the front, back and sides of the text, or change their material. Try disabling editing of the sides' material (click on the yellow 'Edit' button in front of 'Sides:') and then changing the diffuse color (by clicking on the little diamond button in front of the 'Diff:' slider, and then changing the color in the color wheel that appears).

About
    Brings up a short description of textomatic.

Quit
    Exits textomatic. Note that the data copied to the X clipboard with the copy button will disappear when texomatic exits, so be sure to paste your creations before exiting.

SOURCE CODE
Note that the source code to textomatic comes with the Open Inventor 3d Toolkit.

FILES
/usr/share/src/Inventor/demos/textomatic/* - Source to textomatic

SEE ALSO
drop, maze, noodle, qmorf, revo, showcase, SceneViewer, inventor, ivview