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Sketch Text Walkthrough

A step by step example of Sketch Text: raised letters on a plate, then the same letters cut through it. For everything the tool can do, see Sketch Text.

Before You Start

  • Modeling comes with the Pro plans.
  • The examples use millimeters. Use any unit you like, and type it after the number.

Raise Letters on a Plate

  1. Open a sketch on the Top plane. Choose Rect and draw a plate 60 mm by 25 mm. On the Features tab, click Extrude, set Depth to 5 mm and extrude it.
  2. Click the top face of the plate to open a sketch on it.
  3. On the Sketch tab, click Advanced, then Text. Type BMW 01 in Text, 10mm in Height, and leave Font and Angle as they are.
  4. Click near the lower left of the plate. The letters appear as outlines. Change the words to BMW 02 and they change at once.
  5. Press Done.
  6. On the Features tab, click Extrude, set Depth to 1 mm and extrude. The letters stand 1 mm above the plate. The holes in the zero and in the letter B are open, not filled.

Cut the Letters Instead

  1. Undo the last extrusion with Ctrl+Z. The sketch comes back with the text still in it.
  2. Click Cut, set Depth to 2 mm and cut. The letters are 2 mm deep pockets in the plate.

Change the Size

  1. Double-click the text in the sketch. The Text panel opens with its words and height.
  2. Change Height to 12 mm, press Enter, and press Done. Extrude or cut again.

Space and Widen the Letters

  1. Double-click the text. In the Text panel, set Spacing % to 130. The gaps between the letters open up by thirty percent.
  2. Set Width % to 120. Every letter becomes a fifth wider, and the height stays the same.
  3. Set both back to 100 for the font as it comes.

Move or Turn the Text

  1. On the Sketch tab, click Move, then click the text.
  2. Type 10 in Across and press Move. The text slides 10 mm to the right as you see the sketch on the screen, on the Top, Front and Right planes alike (Up moves it up the screen the same way). Type 45 in Angle and press Rotate to turn it. See Move, Rotate and Scale.

Tips

  • Turn the text with Angle, for example 90 to run it up the plate.
  • Leave a little room between letters and the edge of the plate.
  • Use the Mono font when the letters should all take the same width.

Open the viewer

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