A while back Yader, or Derya Ozturk showed off some examples of how cleaning up a font at the truetype stage, 3D application could result in better geometry in 3D.

customized geometric Sans Serifs that can be used in 3D computer graphics software

Recently Derya has launched 3DType.net, a site that will offer customized fonts for 3D artists. At the moment there are two typefaces to choose from. There is a modified Ararat Bold, and a modified Frankly Sans Extra Bold.

Both fonts being offered are TrueType files that will work on any computer. The difference from a typical font is that has its internalized file geometry has been carefully modified so that it will produce much better results when translated into 3D.

It makes sense to use fonts and typefaces that were built specifically for 3D, instead of 2D print. These customized 3D type fonts, will give you much better topology in your 3D application, and will perform better with operations such as beveling and extruding, that yin the past would cause weird geometry intersections.

 

Type for Cinema 4D, 3DS, Houdini, Blender

The 3DType.net has a few videos showing the workflow for using the typefaces in various applications, both with procedural and nonprocedural workflows. The list includes 3DS Max, Houdini, Cinema 4D and Blender.

Maya Incompatibilities

Missing from the list is Autodesk Maya — Probably for a reason. When I tried the sample font in Maya using both the new and old type tools, the results were not very good at all.

The old type tool brought in the three character of the sample font with a strange extrusion happening on the sides. Even trying to generate 2D polys for the letter forms fails.

The new type tools didn’t fair much better with the 3dType font, bringing in the sample A, B and C glyphs with each face being its own extrusion — so, unfortunately, not very helpful for Maya users, and the workflows that Maya uses for type.

Custom 3D Font Services

Yader also has opened up 3D font custom services. So if you think about converting existing fonts into custom 3D Type, you can drop him a line.

Visit 3DType.net for more information on customized fonts for 3D.