How do I fix normal text to a surface?

SketchUp
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1

I want to fix text to a surface so that when the surface is rotated the text also rotates.

2

If you use the binding functionality of a text component, it will rotate with the face…

textrotation
textrotation800×600 527 KB

Or you can group the text with the face and use a rotation for that group instead.

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3

But this looks like 3D text which is not what I want. I just want flat text with no depth.

4

I didn’t work enough with text and 3D text tools to be able to help you.
But unchecking fillet option do you get the result you’re looking for?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that you can use paint bucket with black color after this.

5

Sorry that I missed this point from your question, but the answer will work for all components, flat text too…

6

You can make flat text but if the flat text is occuppying the same plane as as your “surface” you will experience Z-fighting, or sketchup flashing the two surfaces as it can’t determine which to show on top, because they are occupying the same space. Two solutions are to give the text very thin depth, like .1 inches using the scale tool, which will not be noticeable but will keep it on top. Or, to embed your 0 thickness text in the plane by intersecting the exploded body of the text with the plane then erasing it and painting the resulting intersected letters a different color.

7

One of the deliberate peculiarities of 3D text is that if you untick the extrude option the text will be placed ever so slightly offset from the face to avoid z-fighting.
Which is why unextruded 3d text won’t normally intersect with the face it is glued to.

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8

You could try one of the FlatText plugins from the extension warehouse - two free, one paid for but not expensive.

They use unextruded glyphs, and can be edited, resized or rotated like any other group, or placed inside your component to rotate or move with it…

There aren’t many fonts in the free version but more are available. Some are single line, so don’t Z-fight.

9

See… those guys think of everything. Or almost everything. Thanks @Box for that tip, so 0 thickness text should be fine.
I wonder if that forced offset could be optioned for other types of created components that are glued? That would be a cool option to have an “avoid z-fighting” check box under the glue option in component attributes.

10

Here’s a quick example.
TextZFight

11

It is done with setting the axes, when creating the component or right click on a component and ‘change axes’

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12

@MikeWayzovski we are referring to the auto offset of unextruded 3d text.

13

Right, just offset the component axis slightly behind the glue surface, of course, that’s smart. But an auto option might be slick.

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14

but Riley wondered…

15

I did and that’s a great way to do it. Thanks.

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