Text Base for your Map/Object making needs

[Bawfle]

[Title in the making.]

Here's a tutorial on how to make text for your Map/Object making needs. As well as some things provided which you will need in order to create what you're looking to create. This tutorial will generally help and guide you on how to create text in which you want to add separately to an object. Whether it be separately adding; graffiti to a wall, text to a post, text to a sign or maybe text on a whiteboard/black board. Whatever your hearts content.

What you will need.


You will need the following files/documents, which you can download here. The download contains; textfield.material, textfield.mesh and ENTERIMAGENAMEHERE.png, as you can see highlighted in the image below.




How to get the text in game.


Step 1 -
Download all the resources in the download link I provided to you, and place all the files/documents that are in that download folder into Local Disk \\ Feral Heart \\ Media \\ Objects \\ My Objects.

Step 2 -
Once you have placed the resources where they should be, launch the Feral Heart game and go to Creative Den \\ Object Maker.

Step 3 -
Load the Rock object, which can be found in Group \\ Default then Object \\ Rock. Be sure to keep the rock highlighted as shown by either pressing the bab key on your keyboard, or by clicking on the object itself.



Step 4 -
Once the above step is complete, select the 'Mesh' tab and rename the text in the Mesh box/field from rock.mesh to textfield.mesh, and then rename the text in the Material box/field from rockMat to textfieldMat then click on the 'Update' button afterwards, as shown below.

 

Step 5 -
Once you have hit that update button, you should succesfully be able to see what is provided in the images below, as front and back examples. If the image shows a screenshot of a character, all you need to do is rename the Material again in the box/field, located in the Mesh tab, in order for the text to show correctly. Sometimes the image resets itself. The mesh itself will look small at first, so all you'll need to do is re-size it as I have done in the images provided below.

Front Preview


Back Preview



F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions).


What if I don't want things named as 'textfield'?
Please keep note that it is always recommended to rename your .mesh, .material, Mat (located in the .material) and image to something unique. If you don't, then it is likely that your meshes, materials or images/textures will get muddled up with other people's as they would be named the same. If you don't want things named as textfield, then all you need to do is rename the following that are located in Local Disk \\ Feral Heart \\ Media \\ Objects \\ My Objects:

▸ textfield.mesh This is what is used as a base for the text, also known as the object itself.
▸ textfield.material This is the name of the notepad/notepad++ document which holds the coding required for the object/mesh.
▸ Open up textfield.material in notepad or notepad++ and rename the following highlighted to something else.

Bold Lime Green What you can/should rename.
Italic Red The function of the code/text provided or shown.

material textfieldMat This what will be typed into the Material box/field in Object Maker.
{
   transparency_casts_shadows off
   receive_shadows off
   technique
   {
      pass
      {
         //lighting off
         cull_hardware none
         cull_software none
         scene_blend alpha_blend
         alpha_rejection greater_equal 199
         
         texture_unit
         {
            texture ENTERIMAGENAMEHERE.png This is the image/text that will show on the mesh/object.
         }
      }
   }
}

What if I want to make more text like this?
If you're wanting to make more, just open up textfield.material in notepad, or whatever you may have renamed the textfield.material to. Once you have opened it up, all you need to do is copy the first lot of coding, then paste it under the other, or on top. Either should work, as long as you rename the new coding a littl as shown below:

Bold Lime Green What you can/should rename.
Italic Red The function of the code/text provided or shown.
Bold Orange Recommended edit/modification or addition to the coding.

material textfieldMat
{
   transparency_casts_shadows off
   receive_shadows off
   technique
   {
      pass
      {
         //lighting off
         cull_hardware none
         cull_software none
         scene_blend alpha_blend
         alpha_rejection greater_equal 199
         
         texture_unit
         {
            texture ENTERIMAGENAMEHERE.png
         }
      }
   }
}
material textfieldMat2
{
   transparency_casts_shadows off
   receive_shadows off
   technique
   {
      pass
      {
         //lighting off
         cull_hardware none
         cull_software none
         scene_blend alpha_blend
         alpha_rejection greater_equal 199
         
         texture_unit
         {
            texture ENTERIMAGENAMEHERE2.png
         }
      }
   }
}

Once you've done this, be sure to save. Then just follow the steps that were provided above with the new information provided, and you should see this:



Okay, cool. So how do I change the text?
Easiest way is to open a new canvas on either GIMP, Paint Tool SAI or PhotoShop. Though, I recommend GIMP or PhotoShop as they both have text and fonts. If you want to use Paint Tool SAI, the best way is to go to cooltext.com and create the text you want, then download the text/image it provides after creating, then opening the text/image in Paint Tool SAI where you can copy/paste and use it for your mesh texture. You want to open the new canvas with the size of 512x512px. Alternatively, you could open up the image in either GIMP or PhotoShop and just erase what's already there, then just use your own text by using the text/font tool. I'm sure you can change the size of your canvas, if you have a lot to write, as it will come out in better quality. However, this is just an example, so for now just use 512x512px unless you absolutely need to change the size.

That's the end of this tutorial! If you need any help, don't hesitate to ask. Whether it's on the Help Boards, on this thread or any recommended threads provided in the tutorial above.
Spot any mistakes? Have I left anything out? Please inform me about any mistakes or information I have missed through Private Message. Do NOT reply here. Feedback and general responses are welcome!

[Kastilla]

Eyy!
Coincidentally, I was thinking of such a thing when I couldn't sleep last night. I had the thought of many games that the name of the area/map flashes above you, and I was like, "How could I do that in FeralHeart?" You answered my question.

Haha, thank you for this, Buffy! This is just what I, and possibly other floofs, needed.
(+nuzzles)

[Bawfle]

I'm happy to hear that this has ticked off something on your thoughts list!

You're welcome, Kastilla

[Kerriki]

This is very clear and helpful, I'm sure may users will appreciate this! -Nuzzle-

[Bawfle]

Thanks!

I'm sure it will come in handy when it's needed

[Ironfang]

Hi
i'm trying to get new meshes into object creations
i'm stuck on some meshes/materials that won't fit in the boxes that you would type mesh/material for to save it into the game..

help

[Insoholic]

The information provided is really well presented for users. Thank you for putting this together, Buffy! +floof

[KapyDrawz]

Can someone send this to me without ads? My PC cant handle it. :c

[LadySigyn]

Can someone send this to me without ads? My PC cant handle it. :c

Is it the download you're after or screenshots of the tutorial? c:

[KapyDrawz]

The download after that ads website, I meant.