Resolved Curved text along a custom path

Hi,

I am struggling to find a way to make a text curve around a custom path. The image shows what I would like to achieve.



I've found a lot of old threads that suggest overriding OnFillVBO, but this function is obsolete nowadays. Are there any solutions or approaches you recommend to solve this problem?

Some more details about the circumstances:

• The path that the text should follow can have pretty much any shape, but is always two dimensional
• The path is just a List of Vector3's
• I would prefer the text to be an object in world space and not the UI, but I think both could work if necessary
• The context for how I use this is to label custom polygons with something similar to centerline labelling.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Alright

Since noone replied so far, I figured there's probably no easy built-in solution to this and started fiddling around myself. The screenshot shows the result of the solution I came up with. Please note that the approach might not work perfectly for everyone since I built this for a specific project. Also the code is probably not very clean but I'll post it anyway since it might help someone in the future who finds this thread with a similar problem.



Here's the function:
It basically creates single letters as TextMeshes and places them on the given path in world space, which is defined a List of Vector2's (the VPoint structure that I use can be understood as a Vector2).

I'm sure there's still room for improvement, but for now I am happy with the result.

Code (CSharp):

1.     /// <summary>
2.     /// Draws a text along a given path.
3.     /// Position defines where (relatively) on the path the text is drawn (0.5 = center).
4.     /// PreferredSize defines the font size in world space. If the path is too short for the whole text, the size is scaled down.
5.     /// LetterPaddingFactor defines the space between letters relatively to the font size. (1 = space is equal to font size)
6.     /// </summary>
7.     private static GameObject DrawTextAlongPath(string text, List<VPoint> path, float position = 0.5f, float preferredSize = 0.15f, float letterPaddingFactor = 1f)
8.     {
9.         GameObject textObject = new GameObject(text);
10.  
11.         float letterPadding = preferredSize * letterPaddingFactor;
12.         float totalTextWidth = text.Length * letterPadding; // approx
13.         float curPointDistance = 0f;
14.         int curPointIndex = 0;
15.         float pointDistance = Vector2.Distance(VPointToVector2(path[curPointIndex]), VPointToVector2(path[curPointIndex + 1]));
16.  
17.         // Calculate where on the path to start with the text
18.         float totalPathDistance = GetPathDistance(path, 0f);
19.         float desiredStartDistance = (totalPathDistance * 0.5f) - (totalTextWidth * 0.5f);
20.  
21.         while(desiredStartDistance < 0)
22.         {
23.             preferredSize -= 0.01f;
24.             letterPadding = preferredSize * letterPaddingFactor;
25.             totalTextWidth = text.Length * letterPadding;
26.             desiredStartDistance = (totalPathDistance * 0.5f) - (totalTextWidth * 0.5f);
27.         }
28.  
29.         float curDistance = desiredStartDistance;
30.         while(desiredStartDistance > pointDistance)
31.         {
32.             desiredStartDistance -= pointDistance;
33.             curPointDistance += pointDistance;
34.             curPointIndex++;
35.             pointDistance = Vector2.Distance(VPointToVector2(path[curPointIndex]), VPointToVector2(path[curPointIndex + 1]));
36.         }
37.         Debug.Log("curDistance: " + curDistance + ", curIndex: " + curPointIndex + ", curPointDistance: " + curPointDistance + ", totalTextWidth: " + totalTextWidth + ", pathDistance: " + totalPathDistance);
38.  
39.         // Go through each char individually and place them along the path
40.         foreach (char c in text)
41.         {
42.             // Instantiate textmesh object with chat
43.             GameObject letterObject = new GameObject(c.ToString());
44.             letterObject.transform.SetParent(textObject.transform);
45.             TextMesh textMesh = letterObject.AddComponent<TextMesh>();
46.             textMesh.anchor = TextAnchor.MiddleCenter;
47.             textMesh.text = c.ToString();
48.             letterObject.transform.localScale = new Vector3(preferredSize, preferredSize, preferredSize);
49.  
50.             // Make it smooth and crisp
51.             textMesh.fontSize = 120;
52.             letterObject.transform.localScale /= 10;
53.  
54.             // Calculate and set position/rotation of textmesh
55.             float angle = Vector2.SignedAngle(VPointToVector2(path[curPointIndex + 1]) - VPointToVector2(path[curPointIndex]), Vector2.up);
56.             Vector2 position2D = Vector2.Lerp(VPointToVector2(path[curPointIndex]), VPointToVector2(path[curPointIndex + 1]), (curDistance - curPointDistance) / pointDistance);
57.             letterObject.transform.position = new Vector3(position2D.x, 0f, position2D.y);
58.             letterObject.transform.rotation = Quaternion.Euler(90f, angle - 90f, 0f);
59.  
60.             // Update current position
61.             curDistance += letterPadding;
62.             float tmpWidth = (curDistance - curPointDistance);
63.             while(tmpWidth > pointDistance)
64.             {
65.                 tmpWidth -= pointDistance;
66.                 curPointDistance += pointDistance;
67.                 curPointIndex++;
68.                 pointDistance = Vector2.Distance(VPointToVector2(path[curPointIndex]), VPointToVector2(path[curPointIndex + 1]));
69.             }
70.         }
71.  
72.         return textObject;
73.     }

 

Hi Stephan

Thanks a lot for the resources, definitely seems more fleshed out than what I did. I'm gonna have a look at it.