Vincent Wagner | Dimensional Typography & 3D Type Systems

TC Bubble

Parametric 3d Typeface

TC Bubble

Parametric 3d Typeface

TC Bubble

Parametric 3d Typeface

What does a native 3D typeface look like? Just like chisels and broad-nib pens surely 3D tools used to create typefaces would leave their own distinct marks.

Using a typical 3D motion graphics toolset of splines, cloners, random noises and VDB meshing, I created a parametric typeface that would be flexible in production use, visibly 3D made, proudly showing the traces of its origins.

Setup

I designed a spline skeleton for each letter, which served as the base structure, onto which I cloned equally spaced spheres. The spheres were then manipulated in both scale and position by random noise values within pre-defined parameters. Lastly, the spheres of each letter were merged into one organic shape using a VDB workflow.

Setup

I designed a spline skeleton for each letter, which served as the base structure, onto which I cloned equally spaced spheres. The spheres were then manipulated in both scale and position by random noise values within pre-defined parameters. Lastly, the spheres of each letter were merged into one organic shape using a VDB workflow.

Setup

I designed a spline skeleton for each letter, which served as the base structure, onto which I cloned equally spaced spheres. The spheres were then manipulated in both scale and position by random noise values within pre-defined parameters. Lastly, the spheres of each letter were merged into one organic shape using a VDB workflow.

Spheres cloned on top of a skeleton spline, influenced in size and position by random noise within set paramenters.

Steps from skeleton spline to 3D mesh.

Spheres cloned on top of a skeleton spline, influenced in size and position by random noise within set paramenters.

Steps from skeleton spline to 3D mesh.

Outcome

The result is an organic, expressive typeface, showing clearly identifyable traces of the tools used to create it. The use of random noise values to manipulate the underlying spheres allows for an endless amount of variations per letter. The pre-defined parameter limits make sure that all variants adhere to a visibly coherent direction.

TC Bubble 3D meshes and production setup (C4D) are available for testing and licensing on request.

Outcome

The result is an organic, expressive typeface, showing clearly identifyable traces of the tools used to create it. The use of random noise values to manipulate the underlying spheres allows for an endless amount of variations per letter. The pre-defined parameter limits make sure that all variants adhere to a visibly coherent direction.

TC Bubble 3D meshes and production setup (C4D) are available for testing and licensing on request.

Outcome

The result is an organic, expressive typeface, showing clearly identifyable traces of the tools used to create it. The use of random noise values to manipulate the underlying spheres allows for an endless amount of variations per letter. The pre-defined parameter limits make sure that all variants adhere to a visibly coherent direction.

TC Bubble 3D meshes and production setup (C4D) are available for testing and licensing on request.

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The initial promo video for TC Bubble.

The whole gylphset.

Concept & Design Vincent Wagner