Letters with
a thickness standing in real light
Not an extrude filter over flat text: outlines cut from a real font, pushed back by a real number of millimeters, stood on a table and lit the way the packaging editor lights a carton. The cut edge takes its own material, which is what says how thick the piece is. È gratis. Davvero.
- Your own fonts.
- The fonts installed on your machine, read in the page and never uploaded. The outlines are the font's own, so counters and joins are exactly as drawn.
- A thickness that varies.
- Letters all identically thick read as a render. A few millimeters between them read as pieces cut from board — and the seed makes it repeatable.
- Face and edge apart.
- A printed face and a raw plywood edge, which is what a cut piece actually looks like.
- The editor's own light.
- The same arrangement boxlab lights its cartons with, so a mock-up made here matches one made there.
- Soft shadows.
- A handful of lights scattered around the key one. They share its strength, so softening the shadow does not brighten the room.
- A film that loops.
- Orbit, arc, rise or dolly, recorded as whole cycles — played as a loop, there is no jolt.
What it makes
Six things it does that a bevel filter does not
A filter fakes depth on flat text. This cuts the outline, gives it millimeters, and stands it in a room with a floor.
Real text, or your own drawing
- A font from your own machine, read in the page
- Or an SVG: a logo, a mark, a monogram
- Both become the same closed shapes
- Nothing is uploaded, ever
Millimeters, and a variation
- Depth in millimeters, not a look
- A variation per letter, within a share of that
- A seed, so the same piece comes back
- An edge radius for a cut that is not razor sharp
A face and a cut edge
- Paint, plywood or metal, on each separately
- The plywood is the moulder's own photographs
- Roughness and metal on both
- The contrast between them is what shows the thickness
The editor's room
- One key light, placed around and down from the top
- Soft shadows from a scatter of extra lights
- A table that takes the shadow, and a grid if you want it
- Shadow maps rebuilt only when something moves
In detail
The outline, the thickness, the light and the film
One piece, cut, stood up, lit and taken away.
The outline
- TTF, OTF and WOFF from your machine
- Or an SVG of paths
- Cap height in millimeters
- Counters and holes kept as they were drawn
The solid
- Thickness from 1 to 120 mm
- Variation up to eighty percent, both ways
- A seed you can change
- A rounded edge up to 5 mm
The room
- Key light by azimuth and zenith
- Softness, strength and fill
- A table and the editor's grid
- Colors for both
Out
- PNG at the size of the frame
- WebM of one to ten cycles
- Orbit, arc, rise, dolly
- No account, no upload
How it works
Four steps
An outline, a thickness, a light, a file.
Bring an outline
Pick a font from this machine and type a word, or drop an SVG.
Give it thickness
Millimeters, and as much variation between the letters as you want.
Light it
Move the key light around and down, and soften the shadow.
Take the file
A PNG, or a WebM of a fly-around that loops.
Who it is for
Anywhere text has to look made
Signage, packaging, and the mock-ups in between.
Sign mock-ups
Letters cut from board or acrylic, at the thickness they will really be.
Packaging
A brand mark standing on a table, lit the way the carton next to it is.
Titles
A word with real depth for a page header, as a loop that does not jump.
Fabrication
See what 18 mm looks like before anybody cuts it.
Presentations
A still with a soft shadow and a table, saved at frame size.
Font specimens
A face shown as an object rather than as a line of text.
Questions
What it does, and what it will not do
Is my font uploaded?
No. The font is read in the page, its outlines are cut there, and nothing about it leaves your machine.
Why does it ask to read the fonts on this machine?
Because a browser will happily *draw* text in a font but will not hand over its outlines, and outlines are what a solid is cut from. Reading the installed file is the only way to get them — which Chrome and Edge allow once you say so, and Safari and Firefox do not allow at all.
Why is the lighting not adjustable further?
It is the packaging editor's own arrangement, on purpose: a mock-up made here should sit next to one made there without either looking wrong. The dials are the ones that scene has.
Can I export a model?
Not yet — a still and a film for now. An STL or a GLB is the obvious next thing, and the geometry is already there.
Why does an orbit ignore the sweep?
A part-way orbit does not loop: the film would end facing the back of the piece and cut to the front. A whole turn is the only orbit that closes, so an orbit is a whole turn and the cycle length sets the speed.
My SVG comes in empty.
It probably contains placed pictures rather than paths. Outlines are what can be cut; a photograph inside an SVG has none.