text_wf

Before we go on to incorporating text into flames, here are two tips that aren’t specific to text_wf, but are especially useful with this variation.

• The text is normally a solid color, colored using the standard flame coloring method. But direct color variations can be used to add a colored pattern. Add a second variation to the same transform as text_wf; choose dc_crackle_wf (or dc_cracklep_wf), dc_linear, or dc_perlin. Leave the amount 0, and click the “post_”-variation box to between the variation selector and the amount.
• Although text_wf is a 2D variation, extrude can be used to make it 3D. Add another variation to the same transform set to extrude. Set the amount to the amount of extrude wanted.

Here is an example using both dc_perlin and extrude with text_wf:

There is no special technique for using text_wf to incorporate text into flames. It is a blur variation, and works much the same as other blur variations. Add a transform, change the variation to text_wf, and set the text parameters as described previously. Then add another transform, change the variation to something promising (or leave linear3D), and just play around with the triangles and variation parameters. It is usually helpful to increase the weight of the second transform. This is the technique used for the examples above, using the word “focus” with horseshoe and the character “%” with julian.

One consideration is that text has an irregular shape, so successive iterations will probably not fit exactly with each other. We can ignore the overlaps and embrace the ensuing chaos (as was done with the “focus” example above), or we can avoid the overlaps, creating a more minimal style (as in the “%” example above).

Using a phrase for the text will result in a shape that is much wider than it is high. This makes a nice combination with splits; it works in much the same way as other splits styles work. We start with a blank flame, add the first transform, and change the variation to text_wf. Follow the standard text_wf steps, using a nice quote; we’ll use one by Berthold Brecht: “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it”. For the scaling, set scale_x to 5 and leave scale_y at 1. We need to move the text up slightly so it is centered vertically, so set offset_y to -0.03. Add transform 2 and set its weight to 5, its color to 1, and its color speed to 0.9. Leave the default linear3D, but add splits as variation 2 with amount = 1, x = 0, and y = 0.5. Then rotate transform 2 45° left and shrink it by 210%. It will be easier to tweak if we hide the original text by changing the draw mode to hidden. That leaves a big gap, which we can close by adding a final transform with variation splits, amount = 1, x = 0, and y = -0.5.

This splits-text base can be tweaked in the usual ways, but the text_wf scale_y value is closely tied to the value of the two splits variations; they can certainly be changed, but it’s easier to leave them alone and adjust the scale_x value to get different effects. Here, the splits transform was moved and rotated,the text_wf parameters adjusted slightly to compensate, another transform with exblur was added for sparkle, and a final with squarize was added to make the result mostly square, distorting the lines of text along the way.