Create meshes for text strings

To create meshes for text strings, use the Text MeshA Mesh component that displays a Text string More info
See in Glossary component. The Text Mesh component generates 3D geometry that displays text strings.

Note: The Text Mesh component has limited functionality. For information on more recent, full-featured ways of displaying text, see Creating user interfaces (UI).

Text Meshes can be used for rendering road signs, graffiti etc. The Text Mesh places text in the 3D scene. To make generic 2D text for GUIs, use a GUI Text component instead.

Follow these steps to create a Text Mesh with a custom Font:

1. Import a TrueType font by dragging a .ttf file into the Project window.
2. In the Hierarchy window, select Create > 3D Object > Legacy > TextMesh.
3. Drag the imported font from the Project window to the Font property of the Text Mesh component in the Inspector window.

You have now created a text mesh with your custom TrueType Font. You can scale the text and move it around using the Scene View’s Transform controls.

Note: If you want to change the font for a Text Mesh, need to set the component’s font property and also set the texture of the font material to the correct font texture. This texture can be located using the font asset’s foldout. If you forget to set the texture then the text in the mesh will appear blocky and misaligned.

Best practices

• If you are scripting the Text property, you can add line breaks by inserting the escape character “\n” in your strings.
• You can use simple markup to style text meshes. See the Styled Text page for more details.
• Fonts in Unity render the font glyphs to a texture map before any further rendering. If the font size is set too small, these font textures will appear blocky. Since TextMesh assets are rendered using quads, it’s possible that if the size of the TextMesh and font texture differ, the TextMesh might display incorrectly.