John-
not exactly, but you can achieve something that can be very near to it using the replicator tool.
***BIG caveat- this is how you do it in Motion 4. I'm presently on vacation and haven't had a chance to get Motion 5 yet, but I expect it functions in similar ways. I apologize if it doesn't, and others can feel free to chime in if things are radically different.
Other people may have other ways, but I get it by doing this:
1. Start in Photoshop and create your text there. Put a very slight drop shadow on it. (something like 10% opacity, 0 distance and maybe 5 for the blur. (You could also do this in Motion, but it may slow things down.)
2. Make sure you presently have a 3D project (i.e., add a camera), bring your text in and add a replicator to it.
3. In the replicator settings, change the shape to Line.
4. Change the Start and End Point values to 0 and set the replicator to be 3D.
5. Back up in the parameters, set the Z value of the End Point to whatever you want, and add to the number of Points until it looks how you want.
That's pretty much it. It's not true 3D, so you can't fully spin around it or you'll get some weird effects where you can see all the individual sides of the objects, but you can spin around it a lot more than using the Extrude method. Actually, since you are adjusting the replicated points along a Z axis, the text does have some actual depth, which can work out nicely if you use it judiciously.
Here's an old example of something I made in Motion 3 or 4 using this technique: (Flickr seems to be the only place I put it, but it's a video...)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deviantmonk/3849838133/in/set-7215760446319047...
Hope that helps.
Jason Watson
http://deviantmonk.com
