As designers, we always get a bit of a kick out of manipulating fonts and creating new typography. But to do it well, you need to have a good understanding of the rules behind font design and construction. Armed with that understanding, you then know how to bend and break the rules successfully. Breaking the rules a little is probably what makes it so creatively enjoyable. There was also a time when, if we wanted a piece of typography to look three dimensional we had to create the effect by hand (something we still do out of choice from time to time), but since the development of 3D software, new levels of possibilities have become available to us.