text on surface

Are you planning on having the text wrap around a cylinder, or is the text you want going to be in one direction? (Die draw)

If you select the surface and do an offset, and then select the offset with draft tool, you can offset the surface and control the direction with

the sketch that you reference. Here's the trick: You can't offset sketched text directly; first you have to create a sketch on a plane normal to

the direction you want to offset, then in the offset tool, create a new sketch and select the text in your previous sketch with use edge. (loop entities)

(If you are wrapping all the way around a cylinder, this is something that can be done with a toroidal bend.

If you are creating extruded text in one direction there is an easier method that you can use to create the text in one step. Use the Extrude feature, select the plane you wish to extrude from. In this sketcher, select the Text feature. Locate and position the text as you wish, following the instructions for orientation and size. Enter your text, and complete the Extrude feature by specifying height, direction, etc. as you typically would. This same method can also be used to create text that is etched into the solid model (removing material instead of adding it).

I have never created text on a curved surface before, so I cannot help you there.