Documentation/Articles/Overview of Font Definition Editor
From NeoAxis Engine Wiki
| Language: |  English •  Русский |
Status: | Approved |
Contents |
Overview
With Font Definition Editor you can add various fonts to your project that can be later used in user interfaces (UI).
There are two ways to import fonts to NeoAxis:
- using NeoAxis built-in editor to import and configure fonts in .ttf format,
- using a third party tool to create a font texture file and fontDefinition file.
We recommend that you use the first way when adding fonts containing a small number of symbols, since in this case a separate texture for each font size will be created. The first way provides better pixel by pixel accuracy while the second one is preferable for fonts with a large number of symbols (e.g. hieroglyphic fonts).
Options
There's not much to change in Options for this editor. To open the Options window, click on the Options button of the toolbar or go to Tools -> Options.
The only parameter you can change is the background color which you see while viewing a font. Enter a new RGBA value or use the color picker to change it. Press OK to save changes or Cancel to discard them.
Importing a .ttf font
Creating a Font Definition file
Before you create a new font definition, you need to copy the desired .ttf font to /Data/Fonts folder. Once you have done that, right click on the Fonts folder and select the New Resource option. Now, select the Font Definition option in the New Resource window and press Continue.
Specify name and language for your font and click Next. Your new font definition file will appear, but will be empty until you assign a font file to it. Open the file in Edit Mode by double clicking on it.
Font Definition Properties
Take a look at Properties window located in the right part of your screen:
| Property name | Description |
|---|---|
| FileName | This is the name of your Font Definition file and local path to it. You cannot edit this field. |
| Type | Displays the type of font that can be used in this Font Definition file. Also not editable. |
| AdvanceMultiplier | Determines how much space will be between characters. The default value is 1 and you can specify a value from 0.5 to 2. |
| Characters | Enables you to determine character ranges that the font will use. Small letters + capital letters + numbers + punctation fall in range from 32 to 127. |
| DrawOffsetY | Enables you to move characters up or down a bit. |
| InGame3DGuiHeightInPixels | Used only for In-game 3D GUI. Specifies font height in pixels. |
| SizeMultiplier | With this parameter you can increase the base size of your font in both X and Y axis. Allows uniform and non-uniform stretch. |
| TextureIndentBetweenCharacters | This value determines spaces between characters on the texture. If this value is set too low, you will see pixels from another character causing artifacts in your text. |
| TextureSize | Enables you to set the texture size for this Font Definition. Can be set to 512, 1024 or 2048. |
| TrueTypeFontName | With this parameter you can select the font that you want to use with this Font Definition file. The Choose Resource window will open if you press the Browse icon. This works only for TrueType fonts. |
Preview
If you want to see how does the texture for your font look like, you can preview it by using the list in the lower corner of Properties window:
Creating a font with a font generator
You can also create fonts in third-party utilities. An example of such a utility is Bitmap Font Generator.
In the following tutorial you will learn to create fonts in Bitmap Font Generator.
Tutorial - Creating a font in Bitmap Font Generator
First, launch Bitmap Font Generator. You can find it in the "SDK\Tools\Fonts\BitmapFontGenerator"' folder.
Next, go to options and specify a format for output file.
To do this press the Font Settings button in the Options menu.
Specify an output file format (XML) and press the Ok' button in the setings window.
Now, select the required symbols in the menu to the right.
Next, save the font texture. Press the Save bitmap font as...' button in the Options menu.
You can only use numbers and english letters for specifying a name to save your font under. Make sure you are not using any other symbols!
Finally, you have to create a font definition based on the generated texture by means of the BitmapFontGeneratorToNeoAxisConverter utility. You can find it in the "SDK\Tools\Fonts\BitmapFontGeneratorToNeoAxisConverter" folder.
Launch BitmapFontGeneratorToNeoAxisConverter and press the "..." button. Select the previously saved font file.
Now, press the Convert button.
Once convertation is finished, you will see the following message:
This means that font creation is complete.
You can view the new font in Resource Editor.
