olcPGEX_TTF is an extension for the PixelGameEngine that allows you to open fonts and render text with them. It also includes built in functionality to rotate text, render to sprites, decals or renderables and define fallback fonts in case a character is not included. It should handle unicode, and even some colored emoji fonts.
The extension uses Freetype2. This is usually present on most systems as it's widely used.
To compile a program using this extension, you'll need the freetype2 development binaries. You can download them off of https://github.com/ubawurinna/freetype-windows-binaries/releases or compile them yourself. For the include libraries download https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/freetype/freetype. You'll need at least the .lib file from the former link and the include directory from the latter. You'll also need to place the dll files present in the former next to your resulting executable after building.
For VS2019, right click on your project, select properties, there C/C++, and add the previous include folder to your "Additional Include Directories" setting. Afterwards, go to Linker > General, and add the folder containing your .lib file to the "Additional Library Directories" setting.
If you're using MinGW, add -I/path/to/include -L/path/to/.lib/folder -lfreetype to your build command.
Install the freetype2 library from your distributions package manager then add -lfreetype to your build command.
To include the PGEX, first define OLC_PGEX_TTF, then include the header file:
#define OLC_PGEX_TTF
#include "olcPGEX_TTF.h"You'll need to initialize the font library and then open a font.
The former step is done by calling olc::Font::init(). After this initialization, you can open a font by doing:
//Variable in your class
olc::Font font;
//In OnUserCreate after calling init()
font = olc::Font("myFont.ttf", 20);The 20 is the size the font will be loaded at. If you need a font in multiple sizes, load multiple of it.
If you need symbols from a different font, you can add a fallback, which will be used, if a certain character doesn't exist in your original font. This is done by calling:
font.AddFallbackFont("fallback.ttf");After you've loaded your font, you can use it in two ways, either draw with it directly or get a sprite, decal or renderable containing your string.
//Drawing directly (string, x, y, color = black, rotation = 0)
font.DrawString(U"\x3041\x3042\x3043\x3044 aeiou", 20, 20, olc::BLUE);
//Drawing to a sprite (string, color = black)
font.RenderStringToSprite(U"\x3041\x3042\x3043\x3044 aeiou", olc::RED);
//Decal and Renderable have the same callstyleThe extension requires you to use u32strings (U"") for unicode support. To define a special character, use \x and their hex code.
The extension can't handle bitmap color fonts yet.