Using Fonts to generate 3d-meshes

[pixtur]

Hi everybody,

We are currently working on integrating SixLabors/Fonts into tooll.io. Our goal is to generate procedural 3D meshes from any given TrueType font, regardless of whether it's installed or not. To achieve this, I believe we need to undertake the following steps:

• Load and process a TTF or WOFF file.
• Utilize Fonts to generate and layout glyphs for a string according to user-defined formatting rules such as spacing and font size.
• Utilize Fonts to produce a list of points for the outline, ideally including additional tangent information and utilizing the font's kerning data.

I envision something along the lines of the following (with mock code provided):

/** A Point on the outline that can be used to generate front and side mesh */
class Point {
    Vector3 Position;
    Vector3 Normal; // For bevelling
    Vector3 TangentA; // For generating normals
    Vector3 TangentB; // For generating normals    
}

/** A closed shape that requires triangulation */
class Shape {
    List<Point> Points;
    List<Shape> Holes;
    bool IsClosed;
    bool IsHole;
}

/** Information for a character */
class Glyph {
    List<Shape> Shapes;
    Glyph OriginalGlyph; // Original glyph definition
    Rectangle Bounds;
}

/** Representation of the original string. Contains everything to generate mesh */
class GlyphSet {
    List<Glyph> Glyphs;
    float ExtrusionDepth;
    float Bevel; // Just a naive offset along Point.Normal

    Mesh ConvertToMesh() {...};
}

After examining the source code, I have a strong intuition that achieving something of this nature should be feasible with SixLabors/Fonts. However, I've been unable to locate either documentation (link) or examples (link) on where or how to begin.

Any guidance or advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[tocsoft]

You need to implement a custom IGlyphRenderer which will end up describing the final shaped and layed out vectors (with all the kerning/hinting/rich text handling completed).

I would suggest you take a look at the PathGlyphBuilder in ImageSharp.Drawing with an example of it being called in the TextBuilder class.

The PathGlyphBuilder handles converting the output of this library and converts it into more simple set of vectors.

[pixtur]

Thanks! That helps a lot.

[leon196]

Hello : )

I'm working on the implementation of the package in Tooll3. I've followed the suggestions and it's working great, it's simple and effective to render text with all the options, thanks for your hard work!
I'm looking at creating a 3D mesh with triangles from glyph.
I did not find how to get triangles from the PathGlyphBuilder, ComplexPolygon or IGlyphRenderer.
Is there a way to get a list of triangle indices? Does the package has a triangulate algorithm?

Thanks