Description

Font Manager and Font objects for bitmap-based text rendering [v26.01.0].

Overview

The Font module provides fast bitmap font handling optimized for game development. Instead of using a more sophisticated TTF font rendering system, the GDK uses a simple and blazing fast approach that is still quite powerful and allows using any kind of font design.

Key features

High performance: Blazing fast bitmap-based text rendering.
Design freedom: Use any font style, size or effects in your image editor.
96 character set: Full ASCII printable character support.
Image access: Direct access to underlying Image object for advanced manipulation.
CDC storage: Load and save fonts using CDC v1.x specification.
Cloning support: Automatic child font creation for shared resources.

Character set

Font images must contain the following 96 characters in this exact order:

 ! \" # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ? @ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ ` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~

The first character is a space. Characters can represent any graphical representation, it is the responsibility of the creator to ensure the correct order.

Font creation process

Step 1	Create an image containing the 96-character set using your favorite image design software with any font style and attributes.
Step 2	Ensure the image complies with spacing requirements (see Image requirements below).
Step 3	Save the image to PNG or BMP format.
Step 4	Load the image using the Image Manager (set colorkey now if used).
Step 5	Create a font with FontMgr::create().
Step 6	Call Font::assignImage() to scan and initialize the font (scans for 96 characters).

Image requirements

Character separation	At least 2 pixels between each character.
Left/Right margins	At least 5 pixels on each side of the image.
Transparency	Use colorkey or alpha transparent pixels for separation and margins.
Supported formats	PNG or BMP.

Storage layer

Format	CDC v1.x specification.
FontMgr::load()	Load font from CDC archive.
Font::save()	Save font to CDC archive.

Manager type

This is an advanced "cloning" manager: when loading a font from a CDC file that is already loaded or created (using the name as the key), it will create a new child font. Child fonts share base data with the parent while allowing independent state.

Best practices

Use consistent character spacing in your font image for uniform text rendering.
Set the colorkey on the Image before calling Font::assignImage() if using colorkey transparency.
Double-check the character order in your font image: incorrect order will map characters incorrectly.
Use PNG format with alpha transparency for high-quality anti-aliased fonts.
Leverage cloning to efficiently share font resources across multiple UI elements.
Access the underlying Image object via its ID when you need to modify font appearance (e.g., alpha modulation).
Create multiple font sizes as separate images rather than scaling at runtime.
Access the manager exclusively through Main::IFontMgr().

Note: The Font Manager is a singleton, automatically created once Main is instantiated. You can get a reference to this manager using Main::IFontMgr() method.
The Font Manager is automatically released when Main::Terminate() is called. At this time, any resource still loaded will be released, avoiding resource leaks.

Classes
class	CRM64Pro::Font
	Font Object class. More...
class	CRM64Pro::FontMgr
	Font Manager class. More...