A command-line application that exports standard fonts into Doom 3's font format. Created by Grant Davis. Includes source code.
ExportFontToDoom .Version: 1.02.
A command-line application that exports standard fonts into Doom 3's font format.
Grant Davies, 2005.<g.davies@optusnet.com.au>
Acknowledgements================
This application makes use of the FreeType font library.http://www.freetype.org
This application makes use of the DevIL image library.http://openil.sourceforge.net
Usage=====
To export with the common settings of 12, 24, and 48 point fonts, simply type:
ExportFontToDoom3 <font file name>
eg. ExportFontToDoom3 times.ttf
Most standard font formats can be used for export.
-size <size>
Export a certain size. More than one "-size" arguments may be specified.
ExportFontToDoom3 <font file name> [-size <font point size>]
eg. ExportFontToDoom3 times.ttf -size 12 -size 24 -size 48
If no "-size" argument is specified, 12, 24, and 48 point fonts are exported.
-xOffsetFix <type>
As a result of the limitation in Doom 3's font renderer outlined below (in "Known limitations : The Doom 3 X offset issue."), one of two fixes can be applied, each with its own drawback. These fixes are also outlined in the section below.
The types are: none, glyph (modifies the glyphs but does not fully correctglyphs with negative x offsets), and font (modifies all glyphs but will render at aslightly offset location on the x axis - this is the default).
If "none" is specified, the X offset value is exported to the "pitch" member of the"glyphInfo_t" structure in Doom 3. Using Doom 3's default font renderer will renderdata exported using this type very poorly. However, using this type allows changesto be made to the Doom 3 SDK that will render the font perfectly. Code to rendera glyph contains a line similar to the following:
fYPosition -= k_rGlyph.top * fScale;
If another line is added to the rendering algorithm along the lines of the following:
fXPosition += k_rGlyph.pitch * fScale;
Then the in-game rendered text will render perfectly. However, GUI text will stillrender poorly if exported under this mode since the GUI font rendering code is notexposed in the Doom 3 SDK. Therefore, it may be wise to have 2 exports of the font:one for the in-game rendering with the code changes and exported using the "none" fixmode, and another which is exported as dds files using the "font" fix mode for the GUI font rendering.
If "font" is specified, the amount of pixels that the font has been offset by is exportedto the "pitch" member of the "glyphInfo_t" structure of every glyph in Doom 3. Thismay help to re-align text.
eg. ExportFontToDoom3 times.ttf -xOffsetFix noneeg. ExportFontToDoom3 times.ttf -xOffsetFix glypheg. ExportFontToDoom3 times.ttf -xOffsetFix font
-noXOffsetWarnings
Suppress warnings associated with X offset issue. This defaults to off (i.e.warnings are on).
-textureFormat <format>
Specifies the type of texture file to output. Common values are "tga" and "dds".Generally, "tga" will be desired, however, because of a limitation with GUI renderingin the current version of Doom 3, it may be required to output "dds" textures.
NOTE: Current dds does not seem to work as expected. This may be addressed in a laterversion, time permitting. Until then, use a tga to dds conversion program.
If no texture format is specified, the default is tga.
-name <name>
Names the font to be exported. By default, the name is extracted from the font file.
Output======
A folder will be created and all output files will be stored in this new folder.The folder will be named according to the font being exported.
The output will consist of targa image (.tga) files and .dat files. These filesneed to be copied into your mod folder in "fonts/english/<your font name>"
Known limitations : The Doom 3 X offset issue.==============================================
Most font renderers support an x and y offset for each glyph in a font.
In the case of the y offset, this is so that glyphs that are tall ('h') or that extend belowthe baseline ('g') will line up correctly with other glyphs. Doom 3 supports this.
In the case of the x offset, this is so that glyphs that ought to be overlaid ontop of other glyphs (such as 'j') are drawn correctly. However, Doom 3 does not support this.
There are two cases for the x offset - a positive and negative x offset.
In the case of a positive x offset, the exporter can automatically pad out the glyph withblank space to emulate the x offset.
In the case of a negative x offset, there is no perfect workaround. This is why'j' tends to render poorly in some fonts when q3font is used.
There are two fixes for this issue, each with its own drawback.
The first is to pad out glyphs with a negative x offset, which means therendering of these glyphs will not look quite right (in general, a handful of glyphsin each font use a negative x offset, and the exporter will output the exact number).To enable this fix, use the "-xOffsetFix glyph" command-line switch.
The second is to pad out every glyph in the font with an offset. Glyphs witha negative x offset will render correctly under this scheme, however the entire fontwill be offset in the positive x direction. The exporter will output the amount thatthe font is offset. This offset will need to be considered when positioning strings.To enable this fix, use the "-xOffsetFix font" command-line switch.
Note that there is a hybrid fix as described above, by exporting two versions of thefont with a modified Doom 3 SDK to fix the x offset rendering issue. However, evenunder this system the GUI-rendered text will still suffer from one of the problemsoutlined in the above paragraphs.
Known issues : DDS support.===========================
Currently, DDS output will probably not work as expected. Use a garden varietytga to dds conversion application until it is fixed.
C />Bugs/comments/feedback: Grant Davies <g.davies@optusnet.com.au>
