Text-Rendering

This library provides Unicode-aware text layout and rendering with support for outlining, shadows, inline formatting, typing effects, RTL scripts and language/script hints.

Inline formatting within strings uses JSON objects wrapped in {{...}}. An empty {{}} resets to the area's base format.

area->parseString(
    R"({{"effect":"Waves","effect_offset":50}}Versatile text{{}} )"
    R"(and {{"outline_size":3}}outlined{{}})"
);

• Windows (development tested with Visual Studio)
• A C++ toolchain (MSVC) and CMake/Visual Studio solution in the repo
• vcpkg overlay ports are supported via the provided scripts

See the vcpkg_scripts folder for helper install scripts.

• Primary demo script: Demo.lua
• Native demo runner: src/DemoMain/DemoMain.cpp

The demo shows how to configure default formats, load font directories, create Area instances and use inline JSON tags to change formatting on-the-fly.

Basic Lua usage (from Demo.lua):

TR.addFontDir("C:/dev/fonts")
TR.default_fmt.font = "CALIBRI.TTF"
TR.default_fmt.charsize = 30
TR.default_fmt.has_outline = true
TR.default_fmt.has_shadow = true

area = TR.Area.new(1230, 680)
area.wrapping = true
area.string = "Hello, world!"

Inline formatting within strings uses JSON objects wrapped in {{...}}. Example:

area.string = '{{"effect":"Waves","effect_offset":50}}Versatile text{{}} and {{"outline_size":3}}outlined{{}}'

Format describes text appearance and layout. See inc/Text-Rendering/Format.hpp for full definitions.

A global SSS::TR::default_fmt instance exists; modify it to change defaults for all subsequently created areas.

Each color field is of type Color, which extends RGB24 and adds a ColorFunc for animated coloring.

ColorFunc values (set per Color field via its .func member):

SSS::TR::Format fmt;
fmt.text_color.func = SSS::TR::ColorFunc::Rainbow;

Set via fmt.effect or the inline "effect" JSON key.

Note: setting effect_offset = 0 disable the animation

// Global effect on all areas
SSS::TR::default_fmt.effect        = SSS::TR::Effect::Waves;
SSS::TR::default_fmt.effect_offset = 8;
SSS::TR::default_fmt.effect_speed  = 30; // ms between frames — larger is slower

// Inline effect on a substring only
area->parseString(R"({{"effect":"FadingWaves","effect_offset":12}}Hello!{{}})");

Inside parseString(), any {{...}} block accepts JSON keys matching Format field names. An empty {{}} resets back to the area's base format.

area->parseString(
    R"({{"charsize":32,"effect":"Waves"}}BIG WAVY{{}} )"
    R"({{"has_outline":true,"outline_size":4}}outlined{{}} )"
    R"({{"has_shadow":true,"shadow_offset_x":5}}shadowed{{}})"
);

1. Build and run the demo as described above.
2. Open Demo.lua and tweak TR.default_fmt and area properties.
3. Modify inline formatting tags in demo_str to try effect, outline_size, font, has_shadow, and color overrides.

Feel free to open issues or submit PRs. See the code under src/ and the public headers under inc/Text-Rendering/ for implementation details.

Screenshot / animated demo: above.

{{"effect":"Waves", "effect_offset": 50}}Versatile,{{}} {{"effect":"Vibrate", "effect_offset": 1, "font": "CALIBRIB.TTF", "outline_size": 3}}robust,{{}} and {{"outline_size": 1}}{{"font": "SEGOEPR.TTF", "has_shadow": true}}optimised
{{}}{{"font": "INKFREE.TTF", "outline_size": 4, "charsize": 60}} Text Rendering {{}}
{{"line_spacing": 1.25}}for video games and applications!