Here is some of the source for monkey tools- I cannot remember the url I got it from, but the original author threw it out there as open source. It uses the
GetGlyphOutline() from gdi32.dll to do exactly what you are trying to do.
-Mike
Here is some of the source for monkey tools- I cannot remember the url I got it from, but the original author threw it out there as open source. It uses the
GetGlyphOutline() from gdi32.dll to do exactly what you are trying to do.
-Mike
Here is another one with a good Microsoft help file regarding the concept of glyphs, and some good source code (although a little old) but then again Pythagoras is pretty old too
Later, Mike
Thanks for your help. I took a look at the monkey stuff and that should do it. I'll check out the Microsoft stuff, also.
I cobbled together a test program borrowing some bits and pieces together out of the code from my previous post. I found that for the purposes of creating laser frame points, you might want to skip the curve-bezier smoothing and just play connect the dots and treat each poly as a set of line points. I say so because including extra smoothing points causes your point count to increase exponentially with many fonts, and I think the end result looks fine without 'em. I suppose you could make the rendering function parameter-driven if you wanted the option.
I will attach a few samples of point counts in 3 different fonts- keep in mind these counts do not include guide or anchor points, this almost doubles the count.
Later, Mike
That's pretty cool. I haven't even had time to really look at the stuff you posted , yet.
http://my.execpc.com/~mikeber/Glyph/Glyph.html
Very good article about glyphs with example.
Michal
Michal
http://www.showtacle.com
If you make an ILDA file that is a set of the visible ASCII characters from ! to ~ in all positive space, LaserBoy can use it to render DXF TEXT entities and you can place text manually within the LaserBoy interface. All of this implies that you have already figured out how to render a font into ILDA.
True Type Fonts are pretty neat 'cause there's so many of them and we look at them every day. BUT, they are all double stroke hollow forms that need to be filled when they are converted to raster.
A much better place to look for laser fonts is in AutoCAD Shape files (*.shp). There are all kinds of glyph sets, some of them are not glyphs of the ASCII set (like WingDings). Many of the fonts are single stroke. These were originally designed for pen plotters. Just what we all need! I have the documentation of the shape file format. I just haven't gotten a round tuit.
James.