Re: Thanks for the tutorial!

[Werner LEMBERG]

Hello Alan,


> I was looking to convert some TTF fonts to bitmaps for use in the
> Linux console, and I was wondering whether freetype might be the
> right software for this.

What exactly are you doing?  You have glyphs indices, and you want to
convert them to bitmaps?  If this is correct, then FreeType is indeed
the right application.  However, if you have character codes, FreeType
is too low-level, and you first need a shaping engine like HarfBuzz to
get glyph indices – even for a console.  Without a shaping engine,
only the simplest left-to-right text with old-style kerning pairs is
supported correctly.

> This tutorial is absolutely brilliant!  It goes into exactly the
> right level of detail (at least, for me), and covered most (?all) of
> the little points I thought I'd need to spend hours scanning a
> manual for.
> 
> Many thanks to the person who took the trouble to write it so well.

Thanks!  The praise goes mainly to David Turner, who has started the
FreeType project many years ago.  Since then, the tutorial has been
improved and updated here and there.


    Werner