convert true type fonts -> jpg's

secretlydead · 02-04-2008, 02:00 AM

How can I convert a bunch of true type fonts into a jpg file and call the file by the name of the character it displays.

For example, if we were doing this for roman characters:

the file a.jpg would contain the font for "a", and the file A.jpg would contain a pic for the letter "A"

(I want to do this for chinese characters.)

Simon Bridge · 02-04-2008, 04:26 AM

Presumably you want to run the method in a script so it will be automatic.

The actual picture is produced with image magic (CLI: convert)
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/convert.php

Note: jpeg is not a good format for characters as it can mess them up when it dithers the lines. Sharp lines do not render well. Suggest you use PNG and flatten it (remove the alpha channel) to save space. Especially if you are just deing B&W.

Code:

 convert -size 80x80 xc:white -font  Bookman-DemiItalic -pointsize 72 -draw "text 10,60 'A'" / A.png

secretlydead · 02-07-2008, 06:43 PM

if you're getting an "unable to read font" error, you should modify the file type-ghostscript.xml which may reside in /usr/lib/ImageMagick-6.3.2/config/

and fc-list lists all your installed fonts, although for ImageMagick to work, you don't need to have a font installed on your system - you only need it correctly identified in the type-ghostscript.xml config file.

also, 90 x 80 is a better size if you're generating chinese characters