How to display unicode text in OpenGL?

Question

Is there a good way for displaying unicode text in opengl under Windows? For example, when you have to deal with different languages. The most common approach like

#define FONTLISTRANGE 128
GLuint list;
list = glGenLists(FONTLISTRANGE);
wglUseFontBitmapsW(hDC, 0, FONTLISTRANGE, list);

just won't do because you can't create enough lists for all unicode characters.

Answer 1

You could also group the characters by language. Load each language table as needed, and when you need to switch languages, unload the previous language table and load the new one.

Answer 2

You should also check out the FTGL library.

FTGL is a free cross-platform Open Source C++ library that uses Freetype2 to simplify rendering fonts in OpenGL applications. FTGL supports bitmaps, pixmaps, texture maps, outlines, polygon mesh, and extruded polygon rendering modes.

This project was dormant for awhile, but is recently back under development. I haven't updated my project to use the latest version, but you should check it out.

It allows for using any True Type Font via the FreeType font library.

Answer 3

I recommend reading this OpenGL font tutorial. It's for the D programming language but it's a nice introduction to various issues involved in implementing a glyph caching system for rendering text with OpenGL. The tutorial covers Unicode compliance, antialiasing, and kerning techniques.

D is pretty comprehensible to anyone who knows C++ and most of the article is about the general techniques, not the implementation language.

Answer 4

Id recommend FTGL as already recommended above, however I have implemented a freetype/OpenGL renderer myself and thought you might find the code handy if you want reinvent this wheel yourself. I'd really recommend FTGL though, its a lot less hassle to use. :)

* glTextRender class by Semi Essessi
 *
 * FreeType2 empowered text renderer
 *
 */

#include "glTextRender.h"
#include "jEngine.h"

#include "glSystem.h"

#include "jMath.h"
#include "jProfiler.h"
#include "log.h"

#include <windows.h>

FT_Library glTextRender::ftLib = 0;

//TODO::maybe fix this so it use wchar_t for the filename
glTextRender::glTextRender(jEngine* j, const char* fontName, int size = 12)
{
#ifdef _DEBUG
    jProfiler profiler = jProfiler(L"glTextRender::glTextRender");
#endif
    char fontName2[1024];
    memset(fontName2,0,sizeof(char)*1024);
    sprintf(fontName2,"fonts\\%s",fontName);

    if(!ftLib)
    {
#ifdef _DEBUG
        wchar_t fn[128];
        mbstowcs(fn,fontName,strlen(fontName)+1);
        LogWriteLine(L"\x25CB\x25CB\x25CF Font: %s was requested before FreeType was initialised", fn);
#endif
        return;
    }

    // constructor code for glTextRender
    e=j;

    gl = j->gl;

    red=green=blue=alpha=1.0f;

    face = 0;

    // remember that for some weird reason below font size 7 everything gets scrambled up
    height = max(6,(int)floorf((float)size*((float)gl->getHeight())*0.001666667f));
    aHeight = ((float)height)/((float)gl->getHeight());

    setPosition(0.0f,0.0f);

    // look in base fonts dir
    if(FT_New_Face(ftLib, fontName2, 0, &face ))
    {
        // if we dont have it look in windows fonts dir
        char buf[1024];
        GetWindowsDirectoryA(buf,1024);
        strcat(buf, "\\fonts\\");
        strcat(buf, fontName);

        if(FT_New_Face(ftLib, buf, 0, &face ))
        {
            //TODO::check in mod fonts directory
#ifdef _DEBUG
            wchar_t fn[128];
            mbstowcs(fn,fontName,strlen(fontName)+1);
            LogWriteLine(L"\x25CB\x25CB\x25CF Request for font: %s has failed", fn);
#endif
            face = 0;
            return;
        }
    }

    // FreeType uses 64x size and 72dpi for default
    // doubling size for ms 
    FT_Set_Char_Size(face, mulPow2(height,7), mulPow2(height,7), 96, 96);

    // set up cache table and then generate the first 256 chars and the console prompt character
    for(int i=0;i<65536;i++) 
    {
        cached[i]=false;
        width[i]=0.0f;
    }

    for(unsigned short i = 0; i < 256; i++) getChar((wchar_t)i);
    getChar(CHAR_PROMPT);

#ifdef _DEBUG
    wchar_t fn[128];
    mbstowcs(fn,fontName,strlen(fontName)+1);
    LogWriteLine(L"\x25CB\x25CB\x25CF Font: %s loaded OK", fn);
#endif
}

glTextRender::~glTextRender()
{
    // destructor code for glTextRender
    for(int i=0;i<65536;i++)
    {
        if(cached[i])
        {
            glDeleteLists(listID[i],1);
            glDeleteTextures(1,&(texID[i]));
        }
    }

    // TODO:: work out stupid freetype crashz0rs
    try
    {
        static int foo = 0;
        if(face && foo < 1)
        {
            foo++;
            FT_Done_Face(face);
            face = 0;
        }
    }
    catch(...)
    {
        face = 0;
    }
}


// return true if init works, or if already initialised
bool glTextRender::initFreeType()
{
    if(!ftLib)
    {
        if(!FT_Init_FreeType(&ftLib)) return true;
        else return false;
    } else return true;
}

void glTextRender::shutdownFreeType()
{
    if(ftLib)
    {
        FT_Done_FreeType(ftLib);
        ftLib = 0;
    }
}

void glTextRender::print(const wchar_t* str)
{
    // store old stuff to set start position
    glPushAttrib(GL_TRANSFORM_BIT);
    // get viewport size
    GLint viewport[4];
    glGetIntegerv(GL_VIEWPORT, viewport);

    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glPushMatrix();
    glLoadIdentity();

    gluOrtho2D(viewport[0],viewport[2],viewport[1],viewport[3]);
    glPopAttrib();

    float color[4];
    glGetFloatv(GL_CURRENT_COLOR, color);

    glPushAttrib(GL_LIST_BIT | GL_CURRENT_BIT  | GL_ENABLE_BIT | GL_TRANSFORM_BIT); 
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glPushMatrix();
    glLoadIdentity();

    glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);
    //glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);

    // set blending for AA
    glEnable(GL_BLEND);
    glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA);

    glTranslatef(xPos,yPos,0.0f);

    glColor4f(red,green,blue,alpha);

    // call display lists to render text
    glListBase(0u);
    for(unsigned int i=0;i<wcslen(str);i++) glCallList(getChar(str[i]));

    // restore old states
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glPopMatrix();
    glPopAttrib();

    glColor4fv(color);

    glPushAttrib(GL_TRANSFORM_BIT);
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glPopMatrix();
    glPopAttrib();
}

void glTextRender::printf(const wchar_t* str, ...)
{
    if(!str) return;

    wchar_t*    buf = 0;
    va_list  parg;
    va_start(parg, str);

    // allocate buffer
    int len = (_vscwprintf(str, parg)+1);
    buf = new wchar_t[len];
    if(!buf) return;
    vswprintf(buf, str, parg);
    va_end(parg);

    print(buf);

    delete[] buf;
}

GLuint glTextRender::getChar(const wchar_t c)
{
    int i = (int)c;

    if(cached[i]) return listID[i];

    // load glyph and get bitmap
    if(FT_Load_Glyph(face, FT_Get_Char_Index(face, i), FT_LOAD_DEFAULT )) return 0;

    FT_Glyph glyph;
    if(FT_Get_Glyph(face->glyph, &glyph)) return 0;

    FT_Glyph_To_Bitmap(&glyph, FT_RENDER_MODE_NORMAL, 0, 1);

    FT_BitmapGlyph bitmapGlyph = (FT_BitmapGlyph)glyph;
    FT_Bitmap& bitmap = bitmapGlyph->bitmap;

    int w = roundPow2(bitmap.width);
    int h = roundPow2(bitmap.rows);

    // convert to texture in memory
    GLubyte* texture = new GLubyte[2*w*h];

    for(int j=0;j<h;j++)
    {
        bool cond = j>=bitmap.rows;

        for(int k=0;k<w;k++)
        {
                texture[2*(k+j*w)] = 0xFFu;
                texture[2*(k+j*w)+1] = ((k>=bitmap.width)||cond) ? 0x0u : bitmap.buffer[k+bitmap.width*j];
        }
    }

    // store char width and adjust max height
    // note .5f
    float ih = 1.0f/((float)gl->getHeight());
    width[i] = ((float)divPow2(face->glyph->advance.x, 7))*ih;
    aHeight = max(aHeight,(.5f*(float)bitmap.rows)*ih);

    glPushAttrib(GL_LIST_BIT | GL_CURRENT_BIT  | GL_ENABLE_BIT | GL_TRANSFORM_BIT);

    // create gl texture
    glGenTextures(1, &(texID[i]));

    glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);

    glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texID[i]);
    glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
    glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
    glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_CLAMP);
    glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_CLAMP);

    glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA8, w, h, 0, GL_LUMINANCE_ALPHA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, texture);

    glPopAttrib();

    delete[] texture;

    // create display list
    listID[i] = glGenLists(1);

    glNewList(listID[i], GL_COMPILE);

    glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texID[i]);

    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glPushMatrix();

    // adjust position to account for texture padding
    glTranslatef(.5f*(float)bitmapGlyph->left, 0.0f, 0.0f);
    glTranslatef(0.0f, .5f*(float)(bitmapGlyph->top-bitmap.rows), 0.0f);

    // work out texcoords
    float tx=((float)bitmap.width)/((float)w);
    float ty=((float)bitmap.rows)/((float)h);

    // render
    // note .5f
    glBegin(GL_QUADS);
        glTexCoord2f(0.0f, 0.0f);
        glVertex2f(0.0f, .5f*(float)bitmap.rows);
        glTexCoord2f(0.0f, ty);
        glVertex2f(0.0f, 0.0f);
        glTexCoord2f(tx, ty);
        glVertex2f(.5f*(float)bitmap.width, 0.0f);
        glTexCoord2f(tx, 0.0f);
        glVertex2f(.5f*(float)bitmap.width, .5f*(float)bitmap.rows);
    glEnd();

    glPopMatrix();

    // move position for the next character
    // note extra div 2
    glTranslatef((float)divPow2(face->glyph->advance.x, 7), 0.0f, 0.0f);

    glEndList();

    // char is succesfully cached for next time
    cached[i] = true;

    return listID[i];
}

void glTextRender::setPosition(float x, float y)
{
    float fac = ((float)gl->getHeight());
    xPos = fac*x+FONT_BORDER_PIXELS; yPos = fac*(1-y)-(float)height-FONT_BORDER_PIXELS;
}

float glTextRender::getAdjustedWidth(const wchar_t* str)
{
    float w = 0.0f;

    for(unsigned int i=0;i<wcslen(str);i++)
    {
        if(cached[str[i]]) w+=width[str[i]];
        else
        {
            getChar(str[i]);
            w+=width[str[i]];
        }
    }

    return w;
}

Answer 5

You may have to generate you own "glyph cache" in texture memory as you go, potentially with some sort of LRU policy to avoid destroying all of the texture memory. Not nearly as easy as your current method, but may be the only way given the number of unicode chars

Answer 6

You should consider using an Unicode rendering library (eg. Pango) to render the stuff into a bitmap and put that bitmap on the screen or into a texture.

Rendering unicode text is not simple. So you cannot simply load 64K rectangular glyphs and use it.

Characters may overlap. Eg in this smiley:

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Some code points stack accents on the previous character. Consider this excerpt from this notable post:

...he com̡e̶s, ̕h̵i​s un̨ho͞ly radiańcé destro҉ying all enli̍̈́̂̈́ghtenment, HTML tags lea͠ki̧n͘g fr̶ǫm ̡yo​͟ur eye͢s̸ ̛l̕ik͏e liq​uid pain, the song of re̸gular exp​ression parsing will exti​nguish the voices of mor​tal man from the sp​here I can see it can you see ̲͚̖͔̙î̩́t̲͎̩̱͔́̋̀ it is beautiful t​he final snuffing of the lie​s of Man ALL IS LOŚ͖̩͇̗̪̏̈́T ALL I​S LOST the pon̷y he comes he c̶̮omes he comes the ich​or permeates all MY FACE MY FACE ᵒh god no NO NOO̼O​O NΘ stop the an​*̶͑̾̾​̅ͫ͏̙̤g͇̫͛͆̾ͫ̑͆l͖͉̗̩̳̟̍ͫͥͨe̠̅s ͎a̧͈͖r̽̾̈́͒͑e n​ot rè̑ͧ̌aͨl̘̝̙̃ͤ͂̾̆ ZA̡͊͠͝LGΌ ISͮ̂҉̯͈͕̹̘̱ TO͇̹̺ͅƝ̴ȳ̳ TH̘Ë͖́̉ ͠P̯͍̭O̚​N̐Y̡ H̸̡̪̯ͨ͊̽̅̾̎Ȩ̬̩̾͛ͪ̈́̀́͘ ̶̧̨̱̹̭̯ͧ̾ͬC̷̙̲̝͖ͭ̏ͥͮ͟Oͮ͏̮̪̝͍M̲̖͊̒ͪͩͬ̚̚͜Ȇ̴̟̟͙̞ͩ͌͝S̨̥̫͎̭ͯ̿̔̀ͅ

If you truly want to render Unicode correctly you should be able to render this one correctly too.

UPDATE: Looked at this Pango engine, and it's the case of banana, the gorilla, and the entire jungle. First it depends on the Glib because it used GObjects, second it cannot render directly into a byte buffer. It has Cario and FreeType backends, so you must use one of them to render the text and export it into bitmaps eventually. That's doesn't look good so far.

In addition to that, if you want to store the result in a texture, use pango_layout_get_pixel_extents after setting the text to get the sizes of rectangles to render the text to. Ink rectangle is the rectangle to contain the entire text, it's left-top position is the position relative to the left-top of the logical rectangle. (The bottom line of the logical rectangle is the baseline). Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Queso GLC is great for this, I've used it to render Chinese and Cyrillic characters in 3D.

http://quesoglc.sourceforge.net/

The Unicode text sample it comes with should get you started.