babylon-msdf-text

Introducing babylon-msdf-text, that implements the Multi-channel Signed Distance Field (MSDF) technique for text rendering. This library provides developers with an efficient and straightforward way to render high-quality, scalable, and anti-aliased text in their Babylon.js projects. Leveraging the power of MSDF, it allows for superior text rendering, especially in WebGL contexts, overcoming the limitations of traditional bitmap fonts. Here is Live Demo

Installation

npm install babylon-msdf-text

Usage

import { createTextMesh } from "babylon-msdf-text";

The createTextMesh function is used to create a text mesh. It accepts the following parameters: align (string) can be "left", "center" or "right" (default: left) letterSpacing (number) the letter spacing in pixels (default: 0) lineHeight (number) the line height in pixels (default to font.common.lineHeight)

• text: The text string you want to render in the scene.
• font: A JSON file with font data (Required).
• scene: The Babylon.js scene in which you want to render the text (Required).
• atlas: A PNG image of the font (Required).
• engine: The Babylon.js engine (Required).
• width : width of text block.
• opacity : opacity of text.
• lineHeight : The line height in percent. Default and minimum is 1.
• letterSpacing : the letter spacing in pixel
• align : Horizontal text alignment. Can be "left", 'center' or "right". Default is "left"
• color : fill color of text. can be babylon's Color3 class or object of r, g and b values.

Example

// Import Babylon.js
import * as BABYLON from "@babylonjs/core";
// Import createTextMesh, font data and font png
import { createTextMesh } from "babylon-msdf-text";
import fnt from "./fontAssets/roboto-regular.json";
import png from "./fontAssets/roboto-regular.png";

// Create Babylon.js scene
const initCamera = (scene) => {
  const camera = new BABYLON.ArcRotateCamera(
    "camera",
    0,
    0,
    10,
    new BABYLON.Vector3(0, 0, 0),
    scene
  );

  camera.attachControl(true);
  camera.setPosition(new BABYLON.Vector3(0, 0, -400));
  return camera;
};

const canvas = document.getElementById("renderCanvas");
const engine = new BABYLON.Engine(canvas);

const createScene = function (engine) {
  const scene = new BABYLON.Scene(engine);
  scene.clearColor = new BABYLON.Color3(1, 1, 1);
  //CAMERA
  initCamera(scene);

  return scene;
};

const scene = createScene(engine);

engine.runRenderLoop(function () {
  scene.render();
});

window.addEventListener("resize", function () {
  engine.resize();
});

// Create text mesh
let textGeo = createTextMesh({
  text: `Hello Babylon`,
  font: fnt,
  scene,
  atlas: png,
  engine,
});

textGeo.position.x = -textGeo.getBoundingInfo().boundingBox.center.x / 2;
textGeo.position.y = textGeo.getBoundingInfo().boundingBox.center.y / 2;

How to create assets for MSDF

You can use online MSDF assets generator to generate json and png file.

• Just upload .ttf file of your choice of font
• Type the characters you wanna pack in assets (including space)
• select the size of texture
• And create MSDF and that's it 🎉

Roadmap

• Option to add stroke
• More Examples
• NPM Publish workflow

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.