Import System Chars into the Font Editor

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Bitmap2LCD is a tool for programming small Graphic LCDs in embedded systems.

Import System Chars into the Font Editor

Update V3.7e – V3.8z Standard Edition

From Version V3.9 watch this video

[ Editable Fonts : up to 256 colors ]

Let’s see how we can export selected characters out of a Windows System font into the Font Editor of Bitmap2LCD :

Create a GLCD Font Script by clicking the Main menu item or the Font Panel Button (blue arrow)
Choose a Font Name and define its size

In the “Ascii Grid“, select the chars you want to export, here for example A, B and C (red arrow)
In the menu, click on item ” Export > Editable (Translate LCD Font Script to an Editable Font“ (green arrow)

The “editable font” has been created. It is an Editable Font File (EFF) and an associated GIF file, which is the catalogue of char bitmaps. Both files are located in the Fonts folder.

Quit Font Script Creator mode and Open editable (orange Arrow)

In this example, the selected font name and font size were Aria Unicode MS and 20, in this case the filename of the file will be Arial Unicode MS_20Editable_Font.EFF

The patterns of theses 3 chars (green Arrow) can now be freely edited.

Example 2

In the first example above, the height of the chars is 25 pixels.

This time, we want to limit the Size of chars in Height and in Width and export a Fixed Size Font.

Change the first 3 Parameters (purple arrow) and you will see a red frame in the char View (green arrow)
Export To editable (blue arrow)

You get these editable chars

Anti-Aliasing and Smoothing of GLCD images and fonts

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Anti-Aliasing and Smoothing of GLCD images and fonts

Anti-aliasing or “font smoothing” is a process to make your images look smooth and your text more readable.

Anti-aliasing or font smoothing is a technique to make flat color images and text look smoother on grayscale GLCD screens. The font generator in the Bitmap2LCD tool features font smoothing for 16 grayscale OLED GLCD (4 bit pixel depth)

A graphic liquid crystal display shows an image in bitmap mode. It means that every image is really a bunch of tiny little squares that make up the image. In other words, fonts on monochrome GLCDs or monochrome fonts displayed on grayscale GLCDs, can’t display chars with smooth curves. With anti-aliasing, the curve is created with squares of color that are shaded darker or lighter depending on how much of the curve would take up that square. For instance, if a portion of a curve takes up 10% of a pixel, that pixel would be shaded with 10% of the color saturation of the curve, in fact in case of a 16 grayscale level GLCD, the nearest gray level of the 10%

Anti-aliasing Pros and Cons

Pros

Makes fonts look smoother
Rounded edges look round
Type is easier to read (for some) because it looks more like what printed type looks like
Some people feel it’s prettier

Cons

Small fonts become too fuzzy to read
Sharp edges may be fuzzy and not precise
You can’t print anti-aliased text as it comes out blurred
Images are generally larger
Type is easier to read (for some) because the blurring is reduced and the fonts are clear

Note : This post summarizes information found here and there on the web

Example of an Antialiased Character View in the Bitmap2LCD Font Panel

Creating A GLCD Font

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Creating A GLCD Font

Standard Edition , Update V3.7c

Bitmap2LCD can generate two different types of GLCD Fonts :

System Fonts : Fonts of the Operating System, like .TTF (True Type Fonts) , .FON
Editable Fonts : Fonts you can edit yourself (modifying the pixels) from a system font source, or Fonts you can create from scratch.

There are ANSI Fonts (system) , Unicode Fonts (system) and Editable Fonts (custom)

Choose the main menu GLCD Fonts tab, and click Enter Font Script Mode item to enter Font Creation Mode

Data Setting Parameters are located in Data tab. You can edit the values by clicking on parameter value of the parameter list, only when in Font Script Mode and with Standard Edition.

At the top of the font panel , the caption includes [Font Script Mode] when in Font creation Mode. Use the Door Icon Button to exit this mode when willing to quit.

Enter Font Script Mode

In Font Script Mode (see caption at the top) select a list of chars to export with the mouse (Orange arrow) or write or paste a list of characters into the field (blue arrow)

To delete the selected list , use the [Clr] button or the Clear Selected Chars List drop down menu item (Green arrow)

There are 3 different Font types : ANSI, Unicode or Editable (see Red Arrow)

A right side of the font panel, there’s a field where you can define the Font Export parameters (Purple arrows) in the Data tab -> See screenshot below

For example the Font Data Structure : Raw Font or Structured Font

NOTE : With Trial/Demo Version, there’s a limitation : Only Char “A” is generated as an example !

Example : Modifying a Font Generator Parameter

Buttons

Enter Font Script Mode

convert selected List of chars to GLCD data

Exit Font Script Mode

Font Settings

The Font Script (Red Arrow) can be found in the Script (or Name.FSC) Tab of the Text editors. The script itself is not editable. The parameters can be set in the Font Panel, and the orientation of data generation and endianness at the top of the script (Blue Arrow)

The GLCD data generated can be found in the Text editor, first Editor tab on the left

Next screenshot shows a comment block at the right side that shows the character of the generated data. ( monochrome, 8 bit output only )

Rotating A GLCD font charset with Bitmap2LCD

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Bitmap2LCD is a tool for programming small Graphic LCDs in embedded systems and a programmable text processing tool.

Rotating A GLCD font charset with Bitmap2LCD

Update V3.7c

Here’s an example on how to rotate a selected charset of a system font (90 degrees CW)

1. In the GLCD font main menu, click on the Enter font Script Mode item

2. Select the system Font, the font size and the fixed font option (Green Arrow)

3. Select the set of chars you want to rotate Inside the font panel, for example here ABCDE (Red Arrow)

4. in the Font Edition main menu , or on the Editors Panel click the Convert LCD Font script to an editable Font button ( Orange Arrow fig 1)

Answer to the dialogs, until you see the open editable button in the dialog

–> A .EFF (Editable Font File) has been created

Then, you can see the editable font chars in the char list (orange Arrow, fig. 2)

5. Rotate the chars 90 degrees clockwise (Purple Arrow )

–> The font has been rotated

6. Convert Font Script to Data ( Yellow Arrow)

7. Job done !

Bitmap2LCD :: Generating International Fonts / Characters

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Bitmap2LCD is a tool for programming small Graphic LCDs in embedded systems and a programmable graphic and text processing tool.

Bitmap2LCD :: Generate International Fonts / Characters

Standard Edition Update V3.7c

There are different ways to select the Unicode characters to generate GLCD Font data.

Enter Font Script Mode ( in the GLCD Font Main Menu ) , select the Unicode mode , the font, the font Size and Unicode Block.
Select the Chars to export with the mouse inside the grid ( Are selected = Teal Color )
Generate Data

way to generate GLCD Fonts, for example when more than 256 Chars :

Enter Font Script Mode ( in the GLCD Font Main Menu ) , select the Unicode mode , the font, the font Size and Unicode Block.
Enable the Address Range Selection (red Arrow)
Enter the Start and End Hexadecimal Addresses ( From Hex and To Hex )
Generate Data

Then read the font script (see below) for the other settings to be defined first to generate Font Data : The data orientation, the endianness, the Font Size, if fixed or variable length etc…

Bitmap2LCD : Shades of Gray

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Bitmap2LCD is a software tool for programming small Graphic LCDs in embedded systems and a programmable text and graphic processing tool.

Shades of Gray

Update V4.7b

Bitmap2LCD supports the export data arrays for grayscale Graphic LCD.

The choice is 4 , 16, 32 or 256 gray levels.

Configuration settings

Color pickers for 32, 4 and 16 shades of gray modes :

Example, in the 32 gray levels mode, the shades between the white color to the black color will output data per pixel from 0 to 31 decimal, or the opposite, from 31 to 0 decimal if you enable the Invert Grayscale Palette Parameter checkbox.

Grayscale Palettes

RGB (Red,Green,Blue) values in Hexadecimal :

4 Gray Shades Palette :

000000 555555 AAAAA FFFFFF

16 Gray Shades Palette :

RGB = 000000, 111111, 222222, 333333 until FFFFFF

32 Gray Shades Palette :

RGB = FFFFFF, F7F7F7, EFEFEF, E7E7E7, DFDFDF, D7D7D7 , CFCFCF, C7C7C7,BFBFBF, B7B7B7, AFAFAF, A7A7A7, 9F9F9F, 979797,8F8F8F, 878787, 7F7F7F, 777777, 6F6F6F, 676767, 5F5F5F, 575757, 4F4F4F,474747, 3F3F3F, 373737, 2F2F2F, 272727, 1F1F1F, 171717, 0F0F0F, 000000

Families of Fonts in Bitmap2LCD

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Families of Fonts in Bitmap2LCD

Bitmap2LCD is a software tool for programming small Graphic LCDs in embedded systems and a programmable text and graphic processing tool.

Update V3.7c

With Bitmap2LCD , you can of course write text and place symbols and glyphs inside the WORK CANVAS. by the way, Some system fonts families ARE collection of glyphs. You can find fonts on specialized websites like dafont.com and easily install them on you computer.

With Bitmap2LCD Standard Edition, you can also generate GLCD fonts to data arrays, in other words, convert the matrix of pixels of the glyphs into hexadecimal data.

Families of Fonts

ANSI FONTS

Generate GLCD Fonts from System Fonts ( Glyphs are not editable )

Open / create a Font Quit Font Script Mode

Directly select chars to convert to data inside the ASCII grid

UNICODE FONTS ( International Characters Sets )

Generate GLCD Fonts from Unicode System Fonts ( Glyphs are not editable )

Open / create a Font Quit Font Script Mode

EDITABLE FONTS ( Freely Editable Fonts )

Create glyphs from scratch or export Chars from a System Font ( Glyphs are editable )

List Editable Fonts Create Editable Font From Scratch

Quit Editable Font Script Mode

ANTI-ALIASED FONTS

Generate anti-aliased Fonts, except in monochrome, 8 and 16 colors modes

Other buttons related to Fonts

Create GLCD Font Data inside Text Editor

Export Selected Chars of a System Font to an Editable Font

Export the selected Char in the ASCII Grid to the WORK CANVAS

Animations on Graphic LCD (GLCD)

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Animations on Graphic LCD (GLCD)

With Bitmap2LCD, you can easily edit and play GLCD animations.

The goal is to create buttons with status dependent graphic effects, device power on and power off splash screens, animated logos, moving icons, display of analog gauges, creating impressive GLCD demos, symbolic displays of actions in progress or to show the current machine operation, or an animated hourglass cursor to name a few.

One of the many interesting features of Bitmap2LCD is the support of GIF files.

To summarize , the GIF format supports up to 8 colors per pixel depth (max 256 colors) and also supports animations and allows a separate palette of 256 colors for each frame.

wikipedia about GIF

Here’s an example of a short animation made with Bitmap2LCD called HalfEmptyGlass.gif ( Monochrome, 28 frames )

Click on the image if you want to play the animation

The animation sequence is made of frames that you can handle inside Bitmap2LCD as single images.

There’s a built in animation sequence player , similar to a video player with Play/ Stop / pause /rewind /next frame / previous frame buttons.

When the animation is ready, you can export the animation in one run and click to a set of data arrays, with or without data compression, in case of a monochrome data output.

A GIF animation is a collection of images

Animation features of Bitmap2LCD

Import all frames of a GIF file inside the Work Canvas
Import a single frame of a GIF file as graphic
Import single images one by one into an animation and save it as a GIF
Create an animation from scratch
Remove, insert, add frames in the animation
Play the animation sequence
Export animation to data arrays in one run

Import a GIF animation

When clicking inside the File Explorer on the filename of a GIF file, You can 1) import a single frame from inside a GIF as a single graphic, or 2) import all of the frames of the animations inside the Work Canvas (GIF Import button -> blue arrow)

In the Graphics Preview Window, you can also play the animation (purple arrow) , find a specific frame using the track bar (green arrow) or browse the GIF using the GIF Components Browser (red arrow)

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1) Graphic Preview ) GIF Import button -> blue arrow

2) Work Canvas ) Paste button -> green arrow

3) Work Canvas ) Edit Animation -> Yellow arrow -> Red frame

4) Export animation to data arrays

5) Text editors ) Browse data array files (blue arrow)

6) Text editors ) Check the clip unit

( Filename format : clip_ArtWorkName_NumberOfFrames.h )

Bitmap2LCD : Info About The System Font Generator

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Info About the System Font Generator

Standard Edition

Update V3.7c

Bitmap2LCD is a software tool for programming small Graphic LCDs in embedded systems and a programmable text and graphic processing tool.

Bitmap2lcd generates GLCD FONTS from UNICODE and ANSI SYSTEM FONTS ( fonts currently installed in Windows ) and from EDITABLE FONTS, chars and symbols you can create yourself. Chars of a System Font can be exported to EDITABLE FONTS to be freely editable.

Font Chars can also be stretched. ( See below, the panel above the displayed Character A )

Info about Fonts in Bitmap2LCD

To Generate GLCD Font , ENTER and QUIT the Font Creation Mode, click the following buttons or the associated main menu items :

Reload / Create Font Script

Exit Special Mode > Exit Font Script

Generate the GLCD FONT DATA as defined in the FONT SCRIPT

Fig 1. At the left side, the FONT PANEL and and the right side, the FONT SCRIPT located in one of the TEXT EDITORS

Blue arrow : The FONT SCRIPT is NOT a directly editable script. The purple Parameters displayed are defined with all the other arrows shown on the above screenshot.

Yellow Arrow : Select the SYSTEM Font , the Font Size, ANSI or UNICODE Chars ( script > Font Script Filename, Type, Name and Size )

Orange Arrow: Select the chars to generate in the ASCII Grid. Selected Chars are displayed in Color Aqua Blue. To clear all the selected chars in one click, click the Aqua Blue <Clr> button in the bar of icons. ( script > Selected Chars List )

Red Arrow: Font Height and Width limitations. A the right side, you can change from FIXED to VARIABLE LENGTH FONT. ( script > Font Size )

Green Arrow: Here you can move and frame all the chars in four directions. ( script > Font Size )

Purple Arrow: Here You select the direction of the GLCD Font data ( script > Font Orientation )

FONT SCRIPTS (blue arrow) are saved to disk as [.FSC] files, and can easily be reloaded from inside the FILE EXPLORER (fig 2.). There’s a dedicated FONTS Folder (red arrow) . The font files there are filtered.

Example of Generated GLCD DATA for monochrome Display (Fixed Length 5×7 Font, Vertical Data Output)

/* @ 0 Char:’A’ Width in bits :5 */

0x20, /* __#_____ */

0x50, /* _#_#____ */

0x70, /* _###____ */

0x88, /* #___#___ */

0x00, /* ________ */

/* @ 7 Char:’B’ Width in bits :5 */

0xE0, /* ###_____ */

0x90, /* #__#____ */

0xE0, /* ###_____ */

0x90, /* #__#____ */

0xE0, /* ###_____ */

0x00, /* ________ */

Export Font Data to Binary File : Data Structure

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Bitmap2LCD is a tool for programming small Graphic LCDs in embedded systems and a programmable graphic and text processing tool.

Export Font Data to Binary File : Data Structure

Standard Edition , Update V4,0

When you export the Font Script to a Binary File, the data array is sent to the Hex Editor and saved as a .hex to Disk. ( For example for Data storage in EEprom )

Output + Settings Main Menu :

See below the data structure inside the Hex Editor.

In the following example the generated Font is Arial Unicode Size 10 , ANSI, Selected Chars are A B and C

Structure :

1st Line , red area 00 03 = Number of chars (decimal)

2nd Line, Character Info between 55 AA …. AA 55

00 01 Type of Font >> 0001 = ANSI >> 0002 = UNICODE >> 0003 Editable Font

00 36 Char Data Count (decimal)

00 10 Char Width (decimal)

00 18 Char Height (decimal)

00 2D Char ASCII ( Optional > ANSI, Editable font ) or Unicode Char Address (hex)

00 50 First Address Next Char (hex)

Blue Area = Char Pixels data

Green Area = Data Filler, Forces next Char to begin from line begin

Bitmap2LCD Software Tool Blog :: about GLCD displays and Programming

Help Topics / Image to array converter / Graphic LCD Font Editor / GLCD Animation / Graphic LCD Programming / Text file Processing

Import System Chars into the Font Editor

Import System Chars into the Font Editor

Example 2

Anti-Aliasing and Smoothing of GLCD images and fonts

Anti-Aliasing and Smoothing of GLCD images and fonts

Anti-aliasing Pros and Cons

Example of an Antialiased Character View in the Bitmap2LCD Font Panel

Creating A GLCD Font

Creating A GLCD Font

Rotating A GLCD font charset with Bitmap2LCD

Rotating A GLCD font charset with Bitmap2LCD

Bitmap2LCD :: Generating International Fonts / Characters

Bitmap2LCD is a tool for programming small Graphic LCDs in embedded systems and a programmable graphic and text processing tool.

Bitmap2LCD :: Generate International Fonts / Characters

Bitmap2LCD : Shades of Gray

Shades of Gray

Grayscale Palettes

Families of Fonts in Bitmap2LCD

Families of Fonts in Bitmap2LCD

Families of Fonts

Other buttons related to Fonts

Animations on Graphic LCD (GLCD)

Animations on Graphic LCD (GLCD)

Click on the image if you want to play the animation

A GIF animation is a collection of images

Animation features of Bitmap2LCD

Import a GIF animation

Bitmap2LCD : Info About The System Font Generator

Info About the System Font Generator

Example of Generated GLCD DATA for monochrome Display (Fixed Length 5×7 Font, Vertical Data Output)

Export Font Data to Binary File : Data Structure

Export Font Data to Binary File : Data Structure