hi,

"Bald Eagle" <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> "jr" <cre### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> > thinking that some code to "scan" ...
>
> I would say that since most TTF fonts are rendered using Bezier splines, it
> would be most efficient to find a way to load in the control points from the
> font file itself.

if you have access to the font file.  iiuc, DB's use of a(n intermediate) bitmap
has the advantage that any text (and not only text shapes) can be used.  _and_
you'd need an external utility to get the ttf data (sacrilege.. :-)).


> Perhaps one way to transform the outline of the fonts, which is used to render
> them as a prism {}, into a "centerline font" would be to employ the
> inside/outside crossing number testing used for prisms, and calculate the
> gradient and therefore the normal of the outline.  Then find the midpoint of
> that vector to get a centerline control point for the sphere sweep.

prism/"extruded" is interesting, could get sharp-edged shapes with complex
layouts of each "stroke".

> Might be a little challenging with "forked" glyphs like E, F, K, etc....

could not the same (sphere_sweep) data be used to position/help shape the
prism(s)?


regards, jr.

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