Block Font Creator

Community Forums/Developer Stations/Block Font Creator

chaos51(Posted 2009) [#1]
Hi all,


I just packaged one of the small tools I created for myself.
It's a tool to very easily create block fonts.

Download it at:
http://www.lodgia.com/index.php?_r=d&_fn=BFC_1.7.1.zip

It contains also a Blitz library to load the blockfonts, and write with them.

Here is a screen shot.


--Chaos51


Daz(Posted 2009) [#2]
Hi Chaos.

I have tried running your program but whenever I click on the Preview or Render buttons the program crashed with a "TODO: <File description> has encoutnered a problem and needs to close. We are soory for the inconvenience." error.

Are there any DLLs\runtime dependencies which I may be missing?

I am running XP Pro.

edit : I have also tried running it on my XP home installation on my netbook and it gives exactly the same error as above.

Cheers.
Daz.


chaos51(Posted 2009) [#3]
Wierd, it should work without any dependencies. Maybe there is some hidden dependency that I don't know of. Could you try putting the mfc.dll inside the same folder for example?

ps. It seem to work for other ppl who download it. I think it's probably a DLL that's quite common, but you don't happen to have. (Yes I know that not much help)...


Beaker(Posted 2009) [#4]
What does this offer that the following do not?:
Bitmap Font Creator
Fontext
Juicy Fonts

All used by Blitz users.


chaos51(Posted 2009) [#5]
I don't know, perhaps nothing, I think you know better then I do in this case.

It's a program I wrote by myself, mostly for myself, without knowledge of those programs. It's inspired by Logos I made in Amiga in DPaint. When it was done, I felt like sharing. So here it is. If you like it, use it, if not, don't.

In any case I checked out those programs. Maybe they contain something good as well.

---a bit later---

Ok, I looked at the other applications you mention.
I suppose BlockFontCreator is different in it's way that it renders font with texture, instead of shadowy or 3d or some other way.

Also, it comes with a blitz (and soon c++) library of rendering the resulting fonts.


chaos51(Posted 2009) [#6]
There is an update right now, I just recompiled it.

It's at [url]http://www.lodgia.com/index.php?_r=d&_fn=BFC_1.6.zip[/url]...

Things fixed:

-Layout pretty much free now, from 1x256 all the way through 256x1, the same for 128x1 till 1x128. The "old" modes are still there, as they are saving on bitmap memory.

-Bright button. Sometimes the fonts where a bit dark. The extra bright button is a easy way to fix that.

-Author. Now you can put your name in the font file from the gui.

-It remebers the last font you selected, so if you want to browse from your last font selection, that will work ok now. (was a bit anoying in the previous version)


Things not fixed

Apparently it crashes on some machines. I have not found out why, as i does not on my machine. Any hints and tips regarding that are apreciated.


Why it took so long

I had to rebuild the whole project from scratch, as visual C, somehow made the project unbuildable, after I added a button to the dialog. And of course, making backups is for sissies ;o)

So.......


Have fun, and please feel free to comment and suggest improvements.


chaos51(Posted 2009) [#7]
Update release.

Added more textures (gold, surf, spacy, ...), more example library code (Blitz Max, C++), and a colourshift option for rendering. more colourfull fonts.


Kryzon(Posted 2009) [#8]
What language did you use to build it?


chaos51(Posted 2009) [#9]
Update: If your version did not work, please download the 1.7.1 version. It contains a troubleshooting.txt file. Which contains a way of making it work, for a problem that makes it crash at some peoples computer.

Kryzon: Actually in Visual Studio C++. The font viewer is in Blitz though.
The main reason I post it here, is that I use it for creating fonts for the games I write in BB. And like to share it so other BB developers can also use it for their games if they like.


Kryzon(Posted 2009) [#10]
Oh I see, then that's how you got the windows' skin.