bmGlyph
Bitmap font generator for Mac
How it works ?
1. Have fun and design your bitmap font. Be creative!
2. Write your code with your favorite framework
3. Enjoy the result in your game or your application!
What is a bitmap font ?
A bitmap font is an image/texture file (just like a sprite sheet), and a text file with the glyphs coordinates. For each glyph, you will find its size and position on the texture file, and different parameters for the text positions when you write a sentence (the kernings for example).
Using a bitmap font in a game allows a faster rendering compared to a traditional true type font rendering, and you can of course add any graphic effects on it (as it is pre-rendered in a texture, it will take the same time as a sprite to be displayed on screen).
Unlimited possibilities!
Stroke
With color or gradient, custom width.
Cast Shadow
Select the orientation, color and blur size.
Fill
Trasparent, color, gradient, glossy and even with a texture!
True Type
Use any ttf or otf fonts. Import your own fonts.
Selected Glyph
Work on specific glyph only, without affecting the others.
Kernings
Kerning tables support.
Preview Mode
See exactly how it will look like on your device. Import your own background.
AutoSize
Finds the best texture size automatically. Power of 2 compatible.
Save Preview
Export the preview text as a png.
Custom Image as glyph
Replace a glyph with your custom image (ex: a coin instead of the letter ‘@’)
Unicode
Support all unicode characters. Complete known charset presets included.
True Type
Use any ttf or otf fonts. Import your own fonts.
Shaded Material filter
The shaded material filter produces a shaded image from a height field mask. It's more advanced than a simple texture applied to your font. It gives amazing results, play with the built-in textures or import your own, and give volume to your bitmap font!
Supported Frameworks
bmGlyph works with the most famous frameworks. The font atlas export is bmfont compatible or XML. The texture is exported in PNG.
And much more!
It can be use with almost all known frameworks, like libgdx,
or you could easily write your own bitmap font class like the one we give you for Sprite Kit (BMGlyph Label)
Reviews
The SpriteKit implementation is very nice even though it claims to be in beta. In general the editor has nothing I could think of adding, it’s just very well thought through and works smoothly. I use it extensively through my game projects. The export methods make for quick editing and changing of existing fonts. The developer answers e-mails himself and is very helpful and nice to talk to. I’ve given it five stars because it’s an outstanding tool that delivers as promised.
This is a great tool. It has everything you need, and the support is also great. Definitely worth the money.
Excellent software, I use it with UIToolkit + Unity 3D and it’s great. Excellent support from the author and fair price.
I use this for all me development AND illustration needs. It has gotten better over the months and now really covers all my font rendering needs. And it’s great fun to play around with!
