1<?xml version="1.0"?> 2<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN" 3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd" [ 4 <!ENTITY % local.common.attrib "xmlns:xi CDATA #FIXED 'http://www.w3.org/2003/XInclude'"> 5 <!ENTITY version SYSTEM "version.xml"> 6]> 7<chapter id="fonts-and-faces"> 8 <title>Fonts, faces, and output</title> 9 <para> 10 In the previous chapter, we saw how to set up a buffer and fill 11 it with text as Unicode code points. In order to shape this 12 buffer text with HarfBuzz, you will need also need a font 13 object. 14 </para> 15 <para> 16 HarfBuzz provides abstractions to help you cache and reuse the 17 heavier parts of working with binary fonts, so we will look at 18 how to do that. We will also look at how to work with the 19 FreeType font-rendering library and at how you can customize 20 HarfBuzz to work with other libraries. 21 </para> 22 <para> 23 Finally, we will look at how to work with OpenType variable 24 fonts, the latest update to the OpenType font format, and at 25 some other recent additions to OpenType. 26 </para> 27 28 <section id="fonts-and-faces-objects"> 29 <title>Font and face objects</title> 30 <para> 31 The outcome of shaping a run of text depends on the contents of 32 a specific font file (such as the substitutions and positioning 33 moves in the 'GSUB' and 'GPOS' tables), so HarfBuzz makes 34 accessing those internals fast. 35 </para> 36 <para> 37 An <type>hb_face_t</type> represents a <emphasis>face</emphasis> 38 in HarfBuzz. This data type is a wrapper around an 39 <type>hb_blob_t</type> blob that holds the contents of a binary 40 font file. Since HarfBuzz supports TrueType Collections and 41 OpenType Collections (each of which can include multiple 42 typefaces), a HarfBuzz face also requires an index number 43 specifying which typeface in the file you want to use. Most of 44 the font files you will encounter in the wild include just a 45 single face, however, so most of the time you would pass in 46 <literal>0</literal> as the index when you create a face: 47 </para> 48 <programlisting language="C"> 49 hb_blob_t* blob = hb_blob_create_from_file(file); 50 ... 51 hb_face_t* face = hb_face_create(blob, 0); 52 </programlisting> 53 <para> 54 On its own, a face object is not quite ready to use for 55 shaping. The typeface must be set to a specific point size in 56 order for some details (such as hinting) to work. In addition, 57 if the font file in question is an OpenType Variable Font, then 58 you may need to specify one or variation-axis settings (or a 59 named instance) in order to get the output you need. 60 </para> 61 <para> 62 In HarfBuzz, you do this by creating a <emphasis>font</emphasis> 63 object from your face. 64 </para> 65 <para> 66 Font objects also have the advantage of being considerably 67 lighter-weight than face objects (remember that a face contains 68 the contents of a binary font file mapped into memory). As a 69 result, you can cache and reuse a font object, but you could 70 also create a new one for each additional size you needed. 71 Creating new fonts incurs some additional overhead, of course, 72 but whether or not it is excessive is your call in the end. In 73 contrast, face objects are substantially larger, and you really 74 should cache them and reuse them whenever possible. 75 </para> 76 <para> 77 You can create a font object from a face object: 78 </para> 79 <programlisting language="C"> 80 hb_font_t* hb_font = hb_font_create(hb_face); 81 </programlisting> 82 <para> 83 After creating a font, there are a few properties you should 84 set. Many fonts enable and disable hints based on the size it 85 is used at, so setting this is important for font 86 objects. <function>hb_font_set_ppem(font, x_ppem, 87 y_ppem)</function> sets the pixels-per-EM value of the font. You 88 can also set the point size of the font with 89 <function>hb_font_set_ptem(font, ptem)</function>. HarfBuzz uses the 90 industry standard 72 points per inch. 91 </para> 92 <para> 93 HarfBuzz lets you specify the degree subpixel precision you want 94 through a scaling factor. You can set horizontal and 95 vertical scaling factors on the 96 font by calling <function>hb_font_set_scale(font, x_scale, 97 y_scale)</function>. 98 </para> 99 <para> 100 There may be times when you are handed a font object and need to 101 access the face object that it comes from. For that, you can call 102 </para> 103 <programlisting language="C"> 104 hb_face = hb_font_get_face(hb_font); 105 </programlisting> 106 <para> 107 You can also create a font object from an existing font object 108 using the <function>hb_font_create_sub_font()</function> 109 function. This creates a child font object that is initiated 110 with the same attributes as its parent; it can be used to 111 quickly set up a new font for the purpose of overriding a specific 112 font-functions method. 113 </para> 114 <para> 115 All face objects and font objects are lifecycle-managed by 116 HarfBuzz. After creating a face, you increase its reference 117 count with <function>hb_face_reference(face)</function> and 118 decrease it with 119 <function>hb_face_destroy(face)</function>. Likewise, you 120 increase the reference count on a font with 121 <function>hb_font_reference(font)</function> and decrease it 122 with <function>hb_font_destroy(font)</function>. 123 </para> 124 <para> 125 You can also attach user data to face objects and font objects. 126 </para> 127 </section> 128 129 <section id="fonts-and-faces-custom-functions"> 130 <title>Customizing font functions</title> 131 <para> 132 During shaping, HarfBuzz frequently needs to query font objects 133 to get at the contents and parameters of the glyphs in a font 134 file. It includes a built-in set of functions that is tailored 135 to working with OpenType fonts. However, as was the case with 136 Unicode functions in the buffers chapter, HarfBuzz also wants to 137 make it easy for you to assign a substitute set of font 138 functions if you are developing a program to work with a library 139 or platform that provides its own font functions. 140 </para> 141 <para> 142 Therefore, the HarfBuzz API defines a set of virtual 143 methods for accessing font-object properties, and you can 144 replace the defaults with your own selections without 145 interfering with the shaping process. Each font object in 146 HarfBuzz includes a structure called 147 <literal>font_funcs</literal> that serves as a vtable for the 148 font object. The virtual methods in 149 <literal>font_funcs</literal> are: 150 </para> 151 <itemizedlist> 152 <listitem> 153 <para> 154 <function>hb_font_get_font_h_extents_func_t</function>: returns 155 the extents of the font for horizontal text. 156 </para> 157 </listitem> 158 <listitem> 159 <para> 160 <function>hb_font_get_font_v_extents_func_t</function>: returns 161 the extents of the font for vertical text. 162 </para> 163 </listitem> 164 <listitem> 165 <para> 166 <function>hb_font_get_nominal_glyph_func_t</function>: returns 167 the font's nominal glyph for a given code point. 168 </para> 169 </listitem> 170 <listitem> 171 <para> 172 <function>hb_font_get_variation_glyph_func_t</function>: returns 173 the font's glyph for a given code point when it is followed by a 174 given Variation Selector. 175 </para> 176 </listitem> 177 <listitem> 178 <para> 179 <function>hb_font_get_nominal_glyphs_func_t</function>: returns 180 the font's nominal glyphs for a series of code points. 181 </para> 182 </listitem> 183 <listitem> 184 <para> 185 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_advance_func_t</function>: returns 186 the advance for a glyph. 187 </para> 188 </listitem> 189 <listitem> 190 <para> 191 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_h_advance_func_t</function>: returns 192 the advance for a glyph for horizontal text. 193 </para> 194 </listitem> 195 <listitem> 196 <para> 197 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_v_advance_func_t</function>:returns 198 the advance for a glyph for vertical text. 199 </para> 200 </listitem> 201 <listitem> 202 <para> 203 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_advances_func_t</function>: returns 204 the advances for a series of glyphs. 205 </para> 206 </listitem> 207 <listitem> 208 <para> 209 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_h_advances_func_t</function>: returns 210 the advances for a series of glyphs for horizontal text . 211 </para> 212 </listitem> 213 <listitem> 214 <para> 215 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_v_advances_func_t</function>: returns 216 the advances for a series of glyphs for vertical text. 217 </para> 218 </listitem> 219 <listitem> 220 <para> 221 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_origin_func_t</function>: returns 222 the origin coordinates of a glyph. 223 </para> 224 </listitem> 225 <listitem> 226 <para> 227 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_h_origin_func_t</function>: returns 228 the origin coordinates of a glyph for horizontal text. 229 </para> 230 </listitem> 231 <listitem> 232 <para> 233 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_v_origin_func_t</function>: returns 234 the origin coordinates of a glyph for vertical text. 235 </para> 236 </listitem> 237 <listitem> 238 <para> 239 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_extents_func_t</function>: returns 240 the extents for a glyph. 241 </para> 242 </listitem> 243 <listitem> 244 <para> 245 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_contour_point_func_t</function>: 246 returns the coordinates of a specific contour point from a glyph. 247 </para> 248 </listitem> 249 <listitem> 250 <para> 251 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_name_func_t</function>: returns the 252 name of a glyph (from its glyph index). 253 </para> 254 </listitem> 255 <listitem> 256 <para> 257 <function>hb_font_get_glyph_from_name_func_t</function>: returns 258 the glyph index that corresponds to a given glyph name. 259 </para> 260 </listitem> 261 </itemizedlist> 262 <para> 263 You can fetch the font-functions configuration for a font object 264 by calling <function>hb_font_get_font_funcs()</function>: 265 </para> 266 <programlisting language="C"> 267 hb_font_funcs_t *ffunctions; 268 ffunctions = hb_font_get_font_funcs (font); 269 </programlisting> 270 <para> 271 The individual methods can each be replaced with their own setter 272 function, such as 273 <function>hb_font_funcs_set_nominal_glyph_func(*ffunctions, 274 func, *user_data, destroy)</function>. 275 </para> 276 <para> 277 Font-functions structures can be reused for multiple font 278 objects, and can be reference counted with 279 <function>hb_font_funcs_reference()</function> and 280 <function>hb_font_funcs_destroy()</function>. Just like other 281 objects in HarfBuzz, you can set user-data for each 282 font-functions structure and assign a destroy callback for 283 it. 284 </para> 285 <para> 286 You can also mark a font-functions structure as immutable, 287 with <function>hb_font_funcs_make_immutable()</function>. This 288 is especially useful if your code is a library or framework that 289 will have its own client programs. By marking your 290 font-functions structures as immutable, you prevent your client 291 programs from changing the configuration and introducing 292 inconsistencies and errors downstream. 293 </para> 294 </section> 295 296 <section id="fonts-and-faces-native-opentype"> 297 <title>Font objects and HarfBuzz's native OpenType implementation</title> 298 <para> 299 By default, whenever HarfBuzz creates a font object, it will 300 configure the font to use a built-in set of font functions that 301 supports contemporary OpenType font internals. If you want to 302 work with OpenType or TrueType fonts, you should be able to use 303 these functions without difficulty. 304 </para> 305 <para> 306 Many of the methods in the font-functions structure deal with 307 the fundamental properties of glyphs that are required for 308 shaping text: extents (the maximums and minimums on each axis), 309 origins (the <literal>(0,0)</literal> coordinate point which 310 glyphs are drawn in reference to), and advances (the amount that 311 the cursor needs to be moved after drawing each glyph, including 312 any empty space for the glyph's side bearings). 313 </para> 314 <para> 315 As you can see in the list of functions, there are separate "horizontal" 316 and "vertical" variants depending on whether the text is set in 317 the horizontal or vertical direction. For some scripts, fonts 318 that are designed to support text set horizontally or vertically (for 319 example, in Japanese) may include metrics for both text 320 directions. When fonts don't include this information, HarfBuzz 321 does its best to transform what the font provides. 322 </para> 323 <para> 324 In addition to the direction-specific functions, HarfBuzz 325 provides some higher-level functions for fetching information 326 like extents and advances for a glyph. If you call 327 </para> 328 <programlisting language="C"> 329 hb_font_get_glyph_advance_for_direction(font, direction, extents); 330 </programlisting> 331 <para> 332 then you can provide any <type>hb_direction_t</type> as the 333 <parameter>direction</parameter> parameter, and HarfBuzz will 334 use the correct function variant for the text direction. There 335 are similar higher-level versions of the functions for fetching 336 extents, origin coordinates, and contour-point 337 coordinates. There are also addition and subtraction functions 338 for moving points with respect to the origin. 339 </para> 340 <para> 341 There are also methods for fetching the glyph ID that 342 corresponds to a Unicode code point (possibly when followed by a 343 variation-selector code point), fetching the glyph name from the 344 font, and fetching the glyph ID that corresponds to a glyph name 345 you already have. 346 </para> 347 <para> 348 HarfBuzz also provides functions for converting between glyph 349 names and string 350 variables. <function>hb_font_glyph_to_string(font, glyph, s, 351 size)</function> retrieves the name for the glyph ID 352 <parameter>glyph</parameter> from the font object. It generates a 353 generic name of the form <literal>gidDDD</literal> (where DDD is 354 the glyph index) if there is no name for the glyph in the 355 font. The <function>hb_font_glyph_from_string(font, s, len, 356 glyph)</function> takes an input string <parameter>s</parameter> 357 and looks for a glyph with that name in the font, returning its 358 glyph ID in the <parameter>glyph</parameter> 359 output parameter. It automatically parses 360 <literal>gidDDD</literal> and <literal>uniUUUU</literal> strings. 361 </para> 362 </section> 363 364 365 <!-- Commenting out FreeType integration section-holder for now. May move 366 to the full-blown Integration Chapter. --> 367 368 <!-- <section id="fonts-and-faces-freetype"> 369 <title>Using FreeType</title> 370 <para> 371 372 </para> 373 <para> 374 375 </para> 376 </section> --> 377 378 <section id="fonts-and-faces-variable"> 379 <title>Working with OpenType Variable Fonts</title> 380 <para> 381 If you are working with OpenType Variable Fonts, there are a few 382 additional functions you should use to specify the 383 variation-axis settings of your font object. Without doing so, 384 your variable font's font object can still be used, but only at 385 the default setting for every axis (which, of course, is 386 sometimes what you want, but does not cover general usage). 387 </para> 388 <para> 389 HarfBuzz manages variation settings in the 390 <type>hb_variation_t</type> data type, which holds a <property>tag</property> for the 391 variation-axis identifier tag and a <property>value</property> for its 392 setting. You can retrieve the list of variation axes in a font 393 binary from the face object (not from a font object, notably) by 394 calling <function>hb_ot_var_get_axis_count(face)</function> to 395 find the number of axes, then using 396 <function>hb_ot_var_get_axis_infos()</function> to collect the 397 axis structures: 398 </para> 399 <programlisting language="C"> 400 axes = hb_ot_var_get_axis_count(face); 401 ... 402 hb_ot_var_get_axis_infos(face, 0, axes, axes_array); 403 </programlisting> 404 <para> 405 For each axis returned in the array, you can can access the 406 identifier in its <property>tag</property>. HarfBuzz also has 407 tag definitions predefined for the five standard axes specified 408 in OpenType (<literal>ital</literal> for italic, 409 <literal>opsz</literal> for optical size, 410 <literal>slnt</literal> for slant, <literal>wdth</literal> for 411 width, and <literal>wght</literal> for weight). Each axis also 412 has a <property>min_value</property>, a 413 <property>default_value</property>, and a <property>max_value</property>. 414 </para> 415 <para> 416 To set your font object's variation settings, you call the 417 <function>hb_font_set_variations()</function> function with an 418 array of <type>hb_variation_t</type> variation settings. Let's 419 say our font has weight and width axes. We need to specify each 420 of the axes by tag and assign a value on the axis: 421 </para> 422 <programlisting language="C"> 423 unsigned int variation_count = 2; 424 hb_variation_t variation_data[variation_count]; 425 variation_data[0].tag = HB_OT_TAG_VAR_AXIS_WIDTH; 426 variation_data[1].tag = HB_OT_TAG_VAR_AXIS_WEIGHT; 427 variation_data[0].value = 80; 428 variation_data[1].value = 750; 429 ... 430 hb_font_set_variations(font, variation_data, variation_count); 431 </programlisting> 432 <para> 433 That should give us a slightly condensed font ("normal" on the 434 <literal>wdth</literal> axis is 100) at a noticeably bolder 435 weight ("regular" is 400 on the <literal>wght</literal> axis). 436 </para> 437 <para> 438 In practice, though, you should always check that the value you 439 want to set on the axis is within the 440 [<property>min_value</property>,<property>max_value</property>] 441 range actually implemented in the font's variation axis. After 442 all, a font might only provide lighter-than-regular weights, and 443 setting a heavier value on the <literal>wght</literal> axis will 444 not change that. 445 </para> 446 <para> 447 Once your variation settings are specified on your font object, 448 however, shaping with a variable font is just like shaping a 449 static font. 450 </para> 451 </section> 452 453 </chapter> 454