Difference between revisions of "How to Add Characters and Icons to the Font"

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(Grammar fixes, Syntax corrections, and separate instructions for Windows and Linux)
(Update to refer to meson and font.bz2)
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If you downloaded the source from Github, then you'll find a folder called font. If you look inside it, you'll see that there is packer.c, unpacker.c and editor.c. If you don't see it, then you either downloaded the source code off of this website, or you deleted it somehow. If this is the case, then just download the source code again from here: [https://github.com/FacialTurd/The-Powder-Toy The-Powder-Toy]. The instructions for Windows and Linux are different, so be sure to follow the correct instructions.
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== Icons ==
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Any icons specific to The Powder Toy are allocated from one of the private use areas of unicode: U+E000 through U+F8FF. If you wish to add a new icon you should allocate it from that range.
  
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== Windows ==
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== Compiling the font editor ==
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'''1)''' Copy font.h from /includes and paste it into /font.
 
  
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'''2)''' Navigate into /font, and open a Command Prompt here. Compile the font editor tools using the following commands:
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The data for the font is specified in <code>data/font.bz2</code> but editing that file by hand is a bad idea. The TPT source comes with a graphical editor for this file, which you can build by setting the <code>build_font</code> option to <code>true</code>, as explained in [[Building TPT with Meson|the meson guide]]. This will produce an executable called <code>font</code> or <code>font.exe</code>. You will have to pass the path to <code>data/font.bz2</code> to it as a command line argument, e.g. <code>font.exe ..\data\font.bz2</code> or <code>build\font.exe data\font.bz2</code>.
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<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
 
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make unpacker.exe packer.exe editor.exe
 
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</syntaxhighlight>
 
  
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'''3)''' In the same terminal run the following command to create a font.bin file the editor can read:
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== Editing the font ==
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<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
 
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unpacker.exe
 
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</syntaxhighlight>
 
  
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'''5)''' Run the editor from the terminal and then use the "+" and "-" keys to go the end and find an empty character, empty characters look like thermometers, although be careful not to confuse it with the actual thermometer if it is just erase it via right clicking and left clicking in the drawing field. Now draw you character. Look in the stdout.txt file in the same directory, and the last number in the file is the char id that corresponds to whatever icon you drew.
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After opening <code>font.bz2</code> using the font editor you will be presented with a GUI. The top part contains the character currently being edited. Below you can select the unicode codepoint you're currently looking at (in hexadecimal, or using the arrows), make the character wider or narrower, create or delete the character, toggle the grid and the rulers (take a look at several uppercase and lowercase characters, characters with lower hooks and accents, to see how these rulers are used).
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Below you can configure the foreground and background colors for the editor (sometimes useful for multi-colored icons). "Render" reflects your changes in the font editor program itself, and "Save" saves your changes into <code>font.bz2</code>. On the bottom left there is a text field into which you can enter codepoints in hexadecimal, and they will be rendered on the bottom right, this is to test what they look like among other text.
  
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'''6)''' Close down the editor, delete the font.h, and run:
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The font editor also supports some key bindings: Left and Right to switch between characters; Shift-Left, Right, Up, Down to shift the current character by 1 pixel in either direction; C to copy the current character and V to paste; Q to exit.
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<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
 
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packer.exe > font.h
 
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</syntaxhighlight>
 
  
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'''7)''' Copy the new font.h into /includes, replacing the old one.  
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Once you're done with editing the font press "Save" and exit. This will update <code>font.bz2</code> so next time you compile TPT it will include your changes to the font.
  
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'''8)''' For your new menu, replace FF with the last number from the stdout.txt file in the font directory.
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== Menu Icons ==
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<syntaxhighlight lang="c">
 
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{"\xFF", "new menu ftw", 0, 1},
 
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</syntaxhighlight>
 
  
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'''9)''' Recompile The Powder Toy and you should be ready to go.
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Defines for the menu sections are located in <code>simulation/SimulationData.h</code>. Take a look at <code>LoadMenus()</code> in <code>simulation/SimulationData.cpp</code>. The first column is the unicode codepoint for the icon, the second column is the menu name. These are what you need to edit to create a new menu.
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== Linux ==
 
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'''1)''' Open a Terminal and ''cd'' to the font directory that's included with the Git source code.
 
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'''2)''' Enter the following commands to copy font.h from includes to font and compile the font editor tools:
 
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<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
 
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cp ../includes/font.h .
 
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make unpacker packer editor
 
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</syntaxhighlight>
 
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'''3)''' In the same terminal run the following command to create a font.bin file the editor can read:
 
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<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
 
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./unpacker > output1.txt
 
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</syntaxhighlight>
 
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'''5)''' Run the editor from the terminal and then use the "+" and "-" keys to go the end and find an empty character, empty characters look like thermometers, although be careful not to confuse it with the actual thermometer if it is just erase it via right clicking and left clicking in the drawing field. now draw you character. and look in output1.txt, and the last number there is the char id and it corresponds to what icon you drew.
 
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'''6)''' close down the editor and run:
 
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<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
 
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rm ./font.h
 
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./packer > font.h
 
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cp -f ./font.h ../includes
 
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</syntaxhighlight>
 
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'''8)''' for your new menu, replace FF with the last number from the output1.txt file in the font directory.
 
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<syntaxhighlight lang="c">
 
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{"\xFF", "new menu ftw", 0, 1},
 
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</syntaxhighlight>
 
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'''9)''' Recompile The Powder Toy and you should be ready to go.
 
  
 
[[Category:Development]]
 
[[Category:Development]]

Revision as of 06:01, 25 June 2021

Icons

Any icons specific to The Powder Toy are allocated from one of the private use areas of unicode: U+E000 through U+F8FF. If you wish to add a new icon you should allocate it from that range.

Compiling the font editor

The data for the font is specified in data/font.bz2 but editing that file by hand is a bad idea. The TPT source comes with a graphical editor for this file, which you can build by setting the build_font option to true, as explained in the meson guide. This will produce an executable called font or font.exe. You will have to pass the path to data/font.bz2 to it as a command line argument, e.g. font.exe ..\data\font.bz2 or build\font.exe data\font.bz2.

Editing the font

After opening font.bz2 using the font editor you will be presented with a GUI. The top part contains the character currently being edited. Below you can select the unicode codepoint you're currently looking at (in hexadecimal, or using the arrows), make the character wider or narrower, create or delete the character, toggle the grid and the rulers (take a look at several uppercase and lowercase characters, characters with lower hooks and accents, to see how these rulers are used). Below you can configure the foreground and background colors for the editor (sometimes useful for multi-colored icons). "Render" reflects your changes in the font editor program itself, and "Save" saves your changes into font.bz2. On the bottom left there is a text field into which you can enter codepoints in hexadecimal, and they will be rendered on the bottom right, this is to test what they look like among other text.

The font editor also supports some key bindings: Left and Right to switch between characters; Shift-Left, Right, Up, Down to shift the current character by 1 pixel in either direction; C to copy the current character and V to paste; Q to exit.

Once you're done with editing the font press "Save" and exit. This will update font.bz2 so next time you compile TPT it will include your changes to the font.

Menu Icons

Defines for the menu sections are located in simulation/SimulationData.h. Take a look at LoadMenus() in simulation/SimulationData.cpp. The first column is the unicode codepoint for the icon, the second column is the menu name. These are what you need to edit to create a new menu.

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