vector fonts? (freetype for pascal?)

[noeska]

My PolygonFont class: (MPL license)

Needs to be improved. Also only does a..z lowercase only.
Also needs Freetype2 integration.

unit PolygonFont;

interface

uses Polygon;

type
TPolygonFont = class
     private
        FCharGlyph: array[0..255] of TPolygon;
        FCharWidth: array[0..255] of integer;
        FName: string;
        FPrecision: integer;
        FScale: single;
     public
        procedure Generate();
        procedure RenderChar(value: char);
        procedure RenderString(value: string);
        property Name: string read FName write FName;
        property Precision: integer read FPrecision write FPrecision;
        property Scale: single read FScale write FScale;
     end;

implementation

uses DGLOpenGL, VectorFont, Windows, Graphics;

procedure TPolygonFont.Generate();
var
  loop: integer;
  glyphs: TStrokeCollection;
  cbounds: TRect;
  x1, y1, x2, y2, xm, ym: integer;
  sx, sy: double; // Scaling factors
  i, j, k, sog: integer;
  stroke: TFontStroke;
  //scale: integer;

    TTF2Vector: TTTFToVectorConverter;

begin

 //vectorfont test
  TTF2Vector := TTTFToVectorConverter.Create(nil);
  TTF2Vector.Font := TFont.Create();
  TTF2Vector.Font.Name := FName;
  // Setup spline precision (1 min, 100 max)
  TTF2Vector.Precision := FPrecision;

  for loop := 0 to 255 do
  begin
    FCharGlyph[loop] := TPolygon.Create();
    //FCharGlyph[loop].Outline := true;
    FCharGlyph[loop].SetColor(0.0,1.0,0.0,0.0);

    // Get glyphs' strokes
    if &#40;loop >= ord&#40;'a'&#41;&#41; and &#40;loop <= ord&#40;'z'&#41;&#41; then
    begin
    glyphs &#58;= TTF2Vector.GetCharacterGlyphs&#40; loop &#41;;

    // Get character bounds
    cbounds &#58;= glyphs.Bounds;
    xm &#58;= &#40;cbounds.Right-cbounds.Left+1&#41; div 2;
    ym &#58;= &#40;cbounds.Bottom-cbounds.Top+1&#41; div 2;

    // Compute the scaling factors
    sx &#58;= fscale;
    sy &#58;= fscale;

    for i &#58;= 0 to glyphs.Count-1 do
    begin
      // Get a stroke
      stroke &#58;= glyphs.Stroke&#91;i&#93;;

      x1 &#58;= 10 + round&#40; &#40;stroke.Pt1.X-cbounds.Left&#41; * sx &#41;;
      x2 &#58;= 10 + round&#40; &#40;stroke.Pt2.X-cbounds.Left&#41; * sx &#41;;
      y1 &#58;= 10 + round&#40; &#40;stroke.Pt1.Y-cbounds.Top&#41; * sy &#41;;
      y2 &#58;= 10 + round&#40; &#40;stroke.Pt2.Y-cbounds.Top&#41; * sy &#41;;

      FCharGlyph&#91;loop&#93;.Add&#40;x1/1000, &#40;y1-1&#41;/1000&#41;;
      FCharGlyph&#91;loop&#93;.Add&#40;x2/1000, &#40;y2-1&#41;/1000&#41;;
    end;

  // Free the glyphs
  glyphs.Free;

  FCharWidth&#91;loop&#93; &#58;= cbounds.Right;
  FCharGlyph&#91;loop&#93;.Tesselate&#40;&#41;;
  end;

  end;

  TTF2Vector.Free;
end;

procedure TPolygonFont.RenderChar&#40;value&#58; char&#41;;
begin
  FCharGlyph&#91;ord&#40;value&#41;&#93;.Render&#40;&#41;;
  glTranslatef&#40;&#40;FCharWidth&#91;ord&#40;value&#41;&#93;*fscale&#41;/1000, 0, 0&#41;;
end;

procedure TPolygonFont.RenderString&#40;value&#58; string&#41;;
var
  i&#58; integer;
begin
  for i &#58;=1 to length&#40;value&#41; do
  begin
    RenderChar&#40;value&#91;i&#93;&#41;;
  end;
end;

end.

[marcov]

Is it possible to use vector fonts with opengl? I know of wgl, but that is windows only.
Now there is also freetype2. It is supposed to be able to give access to the vector data of the glyph. That give me 3 questions:
1. Is there a delphi/pascal unit for freetype2?
2. How does rendering a glyph work? Bezier->Polygon->Triangulate?
3. Has someone else already done the hard work?

With knowing how point 2 works. The font can also be save in like a milkshape ascii format. So the original font is not needed.

1. no

Afaik Free Pascal has something freetype related in the fcl-image sub-package. Is a bit small, and might only contain necessary calls though.