libgdx-bitmap-font-text

libGDX BitmapFont, Text & NinePatch

Quick reference for BitmapFont text rendering, GlyphLayout measurement, BitmapFontCache, NinePatch, DistanceFieldFont, and color markup. Covers com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.BitmapFont, GlyphLayout, BitmapFontCache, NinePatch, DistanceFieldFont.

BitmapFont

Pre-rendered font stored as texture(s) + .fnt descriptor. Created with Hiero, BMFont, or at runtime via FreeType (see libgdx-freetype skill).

Default Font

BitmapFont font = new BitmapFont(); // Built-in 15px Liberation Sans

Useful for prototyping only. The default font is bundled in the libGDX JAR.

Constructors

new BitmapFont()                                              // default 15px Liberation Sans
new BitmapFont(boolean flip)                                  // default font, flipped
new BitmapFont(FileHandle fontFile)                           // load from .fnt
new BitmapFont(FileHandle fontFile, boolean flip)
new BitmapFont(FileHandle fontFile, FileHandle imageFile, boolean flip)
new BitmapFont(FileHandle fontFile, FileHandle imageFile, boolean flip, boolean integer)
new BitmapFont(FileHandle fontFile, TextureRegion region)     // custom texture
new BitmapFont(FileHandle fontFile, TextureRegion region, boolean flip)
new BitmapFont(BitmapFontData data, TextureRegion region, boolean integer)
new BitmapFont(BitmapFontData data, Array<TextureRegion> pageRegions, boolean integer)

• flip: If true, Y=0 is top (top-down coordinates). Default false (Y-up, libGDX standard). Scene2D uses unflipped fonts.
• integer: If true, positions are rounded to integers to reduce filtering artifacts. Default true.

draw() Methods — CRITICAL

The y parameter is the top of capital letters (cap height), NOT the baseline, NOT the bottom of text.

// All return GlyphLayout except the GlyphLayout overload which returns void
GlyphLayout draw(Batch batch, CharSequence str, float x, float y)
GlyphLayout draw(Batch batch, CharSequence str, float x, float y,
    float targetWidth, int halign, boolean wrap)
GlyphLayout draw(Batch batch, CharSequence str, float x, float y,
    int start, int end, float targetWidth, int halign, boolean wrap)
GlyphLayout draw(Batch batch, CharSequence str, float x, float y,
    int start, int end, float targetWidth, int halign, boolean wrap, String truncate)
void draw(Batch batch, GlyphLayout layout, float x, float y)  // pre-computed layout