| 10-01-2006, 04:35 PM | #1 |
Since floating texts have a few problems (for example you can only have a max of 100 at a time) I've created my own floating text type. You can have:
Try the attached demo map, and if you like it you'll find a tutorial right below ;) Atm this uses game cache, I'll change it to use SmartAttach or Pipe's array system in the next version to speed it up. ===================================================================================== Setting up the System First copy the code from the custom text header of the sample map to the cusotm text header of your map. Copy the two gamecache variables, namely udg_ArrayCache and udg_TextSplatCache to your map. Before creating any TextSplats we need to initialize the system. That is we need to import the images of the font we are going to use into the map and call TextSplatInitializeCache at map initialization.  JASS:function TextSplatInitializeCache takes nothing returns nothing The path for the images is Fonts\FontName\, so in my example I've imported them to Fonts\Trebuchet\. You may of course import as many fonts as you wish. I've supplied a tool that automatically creates these images and the required initialization code for a given font. You can read more about this tool later on. Creating a TextSplat After initializing the system you may create TextSplats. To do that there are two functions available: JASS:function TextSplatCreateGradient takes string text, real baseX, real baseY, string font, integer size, integer valign, integer halign, integer colorFrom, integer colorTo returns integer function TextSplatCreateMono takes string text, real baseX, real baseY, string font, integer size, integer valign, integer halign, integer color returns integer As you can see there are two types of TextSplats. In mono TextSplats all letters have the same color whereas the color of gradient TextSplats runs from start color, which is used for the first letter, to end color which is used for the last letter. In the text of the TextSplat you may use |n for linebreaks and ordinary color tags like |cffffffffText|r to manually change the color of certain areas. In gradient TextSplats these color tags will be ignored, however, mono TextSplats will use them. The here specified font name needs to comply with the path to which you imported the images. For horizontal and vertical alignment we have these constants at our disposal: JASS:constant function TS_ALIGN_LEFT takes nothing returns integer constant function TS_ALIGN_TOP takes nothing returns integer constant function TS_ALIGN_CENTER takes nothing returns integer constant function TS_ALIGN_RIGHT takes nothing returns integer constant function TS_ALIGN_BOTTOM takes nothing returns integer To specify the colors I've chosen to use Peppar's ColorInteger functions. All you need to know about it is how to create a ColorInteger: JASS:function CreateColorInteger takes integer red, integer green, integer blue, integer alpha returns integer Here's an example of mono and gradient TextSplats: JASS:local integer mono = TextSplatCreateMono("This is a mono |cFFFFCC00TextSplat|r", 0.0, 0.0, "Trebuchet", 18, TS_ALIGN_TOP(), TS_ALIGN_LEFT(), CreateColorInteger(255, 0, 0, 255)) local integer gradient = TextSplatCreateGradient("This is a multiline|ngradient TextSplat", 0.0, 200.0, "Trebuchet", 12, TS_ALIGN_TOP(), TS_ALIGN_CENTER(), CreateColorInteger(0, 255, 255, 32), CreateColorInteger(255, 204, 0, 255)) The integer returned by TextSplatCreateMono and TextSplatCreateGradient will be our handle to the created TextSplat. If 0 is returned you have probably exceeded the max string length for TextSplats, which is 255 characters. Funny things with TextSplats You can attach TextSplats to units. The left border of the TextSplat will align with the unit's x coordinate. However you can use the SetTextSplatOffset function to adjust the alignment. For a fluid impression the update interval should be set to something like 0.05. The timer which updates the TextSplat's position will be returned. JASS:function TextSplatAttachToUnit takes integer textSplat, unit target, real updateWait returns timer Another fun thing to do with TextSplats is fading them in and out. You can either fade from a specific source alpha value to a target alpha value with TextSplatFade or use existing utility functions to completely fade them in/out. Alternatively you can specify a callback function that will be called after the fade. This must be the name of an existing function that takes no parameters or "", otherwise it will cause a game crash. Use GetTriggeringTextSplat in the callback to get a reference to the TextSplat. JASS:function TextSplatFade takes integer textSplat, real time, real updateWait, integer startAlpha, integer endAlpha, string callback returns timer function TextSplatFadeIn takes integer textSplat, real time, real updateWait, string callback returns timer function TextSplatFadeOut takes integer textSplat, real time, real updateWait, string callback returns timer I'm sure you know running texts from clocks or advertisement boards. Use the TextSplatEnableRunningText function to enable running texts. A positive vertical step width will make the lines of a TextSplat run from the bottom up. A positive horizontal step width will make the letters of the TextSplat run from right to left. An update interval of 0.25 should be sufficient for running texts. JASS:function TextSplatEnableRunningText takes integer textSplat, integer vStep, integer hStep, real updateWait returns timer function TextSplatDisableRunningText takes integer textSplat, timer runTimer returns nothing It's possible to apply the TextSplatEnableRunningText function more then one time to a TextSplat. If you do that, don't forget to store the returned update timer as a reference for the TextSplatDisableRunningText function. Pass null to the timer argument to disable all running text timers of the TextSplat. Sometimes you might want to move your TextSplat along a certain path. You can do that with the TextSplatFloat function. For example you could move the TextSplat straight towards a certain direction, move it in a sine curve or maybe in a circle. Specify 0 as duration if you want the movement to loop forever. JASS:function TextSplatFloat takes integer textSplat, real time, real updateWait, code fX, code fY, string callback returns timer You'll have to specify callback functions that describe the movement for both, the x and y axis. The movement can be dependant on the elapsed time since the start of the movement or the number of times the update timer has expired. Since the callback needs to take nothing and return nothing the following functions will provide the necessary information and let you set the return value of your function. JASS:function TextSplatGetMovementTimeElapsed takes nothing returns real function TextSplatGetMovementExecCount takes nothing returns integer function TextSplatSetMovementResult takes real value returns nothing For example here's a callback function that will move the TextSplat up/down or left/right in a sine curve: JASS:function Movement9Sin100 takes nothing returns nothing call TextSplatSetMovementResult(Sin(TextSplatGetMovementExecCount() * 9.0 * bj_DEGTORAD) * 100.0) endfunction Here's another set of functions used to change existing TextSplats. I think their effect is pretty obvious. JASS:function SetTextSplatPosition takes integer textSplat, real x, real y returns nothing function SetTextSplatOffset takes integer textSplat, real offX, real offY returns nothing function SetTextSplatVisible takes integer textSplat, boolean visible returns nothing function SetTextSplatColorMono takes integer textSplat, integer color, boolean overrideTags returns nothing function SetTextSplatColorGradient takes integer textSplat, integer colorFrom, integer colorTo returns nothing The SetTextSplatColorMono function lets you also lets you decide if you want to override color tags like |cffffffffText|r. Finally there are a few utility functions to find out the more important properties of TextSplats and ColorIntegers: JASS:function GetTextSplatAttachedUnit takes integer textSplat returns unit function GetTextSplatColor takes integer textSplat returns integer function GetTextSplatBaseX takes integer textSplat returns real function GetTextSplatBaseY takes integer textSplat returns real function GetTextSplatOffsetX takes integer textSplat returns real function GetTextSplatOffsetY takes integer textSplat returns real function GetTextSplatX takes integer textSplat returns real function GetTextSplatY takes integer textSplat returns real function IsTextSplatFading takes integer textSplat returns boolean function IsTextSplatAttached takes integer textSplat returns boolean function IsTextSplatRunning takes integer textSplat returns boolean function IsTextSplatFloating takes integer textSplat returns boolean function IsTextSplatVisible takes integer textSplat returns Boolean function ColorIntegerGetRed takes integer i returns integer function ColorIntegerGetGreen takes integer i returns integer function ColorIntegerGetBlue takes integer i returns integer function ColorIntegerGetAlpha takes integer i returns integer Destroying a TextSplat This is easy, just call TextSplatDestroy when you don't need a TextSplat any more. JASS:function TextSplatDestroy takes integer textSplat returns nothing Importing custom Fonts First you'll need to open the provided FontConv.psd file in Photoshop. Zoom in until you can see the text box. Mark the whole text in the text box and change the font to the font you'd like to have in game. Now adjust the text height so it fits just fine within the blue borders. None of the letters should go above the upper border or below the lower border. Then adjust the text width accordingly, so the letters don't look stretched. Now save the file as 32-bit tga. I named it like the font, so the file I had was Trebuchet.tga. Now we will use the provided FontConv tool to convert this image to blp format and generate the required initialization code. Put the tga you just created in the same folder as the FontConv.exe application. This is a command line tool, so you better start the command prompt, navigate to said folder and type FontConv FontName.tga FontName 34. So in my case I typed FontConv Trebuchet.tga Trebuchet 34. The 34 at the end is the ascii value of the " character. This is so the tool knows that the two ' symbols are not separate characters but part of one and the same character. This can be different from font to font. Some fonts may have a connection between the two ' symbols, in that case remove the 34 from your command. Some fonts may also have more characters that have to be listed here, but usually we should be fine with just 34. After successfully processing the image the tool should spit out a whole bunch of blp files and a j file that contains the required initialization code. Check back if 34.blp has both ' symbols in Wc3Viewer, otherwise run the tool again with adjusted parameters. Now let's import both, the images and the code into our map. The path for the images is Fonts\FontName\, so in my case that was Fonts\Trebuchet\. Since it's quite a lot of work to rename every single file in the import manager, I've used WEU to import all images at once. However be sure to make a backup of your map before using WEU, just in case. Now in the trigger editor find the custom text header and simply append the generated initialization code at the end of the TextSplatInitializeCache function. Congratulations, now you're ready to use your custom font. |
| 10-01-2006, 04:39 PM | #2 |
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