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h1. Draw Text as 3D objects with OpenGL
h1. Draw Text as 3D objects with OpenGL


There are a couple of functions in WGL ("Windows Graphics Library":http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee417756(v=vs.85).aspx) which can be used to draw text as nice 3D objects in OpenGL. There is a well known example at "NeHe":http://nehe.gamedev.net/tutorial/outline_fonts/15004/. However, this is not portable at all, and since I'm using Qt anyway, I was looking for a way to have this done with Qt. I was surprised that there was no such function already available within Qt, but then I stumbled across "this example on Stackexchange":http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3514935/3d-text-on-qglwidget-in-qt-4-6-3/3516254#3516254 that got me started.
There are a couple of functions in WGL ("Windows Graphics Library":http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee417756(v=vs.85).aspx) which can be used to draw text as nice 3D objects in OpenGL. There is a well known example at "NeHe":http://nehe.gamedev.net/tutorial/outline_fonts/15004/. However, this is not portable at all, and since I'm using Qt anyway, I was looking for a way to have this done with Qt. I was surprised that there was no such function already available within Qt, but then I stumbled across "this example on Stackexchange":http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3514935/3d-text-on-qglwidget-in-qt-4-6-3/3516254#3516254 that got me started.


Before I get to the code, some drawbacks of this example:<br />* It uses the fixed-function pipeline. (GL_QUAD_STRIP's and DisplayLists). Im sure this '''can''' be done in a &quot;more modern&amp;quot; way with VBO's, but my OpenGL knowlegde is not yet at that level.<br />* it relies on GLU for polygon tesselation. There might be better alternatives around or even some within Qt.<br />* No real character set (or even UTF) handling. It only uses the first 256 characters.<br />* side effects on the matrix.
Before I get to the code, some drawbacks of this example:
* It uses the fixed-function pipeline. (GL_QUAD_STRIP's and DisplayLists). Im sure this '''can''' be done in a "more modern" way with VBO's, but my OpenGL knowlegde is not yet at that level.
* it relies on GLU for polygon tesselation. There might be better alternatives around or even some within Qt.
* No real character set (or even UTF) handling. It only uses the first 256 characters.
* side effects on the matrix.


The example uses QFont to get the font outline for each character (glyph). The basic idea is to create two flat outline-polygons for the front- and back-&quot;plane&amp;quot; of a glyph and then create the &quot;wrapping&amp;quot; in between the front- and backplane. Although it seems more difficult at first, it was pretty easy to create the wrapping in between the two outline-polygons with GL_QUAD_STRIP. The tricky bit was the polygon tesselation of the glyph outline, because the glyph-polygons are '''not''' concave and may have one or more holes. I'm using the polygon tesselation facility available in GLU.
The example uses QFont to get the font outline for each character (glyph). The basic idea is to create two flat outline-polygons for the front- and back-"plane" of a glyph and then create the "wrapping" in between the front- and backplane. Although it seems more difficult at first, it was pretty easy to create the wrapping in between the two outline-polygons with GL_QUAD_STRIP. The tricky bit was the polygon tesselation of the glyph outline, because the glyph-polygons are '''not''' concave and may have one or more holes. I'm using the polygon tesselation facility available in GLU.


The text3d class can be subclassed by a GLWidget or GLWindow object. There are only 2 functions required to draw text: initfont() and print(). The initialization of the font cannot easily be done in the constructor, because the contest is probably not initialized during construction. Therefore the initfont().
The text3d class can be subclassed by a GLWidget or GLWindow object. There are only 2 functions required to draw text: initfont() and print(). The initialization of the font cannot easily be done in the constructor, because the contest is probably not initialized during construction. Therefore the initfont().


text3d.h<br /><code><br />#include &lt;QOpenGLFunctions&amp;gt;<br />#include &lt;QString&amp;gt;<br />#include &lt;QFont&amp;gt;<br />#include &lt;QFontMetricsF&amp;gt;
text3d.h
<code>
#include <QOpenGLFunctions>
#include <QString>
#include <QFont>
#include <QFontMetricsF>


class Text3D<br />{<br />public:<br /> Text3D();<br /> void initfont(QFont &amp; f, int thickness); // set up a font and specify the &quot;thickness&amp;quot;<br /> void print(QString text); // print it in 3D!
class Text3D
{
public:
Text3D();
void initfont(QFont &amp; f, int thickness); // set up a font and specify the "thickness"
void print(QString text); // print it in 3D!


private:<br /> void buildglyph(GLuint b, int c); // create one displaylist for character &quot;c&amp;quot;<br /> QFont * font;<br /> QFontMetricsF *fm;<br /> float glyphthickness;<br /> GLuint base; // the &quot;base&amp;quot; of our displaylists<br />};<br /></code>
private:
void buildglyph(GLuint b, int c); // create one displaylist for character "c"
QFont * font;
QFontMetricsF *fm;
float glyphthickness;
GLuint base; // the "base" of our displaylists
};
</code>


The implementation file: text3d.cpp<br /><code><br />#include &lt;QFont&amp;gt;<br />#include &lt;QList&amp;gt;<br />#include &lt;QPainter&amp;gt;<br />#include &lt;QOpenGLFunctions&amp;gt;<br />#include &lt;QChar&amp;gt;<br />#include &lt;gl/GLU.h&amp;gt;<br />#include &quot;text3d.h&amp;quot;
The implementation file: text3d.cpp
<code>
#include <QFont>
#include <QList>
#include <QPainter>
#include <QOpenGLFunctions>
#include <QChar>
#include <gl/GLU.h>
#include "text3d.h"


typedef void (__stdcall *TessFuncPtr)(); // defintion of the callback function type
typedef void (__stdcall *TessFuncPtr)(); // defintion of the callback function type


Text3D::Text3D() // nothing special in the constructor<br /> : glyphthickness(1.0f)<br /> , base(0)<br />{}<br /></code>
Text3D::Text3D() // nothing special in the constructor
: glyphthickness(1.0f)
, base(0)
{}
</code>


The initialization just loops through the first 256 char's and calls buildglyph() for each of them.<br /><code><br />void<br />Text3D::initfont(QFont &amp; f, float thickness)<br />{<br /> font = &amp;f;<br /> fm = new QFontMetricsF(f);<br /> glyphthickness = thickness;<br /> if(base) // if we have display lists already, delete them first<br /> glDeleteLists(base, 256);
The initialization just loops through the first 256 char's and calls buildglyph() for each of them.
<code>
void
Text3D::initfont(QFont &amp; f, float thickness)
{
font = &amp;f;
fm = new QFontMetricsF(f);
glyphthickness = thickness;
if(base) // if we have display lists already, delete them first
glDeleteLists(base, 256);


base = glGenLists(256); // generate 256 display lists<br /> if(base == 0)<br /> {<br /> qDebug() &lt;&lt; &quot;cannot create display lists.&quot;;<br /> throw;<br /> }
base = glGenLists(256); // generate 256 display lists
if(base == 0)
{
qDebug() << "cannot create display lists.";
throw;
}


for(int i=0; i&amp;lt;256;+''i) // loop to build the first 256 glyphs<br /> buildglyph(base+i, (char)i);<br />}<br /></code><br />The print() function uses glCallLists() to &quot;interpret&amp;quot; a complete string. See below how the char-by-char advance works.<br /><code><br />void<br />Text3D::print(QString text)<br />{<br /> glPushAttrib(GL_LIST_BIT); // Pushes The Display List Bits<br /> glListBase(base); // Sets The Base Character to 0<br /> glCallLists(text.length(), GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, text.toLocal8Bit()); // Draws The Display List Text<br /> glPopAttrib(); // Pops The Display List Bits<br />}<br /></code><br />At the beginning we need to set up both, the tesselation and the display list.<br /><code><br />void<br />Text3D::buildglyph(GLuint listbase, int c) // this is the main &quot;workhorse&amp;quot; function. Create a displaylist with<br /> // ID &quot;listbase&amp;quot; from character &quot;c&amp;quot;
for(int i=0; i<256;+''i) // loop to build the first 256 glyphs
<br /> GLUtriangulatorObj *tobj;<br /> QPainterPath path;<br /> path.addText(QPointF(0,0),*font, QString((char)c));
buildglyph(base+i, (char)i);
<br /> QList&amp;lt;QPolygonF&amp;gt; poly = path.toSubpathPolygons(); // get the glyph outline as a list of paths
}
<br /> // set up the tesselation<br /> tobj = gluNewTess();<br /> gluTessCallback(tobj, GLU_TESS_BEGIN, (TessFuncPtr)glBegin);<br /> gluTessCallback(tobj, GLU_TESS_VERTEX, (TessFuncPtr)glVertex3dv);<br /> gluTessCallback(tobj, GLU_TESS_END, (TessFuncPtr)glEnd);<br /> gluTessProperty(tobj, GLU_TESS_WINDING_RULE, GLU_TESS_WINDING_ODD);
</code>
<br /> glNewList(listbase, GL_COMPILE); // start a new list<br /> glShadeModel(GL_FLAT);<br /> gluTessBeginPolygon(tobj, 0 ); // start tesselate
The print() function uses glCallLists() to "interpret" a complete string. See below how the char-by-char advance works.
<br /> // first, calculate number of vertices.<br /> int elements = 0; // number of total vertices in one glyph, counting all paths.<br /> for (QList&amp;lt;QPolygonF&amp;gt;::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it)<br /> {<br /> elements''= ('''it).size();<br /> }<br /></code><br />Now it's ready to tesselate the &quot;front plate&amp;quot; polygon.<br /><code><br /> GLdouble''' vertices = (GLdouble ''') malloc(elements''' 3 * sizeof(GLdouble));<br /> int j = 0;<br /> for (QList&amp;lt;QPolygonF&amp;gt;::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it+'') // enumerate paths<br /> {<br /> gluTessBeginContour(tobj);<br /> int i = 0;<br /> for (QPolygonF::iterator p = (*it).begin(); p != it-&gt;end(); p) // enumerate vertices<br /> {<br /> int off = j+i;<br /> vertices[off+0] = p-&gt;rx();<br /> vertices[off+1] = <s>p</s>&gt;ry();<br /> vertices[off+2] = 0; // setting Z offset to zero.<br /> gluTessVertex(tobj, &amp;vertices[off], &amp;vertices[off] );<br /> i''=3; // array math<br /> }<br /> gluTessEndContour(tobj);<br /> j ''= (*it).size()*3; // some more array math<br /> }<br /> gluTessEndPolygon(tobj);<br /></code><br />Do the whole tesselation a second time with an offset applied for the &quot;back plate&amp;quot;. The &quot;offset&amp;quot; (thickness) is set in<br /><code><br /> gluTessBeginPolygon(tobj, 0 );<br /> j = 0;<br /> for (QList&amp;lt;QPolygonF&amp;gt;::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it)<br /> {<br /> gluTessBeginContour(tobj);<br /> int i = 0;<br /> for (QPolygonF::iterator p = (*it).begin(); p != it-&gt;end(); p)<br /> {<br /> int off = j+i;<br /> vertices[off+0] = p-&gt;rx();<br /> vertices[off+1] = <s>p</s>&gt;ry();<br /> vertices[off+2] = -glyphthickness; // Z offset set to &quot;minus glyphtickness&amp;quot;<br /> gluTessVertex(tobj, &amp;vertices[off], &amp;vertices[off] );<br /> i''=3;<br /> }<br /> gluTessEndContour(tobj);<br /> j ''= (*it).size()*3;<br /> }<br /> gluTessEndPolygon(tobj);
<code>
<br /> free(vertices); // no need for the vertices anymore<br /></code><br />The &quot;wrapping&amp;quot; between the two &quot;plates&amp;quot; is simple compared to the tesselation.<br /><code>
void
<br /> for (QList&amp;lt;QPolygonF&amp;gt;::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it)<br /> {<br /> glBegin(GL_QUAD_STRIP);<br /> QPolygonF::iterator p;<br /> for (p = (*it).begin(); p != it-&gt;end(); p)<br /> {<br /> glVertex3f(p-&gt;rx(), <s>p</s>&gt;ry(), 0.0f);<br /> glVertex3f(p-&gt;rx(), <s>p</s>&gt;ry(), <s>glyphthickness);<br /> }<br /> p = (*it).begin();<br /> glVertex3f(p</s>&gt;rx(), <s>p</s>&gt;ry(), 0.0f); // draw the closing quad<br /> glVertex3f(p-&gt;rx(), <s>p</s>&gt;ry(), <s>glyphthickness); // of the &quot;wrapping&amp;quot;<br /> glEnd();<br /> }<br /></code><br />This is where the char-by-char advance is done. Get the width from the font metrics and apply a glTranslate() with that value. This goes into the displaylist as well. (This may have side-effects as the matrix is not in the same &quot;state&amp;quot; as before the call[[Image:|Image:]]!)<br /><code><br /> GLfloat gwidth = (float)fm</s>&gt;width©;<br /> glTranslatef(gwidth ,0.0f,0.0f);
Text3D::print(QString text)
<br /> glEndList();<br /> gluDeleteTess(tobj);<br />}<br /></code><br />The whole thing can actually be used in a init() and render() functions within a OpenGL object like this:<br /><code><br />init()<br />{<br /> text = &quot;Qt is great!&quot;;<br /> QFont dfont(&quot;Comic Sans MS&amp;quot;, 20);<br /> QFontMetrics fm(dfont);<br /> textwidth = fm.width(text);<br /> qDebug() &lt;&lt; &quot;width of text: &quot; &lt;&lt; textwidth;
{
<br /> initfont(dfont,5);<br /> }
glPushAttrib(GL_LIST_BIT); // Pushes The Display List Bits
<br />render()<br />{<br /> glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
glListBase(base); // Sets The Base Character to 0
<br /> glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW); // To operate on model-view matrix<br /> glLoadIdentity(); // Reset the model-view matrix<br /> glTranslatef(0, 0.0f, –500.0f); // Move right and into the screen
glCallLists(text.length(), GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, text.toLocal8Bit()); // Draws The Display List Text
<br /> glRotatef(rot, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); // Rotate On The X Axis<br /> glRotatef(rot*1.5f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f); // Rotate On The Y Axis<br /> glRotatef(rot*1.4f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); // Rotate On The Z Axis
glPopAttrib(); // Pops The Display List Bits
<br /> glColor3f( 1.0f*float(cos(rot/20.0f)), // Animate the color<br /> 1.0f*float(sin(rot/25.0f)),<br /> 1.0f-0.5f*float(cos(rot/17.0f))<br /> );
}
</code>
At the beginning we need to set up both, the tesselation and the display list.
<code>
void
Text3D::buildglyph(GLuint listbase, int c) // this is the main "workhorse" function. Create a displaylist with
// ID "listbase" from character "c"


<br /> glTranslatef(-textwidth/2.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); // textwidth holds the pixel width of the text<br /> // Print GL Text To The Screen<br /> print(text);
GLUtriangulatorObj *tobj;
<br /> glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
QPainterPath path;
<br /> rot''=0.3f; // increase rot value<br /> if(rot &gt; 2000.f) rot = 0.0f; // wrap around at 2000<br /> }<br /></code>
path.addText(QPointF(0,0),*font, QString((char)c));
 
QList<QPolygonF> poly = path.toSubpathPolygons(); // get the glyph outline as a list of paths
 
// set up the tesselation
tobj = gluNewTess();
gluTessCallback(tobj, GLU_TESS_BEGIN, (TessFuncPtr)glBegin);
gluTessCallback(tobj, GLU_TESS_VERTEX, (TessFuncPtr)glVertex3dv);
gluTessCallback(tobj, GLU_TESS_END, (TessFuncPtr)glEnd);
gluTessProperty(tobj, GLU_TESS_WINDING_RULE, GLU_TESS_WINDING_ODD);
 
glNewList(listbase, GL_COMPILE); // start a new list
glShadeModel(GL_FLAT);
gluTessBeginPolygon(tobj, 0 ); // start tesselate
 
// first, calculate number of vertices.
int elements = 0; // number of total vertices in one glyph, counting all paths.
for (QList<QPolygonF>::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it)
{
elements''= ('''it).size();
}
</code>
Now it's ready to tesselate the "front plate" polygon.
<code>
GLdouble''' vertices = (GLdouble ''') malloc(elements''' 3 * sizeof(GLdouble));
int j = 0;
for (QList<QPolygonF>::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it+'') // enumerate paths
{
gluTessBeginContour(tobj);
int i = 0;
for (QPolygonF::iterator p = (*it).begin(); p != it->end(); p) // enumerate vertices
{
int off = j+i;
vertices[off+0] = p->rx();
vertices[off+1] = -p->ry();
vertices[off+2] = 0; // setting Z offset to zero.
gluTessVertex(tobj, &amp;vertices[off], &amp;vertices[off] );
i''=3; // array math
}
gluTessEndContour(tobj);
j ''= (*it).size()*3; // some more array math
}
gluTessEndPolygon(tobj);
</code>
Do the whole tesselation a second time with an offset applied for the "back plate". The "offset" (thickness) is set in
<code>
gluTessBeginPolygon(tobj, 0 );
j = 0;
for (QList<QPolygonF>::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it)
{
gluTessBeginContour(tobj);
int i = 0;
for (QPolygonF::iterator p = (*it).begin(); p != it->end(); p)
{
int off = j+i;
vertices[off+0] = p->rx();
vertices[off+1] = -p->ry();
vertices[off+2] = -glyphthickness; // Z offset set to "minus glyphtickness"
gluTessVertex(tobj, &amp;vertices[off], &amp;vertices[off] );
i''=3;
}
gluTessEndContour(tobj);
j ''= (*it).size()*3;
}
gluTessEndPolygon(tobj);
 
free(vertices); // no need for the vertices anymore
</code>
The "wrapping" between the two "plates" is simple compared to the tesselation.
<code>
 
for (QList<QPolygonF>::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it)
{
glBegin(GL_QUAD_STRIP);
QPolygonF::iterator p;
for (p = (*it).begin(); p != it->end(); p)
{
glVertex3f(p->rx(), -p->ry(), 0.0f);
glVertex3f(p->rx(), -p->ry(), -glyphthickness);
}
p = (*it).begin();
glVertex3f(p->rx(), -p->ry(), 0.0f); // draw the closing quad
glVertex3f(p->rx(), -p->ry(), -glyphthickness); // of the "wrapping"
glEnd();
}
</code>
This is where the char-by-char advance is done. Get the width from the font metrics and apply a glTranslate() with that value. This goes into the displaylist as well. (This may have side-effects as the matrix is not in the same "state" as before the call[[Image:|Image:]]!)
<code>
GLfloat gwidth = (float)fm->width©;
glTranslatef(gwidth ,0.0f,0.0f);
 
glEndList();
gluDeleteTess(tobj);
}
</code>
The whole thing can actually be used in a init() and render() functions within a OpenGL object like this:
<code>
init()
{
text = "Qt is great!";
QFont dfont("Comic Sans MS", 20);
QFontMetrics fm(dfont);
textwidth = fm.width(text);
qDebug() << "width of text: " << textwidth;
 
initfont(dfont,5);
}
 
render()
{
glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
 
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW); // To operate on model-view matrix
glLoadIdentity(); // Reset the model-view matrix
glTranslatef(0, 0.0f, –500.0f); // Move right and into the screen
 
glRotatef(rot, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); // Rotate On The X Axis
glRotatef(rot*1.5f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f); // Rotate On The Y Axis
glRotatef(rot*1.4f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); // Rotate On The Z Axis
 
glColor3f( 1.0f*float(cos(rot/20.0f)), // Animate the color
1.0f*float(sin(rot/25.0f)),
1.0f-0.5f*float(cos(rot/17.0f))
);
 
 
glTranslatef(-textwidth/2.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); // textwidth holds the pixel width of the text
// Print GL Text To The Screen
print(text);
 
glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
 
rot''=0.3f; // increase rot value
if(rot > 2000.f) rot = 0.0f; // wrap around at 2000
}
</code>


== Update: ==
== Update: ==

Revision as of 09:30, 25 February 2015

h1. Draw Text as 3D objects with OpenGL

There are a couple of functions in WGL ("Windows Graphics Library":http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee417756(v=vs.85).aspx) which can be used to draw text as nice 3D objects in OpenGL. There is a well known example at "NeHe":http://nehe.gamedev.net/tutorial/outline_fonts/15004/. However, this is not portable at all, and since I'm using Qt anyway, I was looking for a way to have this done with Qt. I was surprised that there was no such function already available within Qt, but then I stumbled across "this example on Stackexchange":http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3514935/3d-text-on-qglwidget-in-qt-4-6-3/3516254#3516254 that got me started.

Before I get to the code, some drawbacks of this example:

  • It uses the fixed-function pipeline. (GL_QUAD_STRIP's and DisplayLists). Im sure this can be done in a "more modern" way with VBO's, but my OpenGL knowlegde is not yet at that level.
  • it relies on GLU for polygon tesselation. There might be better alternatives around or even some within Qt.
  • No real character set (or even UTF) handling. It only uses the first 256 characters.
  • side effects on the matrix.

The example uses QFont to get the font outline for each character (glyph). The basic idea is to create two flat outline-polygons for the front- and back-"plane" of a glyph and then create the "wrapping" in between the front- and backplane. Although it seems more difficult at first, it was pretty easy to create the wrapping in between the two outline-polygons with GL_QUAD_STRIP. The tricky bit was the polygon tesselation of the glyph outline, because the glyph-polygons are not concave and may have one or more holes. I'm using the polygon tesselation facility available in GLU.

The text3d class can be subclassed by a GLWidget or GLWindow object. There are only 2 functions required to draw text: initfont() and print(). The initialization of the font cannot easily be done in the constructor, because the contest is probably not initialized during construction. Therefore the initfont().

text3d.h

#include <QOpenGLFunctions>
#include <QString>
#include <QFont>
#include <QFontMetricsF>

class Text3D
{
public:
 Text3D();
 void initfont(QFont &amp; f, int thickness); // set up a font and specify the "thickness"
 void print(QString text); // print it in 3D!

private:
 void buildglyph(GLuint b, int c); // create one displaylist for character "c"
 QFont * font;
 QFontMetricsF *fm;
 float glyphthickness;
 GLuint base; // the "base" of our displaylists
};

The implementation file: text3d.cpp

#include <QFont>
#include <QList>
#include <QPainter>
#include <QOpenGLFunctions>
#include <QChar>
#include <gl/GLU.h>
#include "text3d.h"

typedef void (__stdcall *TessFuncPtr)(); // defintion of the callback function type

Text3D::Text3D() // nothing special in the constructor
 : glyphthickness(1.0f)
 , base(0)
{}

The initialization just loops through the first 256 char's and calls buildglyph() for each of them.

void
Text3D::initfont(QFont &amp; f, float thickness)
{
 font = &amp;f;
 fm = new QFontMetricsF(f);
 glyphthickness = thickness;
 if(base) // if we have display lists already, delete them first
 glDeleteLists(base, 256);

base = glGenLists(256); // generate 256 display lists
 if(base == 0)
 {
 qDebug() << "cannot create display lists.";
 throw;
 }

for(int i=0; i<256;+''i) // loop to build the first 256 glyphs
 buildglyph(base+i, (char)i);
}

The print() function uses glCallLists() to "interpret" a complete string. See below how the char-by-char advance works.

void
Text3D::print(QString text)
{
 glPushAttrib(GL_LIST_BIT); // Pushes The Display List Bits
 glListBase(base); // Sets The Base Character to 0
 glCallLists(text.length(), GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, text.toLocal8Bit()); // Draws The Display List Text
 glPopAttrib(); // Pops The Display List Bits
}

At the beginning we need to set up both, the tesselation and the display list.

void
Text3D::buildglyph(GLuint listbase, int c) // this is the main "workhorse" function. Create a displaylist with
 // ID "listbase" from character "c"

 GLUtriangulatorObj *tobj;
 QPainterPath path;
 path.addText(QPointF(0,0),*font, QString((char)c));

 QList<QPolygonF> poly = path.toSubpathPolygons(); // get the glyph outline as a list of paths

 // set up the tesselation
 tobj = gluNewTess();
 gluTessCallback(tobj, GLU_TESS_BEGIN, (TessFuncPtr)glBegin);
 gluTessCallback(tobj, GLU_TESS_VERTEX, (TessFuncPtr)glVertex3dv);
 gluTessCallback(tobj, GLU_TESS_END, (TessFuncPtr)glEnd);
 gluTessProperty(tobj, GLU_TESS_WINDING_RULE, GLU_TESS_WINDING_ODD);

 glNewList(listbase, GL_COMPILE); // start a new list
 glShadeModel(GL_FLAT);
 gluTessBeginPolygon(tobj, 0 ); // start tesselate

 // first, calculate number of vertices.
 int elements = 0; // number of total vertices in one glyph, counting all paths.
 for (QList<QPolygonF>::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it)
 {
 elements''= ('''it).size();
 }

Now it's ready to tesselate the "front plate" polygon.

 GLdouble''' vertices = (GLdouble ''') malloc(elements''' 3 * sizeof(GLdouble));
 int j = 0;
 for (QList<QPolygonF>::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it+'') // enumerate paths
 {
 gluTessBeginContour(tobj);
 int i = 0;
 for (QPolygonF::iterator p = (*it).begin(); p != it->end(); p) // enumerate vertices
 {
 int off = j+i;
 vertices[off+0] = p->rx();
 vertices[off+1] = -p->ry();
 vertices[off+2] = 0; // setting Z offset to zero.
 gluTessVertex(tobj, &amp;vertices[off], &amp;vertices[off] );
 i''=3; // array math
 }
 gluTessEndContour(tobj);
 j ''= (*it).size()*3; // some more array math
 }
 gluTessEndPolygon(tobj);

Do the whole tesselation a second time with an offset applied for the "back plate". The "offset" (thickness) is set in

 gluTessBeginPolygon(tobj, 0 );
 j = 0;
 for (QList<QPolygonF>::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it)
 {
 gluTessBeginContour(tobj);
 int i = 0;
 for (QPolygonF::iterator p = (*it).begin(); p != it->end(); p)
 {
 int off = j+i;
 vertices[off+0] = p->rx();
 vertices[off+1] = -p->ry();
 vertices[off+2] = -glyphthickness; // Z offset set to "minus glyphtickness"
 gluTessVertex(tobj, &amp;vertices[off], &amp;vertices[off] );
 i''=3;
 }
 gluTessEndContour(tobj);
 j ''= (*it).size()*3;
 }
 gluTessEndPolygon(tobj);

 free(vertices); // no need for the vertices anymore

The "wrapping" between the two "plates" is simple compared to the tesselation.

 for (QList<QPolygonF>::iterator it = poly.begin(); it != poly.end(); it)
 {
 glBegin(GL_QUAD_STRIP);
 QPolygonF::iterator p;
 for (p = (*it).begin(); p != it->end(); p)
 {
 glVertex3f(p->rx(), -p->ry(), 0.0f);
 glVertex3f(p->rx(), -p->ry(), -glyphthickness);
 }
 p = (*it).begin();
 glVertex3f(p->rx(), -p->ry(), 0.0f); // draw the closing quad
 glVertex3f(p->rx(), -p->ry(), -glyphthickness); // of the "wrapping"
 glEnd();
 }

This is where the char-by-char advance is done. Get the width from the font metrics and apply a glTranslate() with that value. This goes into the displaylist as well. (This may have side-effects as the matrix is not in the same "state" as before the call[[Image:|Image:]]!)

 GLfloat gwidth = (float)fm->width©;
 glTranslatef(gwidth ,0.0f,0.0f);

 glEndList();
 gluDeleteTess(tobj);
}

The whole thing can actually be used in a init() and render() functions within a OpenGL object like this:

init()
{
 text = "Qt is great!";
 QFont dfont("Comic Sans MS", 20);
 QFontMetrics fm(dfont);
 textwidth = fm.width(text);
 qDebug() << "width of text: " << textwidth;

 initfont(dfont,5);
 }

render()
{
 glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);

 glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW); // To operate on model-view matrix
 glLoadIdentity(); // Reset the model-view matrix
 glTranslatef(0, 0.0f, 500.0f); // Move right and into the screen

 glRotatef(rot, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); // Rotate On The X Axis
 glRotatef(rot*1.5f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f); // Rotate On The Y Axis
 glRotatef(rot*1.4f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); // Rotate On The Z Axis

 glColor3f( 1.0f*float(cos(rot/20.0f)), // Animate the color
 1.0f*float(sin(rot/25.0f)),
 1.0f-0.5f*float(cos(rot/17.0f))
 );


 glTranslatef(-textwidth/2.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); // textwidth holds the pixel width of the text
 // Print GL Text To The Screen
 print(text);

 glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);

 rot''=0.3f; // increase rot value
 if(rot > 2000.f) rot = 0.0f; // wrap around at 2000
 }

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