Writing a Guide to SDF Fonts(redblobgames.com)

122 pointsby chunkles5 mesi fa11 comments

https://www.redblobgames.com/blog/2026-02-26-writing-a-guide-to-sdf-fonts/

11 comments

adzm5 mesi fa

The article in question, https://www.redblobgames.com/articles/sdf-fonts/ is really neat as well, especially the interactive demonstrations

socalgal25 mesi fa

That seems off a little. Here's GPU accelerated vector text, in perspective where as the article claims no

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/...

iTokio5 mesi fa

Indeed, but the author left a note:

> there are newer GPU-accelerated font rendering systems that use the vectors. I have not yet explored these.

socalgal24 mesi fa

The one I linked to is older than SDF fonts

amitp5 mesi fa

Thanks!

bob10295 mesi fa

Valve originally devised this technique in 2007:

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/2007/SIGGRAPH2007...

amitp5 mesi fa

I originally had that near the top but in one of the rewrites I moved the papers to the end — https://www.redblobgames.com/articles/sdf-fonts/#appendix

jjkaczor5 mesi fa

Oh thank-you for the reminder to check Amit's site again! (been following since the BBS and SolarRealms days...)

bananaboy5 mesi fa

I’m always pleasantly surprised when I’m reminded that he and his brother made SRE and BRE. I love hearing that folks from those days are still making great things.

eviks4 mesi fa

Tangential: given the lack of hinting, is it possible to achieve high quality results for small fonts, are there any examples/comparisons to actual fonts (that also can have bad quality hinting, so real comparison to well/poorly hinted fonts would be interesting)?

mcraiha5 mesi fa

Are there any games that use SDF for 2D character (player, enemies, objects etc.) rendering?