Drawing text

This lesson covers drawing text using bitmap fonts and the sprite renderer.

Setup

First create a new project using the instructions from the first two lessons: The basic game loop and Adding the DirectX Tool Kit which we will use for this lesson.

Creating a font

The text renderer in DirectX Tool Kit makes use of bitmap fonts, so the first step is to create a .spritefont file by capturing a system TrueType font using the makespritefont command-line utility.

Download the MakeSpriteFont.exe from the DirectX Tool Kit site save the EXE into your project's folder.
Open a command-prompt and then change to your project's folder.

Run the following command-line

MakeSpriteFont "Courier New" myfile.spritefont /FontSize:32

Then from the top menu in Visual Studio select Project / Add Existing Item.... Select myfile.spritefont and click "OK".

If you are using a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app or Xbox One project rather than a Windows desktop app, you need to manually edit the Visual Studio project properties on the myfile.spritefont file and make sure "Content" is set to "Yes" so the data file will be included in your packaged build.

To get a Bold version of the font, run the following command-line:

MakeSpriteFont "Courier New" myfileb.spritefont /FontSize:32 /FontStyle:Bold

For an Italic version of the font, run the following command-line:

MakeSpriteFont "Courier New" myfilei.spritefont /FontSize:32 /FontStyle:Italic

For a ~~Strikeout~~ version of the font, run the following command-line:

MakeSpriteFont "Courier New" myfiles.spritefont /FontSize:32 /FontStyle:Strikeout

For a Underline version of the font, run the following command-line:

MakeSpriteFont "Courier New" myfileu.spritefont /FontSize:32 /FontStyle:Underline

Loading a bitmap font

In the Game.h file, add the following variable to the bottom of the Game class's private declarations (right after the m_graphicsMemory variable you already added as part of setup):

std::unique_ptr<DirectX::DescriptorHeap> m_resourceDescriptors;
std::unique_ptr<DirectX::SpriteBatch> m_spriteBatch;

enum Descriptors
{
    MyFont,
    Count
};

In Game.cpp, add to the TODO of CreateDevice after where you have created m_graphicsMemory:

m_resourceDescriptors = std::make_unique<DescriptorHeap>(m_d3dDevice.Get(),
    D3D12_DESCRIPTOR_HEAP_TYPE_CBV_SRV_UAV,
    D3D12_DESCRIPTOR_HEAP_FLAG_SHADER_VISIBLE,
    Descriptors::Count);

ResourceUploadBatch resourceUpload(m_d3dDevice.Get());

resourceUpload.Begin();

m_font = std::make_unique<SpriteFont>(m_d3dDevice.Get(), resourceUpload,
    L"myfile.spritefont",
    m_resourceDescriptors->GetCpuHandle(Descriptors::MyFont),
    m_resourceDescriptors->GetGpuHandle(Descriptors::MyFont));

auto uploadResourcesFinished = resourceUpload.End(m_commandQueue.Get());

WaitForGpu();

uploadResourcesFinished.wait();

In Game.cpp, add to the TODO of OnDeviceLost:

m_font.reset();
m_resourceDescriptors.reset();

Build and run the application which will still not be displaying anything but the cornflower blue window, but will have a font loaded.

Troubleshooting: If you get a runtime exception, then you may have the myfile.spritefont in the wrong folder, have modified the "Working Directory" in the "Debugging" configuration settings, or otherwise changed the expected paths at runtime of the application. You should set a break-point on new SpriteFont and step into the code to find the exact problem.

Drawing text using a font

In the Game.h file, add the following variables to the bottom of the Game class's private declarations:

std::unique_ptr<DirectX::SpriteBatch> m_spriteBatch;
DirectX::SimpleMath::Vector2 m_fontPos;

In Game.cpp, modify TODO of CreateDevice to include after resourceUpload.Begin and before the resourceUpload.End:

RenderTargetState rtState(DXGI_FORMAT_B8G8R8A8_UNORM, DXGI_FORMAT_D32_FLOAT);

SpriteBatchPipelineStateDescription pd(rtState);
m_spriteBatch = std::make_unique<SpriteBatch>(m_d3dDevice.Get(), resourceUpload, pd);

In Game.cpp, add to the TODO of CreateResources:

D3D12_VIEWPORT viewport = { 0.0f, 0.0f,
    static_cast<float>(backBufferWidth), static_cast<float>(backBufferHeight),
    D3D12_MIN_DEPTH, D3D12_MAX_DEPTH };
m_spriteBatch->SetViewport(viewport);

m_fontPos.x = backBufferWidth / 2.f;
m_fontPos.y = backBufferHeight / 2.f;

If using the UWP template, you also need to add m_spriteBatch->SetRotation(m_outputRotation); to handle display orientation changes.

In Game.cpp, add to the TODO of OnDeviceLost:

m_spriteBatch.reset();