boboson has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I am using the Imager module to add some graphics to my images and it works great. Now I wanted to add strings of text. I tried with some of the examples in Imager::Font. but I can't get it to play. I am not sure if there is some truetype programs/modules that needs to be installed on the linux server or if I need to install the fonts on the server, I've tried putting the fonts in the same directory as the perl script.
Below is a small example script from Imager::Font and the error it produces.

my $font = Imager::Font->new(file => 'bettynoir.ttf');
print "err:".Imager->errstr."<br />";
# ERROR PRODUCED: Font type not found

$img->string(x => 50, y => 70,
             string => "Hello, World!",
             font => $font,
             size => 30,
             aa => 1,
             color => 'white');  
print "Font-error:".$img->errstr."<br />";
# ERROR PRODUCED: missing required parameter 'font'

# Check if Imager is t1 or truetype capable
print "Has truetype"      if $Imager::formats{tt};
print "Has t1 postscript" if $Imager::formats{t1};
print "Has Win32 fonts"   if $Imager::formats{w32};
print "Has Freetype2"     if $Imager::formats{ft2};

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The above truetype capable check displays nothing.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? What needs to be installed on the server, where do I place the fonts?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Can't get Imager::Font to work
by texasperl (Sexton) on Dec 25, 2006 at 02:56 UTC
    My immediate first guess would be: 
    $ sudo updatedb
$ locate font.ttf

    [download]
    ...and then use that full pathname to the font in your code. Failing that I would look into Imager::Font's code and search for the relevant open() for your file...you must be missing something. Perhaps it's an include path in xft, but this isn't a linux forum.

    Quick answer, but if it works, it works. If it doesn't, move onto the next :-)

    Merry Christmas,
    ~texasperl
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[d/l]
Re: Can't get Imager::Font to work
by zentara (Cardinal) on Dec 25, 2006 at 13:58 UTC
    Try installing Freetype2 and then rebuild Imager.

    When I run the truetype capability check (shown above), I get 

    Has t1 postscript Has Freetype2

    [download]
    and the following script works fine for me, if I have Generic.ttf in the script directory. 
    #!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use Imager;

my $img = Imager->new(xsize=>400,ysize=>50,channels=>4);

my $blue = Imager::Color->new("#0000FF");
my $font = Imager::Font->new(
                file  => 'Generic.ttf',
                color => $blue,
                size  => 30);
        
$img->string(font  => $font,
             text  => "Model-XYZ",
             x     => 15,
             y     => 40,
             size  => 40,
             color => $blue,
             aa    => 1);
               
$img->write(file=>$0.'.png', type=>'png')
           or die "Cannot write: ",$img->errstr;


my $img_mirror = $img->copy();      
$img_mirror->flip( dir => "h" );

$img_mirror->write(file=>$0.'-mirror.png', type=>'png')
           or die "Cannot write: ",$img_mirror->errstr;

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    I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. Cogito ergo sum a bum
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[d/l]
[select]
      Yep, that's probably it. Thanks for all your help!
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