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 Using SoftShadow in Text Layer - TIETextLayer		  New Topic  Reply to Topic
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nachbar

USA
17 Posts
Posted - Aug 28 2019 :  14:51:32  Show Profile  Reply
I have a utility app I use to add text with a shadow to an adjusted bitmap. I had implemented that utility using TImageEnView.LayersCreateFromText, which had an AddShadow parameter, and it worked great. I was updating the utility, and LayersCreateFromText is now deprecated and no longer documented, with the recommendation to use TIETextLayer, which has a SoftShadow component.

However, I am not able to get the shadow to show up, even though Enabled is true and regardless of what I set for the radius, etc. The only shadow demo uses Proc->AddSoftShadow, but that just puts a shadow on the entire image, not shadowing the text. There is a nice picture in the help file of what shadowed text should look like, but no code to produce it.

I am using a throwaway (i.e., not displayed) TImageEnView, assigning the image from the TIEBitmap to Layers[0]->Bitmap, creating a TIETextLayer using LayersAdd, setting the text and other info on the TIETextLayer, calling SizeToText on the layer, and then calling Update() on the TImageEnView. Then I use IELayersMerge to merge both of the layers together into a bitmap.

All of that works fine to put text on the bitmap, but I cannot cause a shadow to appear. If I call AddShoftShadow on the TImageEnView's Proc, I get the error "Active layer does not contain bitmap." -- That is true - the active layer is a TIETextLayer.

Can you tell me how to put shadowed text on a bitmap, or provide some working code using TIETextLayer->SoftShadow?

Thank you.

James Nachbar

xequte

38180 Posts
Posted - Aug 29 2019 :  17:15:17  Show Profile  Reply
Hi James

You can continue to use LayersCreateFromText. It won't be removed.

This works in my testing:

// Load an image, add text with a soft shadow and save it
var
  iev : TImageEnView;
begin
  iev := TImageEnView.Create( nil );
  iev.IEBitmap.LoadFromFile( 'd:\image.jpg' );
  iev.LayersAdd( ielkText, 100, 100 );
  TIETextLayer( iev.CurrentLayer ).Text := 'This is a test';
  TIETextLayer( iev.CurrentLayer ).Font.Size := 30;
  TIETextLayer( iev.CurrentLayer ).Font.Style := [fsBold];
  iev.CurrentLayer.SoftShadow.Enabled := True;
  iev.LayersMergeAll();
  iev.IEBitmap.SaveToFile( 'd:\image_out.jpg' );
  iev.Free;
end;


Nigel
Xequte Software
www.imageen.com
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nachbar

USA
17 Posts
Posted - Aug 29 2019 :  19:57:32  Show Profile  Reply
Thank you. Yes, LayersCreateFromText works fine. Will LayersCreateFromText be restored to the documentation?

James Nachbar
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xequte

38180 Posts
Posted - Aug 29 2019 :  23:14:05  Show Profile  Reply
Hi James

No, unfortunately LayersCreateFromText creates an image layer with text drawn onto it, so it's not a great way to create a "text layer".

If the layer is sized after creation then it will look awful.

Nigel
Xequte Software
www.imageen.com
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