libGDX smooth FreeTypeFonts

Question

I have problems to obtain smooth fonts with libGDX. I already search on this site, and on google, I tried the solutions on these questions here and here, but I always have poor rendering of my fonts.

Exemple :

I tried several methods, and always get the exact same result as described by the picture above.

One method I used to generate the font is :

public static BitmapFont generateFont(String fontPath, float size){
    FileHandle fontFile = Gdx.files.internal(fontPath);
    FreeTypeFontGenerator generator = new FreeTypeFontGenerator(fontFile);
    FreeTypeFontGenerator.FreeTypeFontParameter params = new FreeTypeFontGenerator.FreeTypeFontParameter();
    params.genMipMaps = true;
    params.magFilter = TextureFilter.MipMapLinearNearest;
    params.minFilter = TextureFilter.MipMapLinearNearest;
    params.size = (int)Math.ceil(size);
    generator.scaleForPixelHeight((int)Math.ceil(size));
    BitmapFont f = generator.generateFont(params);
    return f;
}

Another strategy I tried was to load the fonts in an AssetManager :

FileHandleResolver resolver = new InternalFileHandleResolver();
assetsManager.setLoader(FreeTypeFontGenerator.class, new FreeTypeFontGeneratorLoader(resolver));
assetsManager.setLoader(BitmapFont.class, ".ttf", new FreetypeFontLoader(resolver));

FreeTypeFontLoaderParameter size4Params = new FreeTypeFontLoaderParameter();
sizeParams.fontFileName = "Fonts/GOTHIC.TTF";       
sizeParams.fontParameters.size = (int)Math.ceil(2*Gdx.graphics.getWidth()/9);
sizeParams.fontParameters.genMipMaps = true;                    
sizeParams.fontParameters.minFilter = TextureFilter.MipMapLinearNearest;
sizeParams.fontParameters.magFilter = TextureFilter.MipMapLinearNearest;                            
assetsManager.load("font1.ttf", BitmapFont.class, sizeParams);

These 2 strategies give the same result, but what annoy me the most is that, even if I remove "genMipMaps = true", and the TextureFilters in these methods, I still have the same result. It's like the filters are useless for the fonts.

What am I missing ?

Thanks !

Answer 1

OK, so finally here is a solution : I simply changed the TextureFilter from MipMapLinearNearest to Linear, and I obtain a smooth texture :

At first I was very reluctant to use the linear filter, as I though it would decrease the frame rate, according to this post. But I didn't observe any fps drop with the FPSLogger, so it seems it's all good.

Here is my final code to generate the fonts with an asset manager :

FileHandleResolver resolver = new InternalFileHandleResolver();
assetsManager.setLoader(FreeTypeFontGenerator.class, new FreeTypeFontGeneratorLoader(resolver));
assetsManager.setLoader(BitmapFont.class, ".ttf", new FreetypeFontLoader(resolver));

FreeTypeFontLoaderParameter size4Params = new FreeTypeFontLoaderParameter();
sizeParams.fontFileName = "Fonts/GOTHIC.TTF";       
sizeParams.fontParameters.size = (int)Math.ceil(2*Gdx.graphics.getWidth()/9);                 
sizeParams.fontParameters.minFilter = TextureFilter.Linear;
sizeParams.fontParameters.magFilter = TextureFilter.Linear;                            
assetsManager.load("font1.ttf", BitmapFont.class, sizeParams);