Question

I am trying to create some rotated text and save that image to a PNG file. The resulting PNG should be no larger than needed (or minimal padding). I have it working as long as there is no rotation, but as soon as I rotate the text, it is getting clipped off in the file. I am sure it has something to do with adjusting the either the CenterX and CenterY of the RotateTransform or creating a TranslateTransform, but I can’t find anything on how to do it correctly and my trial-and-error testing has turned into trial-and-frustration.

My sample code is below. I looking for a solution that would work with an arbitrary angle and not just -45 degrees.

Finally, if someone knows how to meet these requirements, but say using an “old style” Graphics object instead of WPF tools, I am open to that solution to that too.

private static void CreateImageFile()
{
    FormattedText ft;
    Geometry textBox;
    string fontName;
    Typeface face;
    DrawingVisual viz;
    RotateTransform rt;
    TranslateTransform tt;
    Rect rect;
    RenderTargetBitmap bmp;
    PngBitmapEncoder encoder;

    ft = CreateText("Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing" + Environment.NewLine + "elit, sed do eiusmod tempor", "Verdana", 12, false, false);
    textBox = ft.BuildHighlightGeometry(new Point());

    fontName = "Arial";
    face = new Typeface(fontName);

    // now create the visual we'll draw them to
    viz = new DrawingVisual();
    rt = new RotateTransform() { Angle = -45 };
    rect = rt.TransformBounds(ft.BuildHighlightGeometry(new Point(0, 0)).Bounds);

    using (DrawingContext dc = viz.RenderOpen())
    {
        dc.PushTransform(rt);
        dc.DrawText(ft, new Point(0, 0));
        dc.Pop();
    }

    bmp = new RenderTargetBitmap((int)rect.Width, (int)rect.Height, 96, 96, PixelFormats.Pbgra32);
    bmp.Render(viz);

    encoder = new PngBitmapEncoder();
    encoder.Frames.Add(BitmapFrame.Create(bmp));
    using (FileStream file = new FileStream("TextImage.png", FileMode.Create))
        encoder.Save(file);
}

private static FormattedText CreateText(string text, string typeface, double fontSize, bool bold, bool italic)
{
    FontStyle fontStyle = FontStyles.Normal;
    FontWeight fontWeight = FontWeights.Medium;

    if (bold == true) fontWeight = FontWeights.Bold;
    if (italic == true) fontStyle = FontStyles.Italic;

    // Create the formatted text based on the properties set.
    FormattedText formattedText = new FormattedText(
        text,
        CultureInfo.CurrentCulture,
        FlowDirection.LeftToRight,
        new Typeface(new FontFamily(typeface),
            fontStyle,
            fontWeight,
            FontStretches.Normal),
        fontSize,
        Brushes.Black, // This brush does not matter since we use the geometry of the text. 
        null,
        TextFormattingMode.Display
        );

    return formattedText;
}

---

Update

Based upon some of the suggestions below, I decided to try a different tack and experiment in the GUI. I created a window like this:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="MainWindow" Height="160" Width="160" Loaded="Window_Loaded">
    <Grid>
        <Canvas Name="WorkCanvas" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center">
            <TextBlock RenderTransformOrigin="0.5,0.5">
                <TextBlock.RenderTransform>
                    <TransformGroup>
                        <ScaleTransform/>
                        <SkewTransform/>
                        <RotateTransform Angle="-45"/>
                        <TranslateTransform/>
                    </TransformGroup>
                </TextBlock.RenderTransform>This is a test</TextBlock>
        </Canvas>
    </Grid>
</Window>

As you can see, it uses both the RotateTransform and the suggested RenderTransformOrigin, and the result is like the image below. And, as you can see, the text does not go through the middle of the Canvas. And that seems to be my entire problem. How to rotate the text and get it correctly centered.

---

Update 2

I decided to try a Grid instead of a Canvas this time and I can now get the text properly centered in the grid, but since I can’t use a FormattedText object, I can’t seem to measure the actual bounding box. All measurements of the TextBlock or the Grid come back as if it was not rotated at all (looking at ActualWidth, ActualHeight, and DesiredSize). If I can’t get the rotated bounding box size, I can’t save the PNG without it getting clipped.

Oh, and I tried rotating the text in an unrotated grid and rotating the grid itself, both give the same results when trying to determine the dimensions.

Answer 1

After much poking around and with help from Matt and kbo4sho88, I finally found the correct way of doing it. In addition to the help from the other posters, I finally found that I need to call TransformToVisual and TransformBounds to get the bounding box that I need for the correct file size. But, before that, I had to call Measure and Arrange since these objects are not shown on a screen.

Phew!

private static void CreateImageFile()
{
    Grid workGrid;
    TextBlock workTextBlock;
    RenderTargetBitmap bitmap;
    PngBitmapEncoder encoder;
    Rect textBlockBounds;
    GeneralTransform transform;

    workGrid = new Grid()
    {
        VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center,
        HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center
    };

    workTextBlock = new TextBlock()
    {
        Text = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing" + Environment.NewLine + "elit, sed do eiusmod tempor",
        FontFamily = new FontFamily("Verdana"),
        FontSize = 36,
        TextAlignment = TextAlignment.Center,
        RenderTransformOrigin = new Point(0.5, 0.5),
        LayoutTransform = new RotateTransform(-45)
    };

    workGrid.Children.Add(workTextBlock);

    /*
     * We now must measure and arrange the controls we just created to fill in the details (like
     * ActualWidth and ActualHeight before we call TransformToVisual() and TransformBounds()
     */
    workGrid.Measure(new Size(double.PositiveInfinity, double.PositiveInfinity));
    workGrid.Arrange(new Rect(0, 0, workGrid.DesiredSize.Width, workGrid.DesiredSize.Height));

    transform = workTextBlock.TransformToVisual(workGrid);
    textBlockBounds = transform.TransformBounds(new Rect(0, 0, workTextBlock.ActualWidth, workTextBlock.ActualHeight));

    /*
     * Now, create the bitmap that will be used to save the image. We will make the image the 
     * height and width we need at 96DPI and 32-bit RGBA (so the background will be transparent).
     */
    bitmap = new RenderTargetBitmap((int)textBlockBounds.Width, (int)textBlockBounds.Height, 96, 96, PixelFormats.Pbgra32);
    bitmap.Render(workGrid);

    encoder = new PngBitmapEncoder();
    encoder.Frames.Add(BitmapFrame.Create(bitmap));
    using (FileStream file = new FileStream("TextImage.png", FileMode.Create))
        encoder.Save(file);
}

Of course this is just a sample (but working) method and the final one will be parameterized.

Final part of the puzzle was found at WPF: Getting new coordinates after a Rotation