Question

I need to batch create images with text. Requirements:

1. arbitrary size of bitmap
2. PNG format
3. transparent background
4. black text anti-aliased against transparency
5. adjustable character spacing
6. adjustable text position (x and y coordinates where text begins)
7. TrueType and/or Type1 support
8. Unix command line tool or Python library

So far I’ve evaluated the following:

• Python Imaging Library: fails 5.
• ImageMagick (‘caption’ option): hard to figure out 6.
• PyCairo: fails 5.
• SVG + ImageMagick convert: most promising, although requires multiple tools

The problem with PIL is that e.g. the default spacing for Verdana is way too sparse. I need the text to be a bit tighter, but there’s no way to adjust it in PIL.

In ImageMagick I haven’t found an easy way to specify where in the image the text begins (I’m using -size WIDTHxHEIGHT and caption:’TEXT’). Adding a transparent border will move the text away from the corner it’s achored to, but

• image size needs to be adjusted accordingly since border adds to the extents
• it’s not possible to adjust horizontal and vertical offset independently

Have I missed some obvious alternatives or failed to find necessary features from the above mentioned?

Answer 1

Here’s the SVG + ImageMagick solution:

Programmatically create SVG documents based on this template, replacing ‘TEXT HERE’ with the desired text content:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?> <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC       '-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.0//EN'       'http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-SVG-20010904/DTD/svg10.dtd'> <svg version='1.0' width='152px' height='50px'>   <text style='font-size: 22px; font-weight:bold; font-family: Verdana-Bold;                letter-spacing: -1.3%;'>     <tspan x='10' y='39'>TEXT HERE</tspan>   </text> </svg> 

Convert the documents to background-transparent PNGs with ImageMagick’s convert:

$ convert -background none input.svg output.png