How to change font size ? How to add fonts?

Hello !

I need bigger fonts.
How can I do that ? I don’t see any fontSize method and the only fonts that I found were

    font3x5,
    font5x7,
    font6x10,
    font8x13,
    gohufont11,
    gohufont11b

The existing library doesn’t support any fonts larger than 8 pixels wide which is why you don’t see anything larger. Someone added some code to support larger fonts, but I haven’t tried it myself, maybe you can: Try improved font code · Issue #47 · pixelmatix/SmartMatrix · GitHub

You can use any font you want with the GitHub - marcmerlin/SmartMatrix_GFX: SmartMatrix::GFX: Allow using Adafruit::GFX as well as FastLED_NeoMatrix code with SmartMatrix backend, layer.

(shown on a neomatrix, but works the same on smartmatrix with my glue library)

I couldn’t figure out how to make it work. I opened a few issues on your github.

I will try that.

I should add, a really cool feature of Adafruit::GFX’s font support is the amount of fonts that exist for it.
If you go there, you can literally generate a font.h for close to 50 fonts, in the size of your choosing, and even see what it looks like before it’s rendered. Totally awesome
http://oleddisplay.squix.ch/#/home

I know that ! But as I said, I couldn’t figure out how to make your SmartMatrix_GFX work.

You made the basic demo work but then had issues writing triangles. Hopefully a simple problem with coordinates but unrelated to font usage

This is the config for SmartMatrix:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SmartMatrix3.h>

#define COLOR_DEPTH 24                  // known working: 24, 48 - If the sketch uses type `rgb24` directly, COLOR_DEPTH must be 24
const uint8_t kMatrixWidth = 64;        // known working: 32, 64, 96, 128
const uint8_t kMatrixHeight = 32;       // known working: 16, 32, 48, 64
const uint8_t kRefreshDepth = 24;       // known working: 24, 36, 48
const uint8_t kDmaBufferRows = 2;       // known working: 2-4, use 2 to save memory, more to keep from dropping frames and automatically lowering refresh rate
const uint8_t kPanelType = SMARTMATRIX_HUB75_32ROW_64COL_MOD8SCAN_L540_2727;   // use SMARTMATRIX_HUB75_16ROW_MOD8SCAN for common 16x32 panels
const uint8_t kMatrixOptions = (SMARTMATRIX_OPTIONS_NONE);      // see http://docs.pixelmatix.com/SmartMatrix for options
const uint8_t kBackgroundLayerOptions = (SM_BACKGROUND_OPTIONS_NONE);
const uint8_t kScrollingLayerOptions = (SM_SCROLLING_OPTIONS_NONE);
const uint8_t kIndexedLayerOptions = (SM_INDEXED_OPTIONS_NONE);

SMARTMATRIX_ALLOCATE_BUFFERS(matrix, kMatrixWidth, kMatrixHeight, kRefreshDepth, kDmaBufferRows, kPanelType, kMatrixOptions);
SMARTMATRIX_ALLOCATE_BACKGROUND_LAYER(backgroundLayer, kMatrixWidth, kMatrixHeight, COLOR_DEPTH, kBackgroundLayerOptions);
SMARTMATRIX_ALLOCATE_SCROLLING_LAYER(scrollingLayer, kMatrixWidth, kMatrixHeight, COLOR_DEPTH, kScrollingLayerOptions);
SMARTMATRIX_ALLOCATE_INDEXED_LAYER(indexedLayer, kMatrixWidth, kMatrixHeight, COLOR_DEPTH, kIndexedLayerOptions);

const int Brightness_15 = (15*255)/100;           // dim: 15% brightness
const int Brightness_25 = (25*255)/100;           // dim: 25% brightness
const int Brightness_50  = (50*255)/100;
const int Brightness_75  = (75*255)/100;
const int Brightness_100 = (100*255)/100;        // full (100%) brightness  
const int defaultScrollOffset = 6;
const rgb24 defaultBackgroundColor = {0x40, 0, 0};

#define WHITE   rgb24(0xFF,0xFF,0xFF)
#define BLACK   rgb24(0x00,0x00,0x00)
#define CYAN    rgb24(0x00,0xFF,0xFF)
#define RED     rgb24(0xFF,0x00,0x00)
#define GREEN   rgb24(0x00,0xFF,0x00)

And this is how you “start it up” :slight_smile:

  matrix.addLayer(&backgroundLayer); 
  matrix.addLayer(&scrollingLayer);
  matrix.begin();

  matrix.setBrightness(Brightness_25);

  backgroundLayer.enableColorCorrection(true);
  backgroundLayer.fillScreen(BLACK);
  backgroundLayer.swapBuffers();  

And here is a simple drawTriangle with the same coordinates that works:

  backgroundLayer.drawTriangle(41,5,41,25,58,15,WHITE);
  backgroundLayer.fillTriangle(41,5,41,25,58,15,WHITE);
  backgroundLayer.swapBuffers();

Now, as you saw, I tried making your API work:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <Adafruit_GFX.h>
#include <SmartMatrix_GFX.h>
#include <SmartMatrix3.h>

// ========================== CONFIG START ===================================================

/// SmartMatrix Defines
#define COLOR_DEPTH 24                  // known working: 24, 48 - If the sketch uses type `rgb24` directly, COLOR_DEPTH must be 24
#define kMatrixWidth  64       // known working: 32, 64, 96, 128
#define kMatrixHeight 32       // known working: 16, 32, 48, 64
const uint8_t kRefreshDepth = 24;       // known working: 24, 36, 48
const uint8_t kDmaBufferRows = 2;       // known working: 2-4, use 2 to save memory, more to keep from dropping frames and automatically lowering refresh rate
const uint8_t kPanelType = SMARTMATRIX_HUB75_32ROW_64COL_MOD8SCAN_L540_2727;   // use SMARTMATRIX_HUB75_16ROW_MOD8SCAN for common 16x32 panels
//const uint8_t kPanelType = SMARTMATRIX_HUB75_64ROW_MOD32SCAN;
const uint8_t kMatrixOptions = (SMARTMATRIX_OPTIONS_NONE);      // see http://docs.pixelmatix.com/SmartMatrix for options
const uint8_t kBackgroundLayerOptions = (SM_BACKGROUND_OPTIONS_NONE);

SMARTMATRIX_ALLOCATE_BUFFERS(matrixLayer, kMatrixWidth, kMatrixHeight, kRefreshDepth, kDmaBufferRows, kPanelType, kMatrixOptions);
SMARTMATRIX_ALLOCATE_BACKGROUND_LAYER(backgroundLayer, kMatrixWidth, kMatrixHeight, COLOR_DEPTH, kBackgroundLayerOptions);

// const int defaultBrightness = (100*255)/100;        // full (100%) brightness
const int defaultBrightness = (15*255)/100;       // dim: 15% brightness

#define mw kMatrixWidth
#define mh kMatrixHeight
#define NUMMATRIX (kMatrixWidth*kMatrixHeight)

CRGB leds[kMatrixWidth*kMatrixHeight];

// Sadly this callback function must be copied around with this init code
void show_callback() {
    for (uint16_t y=0; y<kMatrixHeight; y++) {
	for (uint16_t x=0; x<kMatrixWidth; x++) {
	    CRGB led = leds[x + kMatrixWidth*y];
	    // rgb24 defined in MatrixComnon.h
	    backgroundLayer.drawPixel(x, y, { led.r, led.g, led.b } );
	}
    }
    // This should be zero copy
    // that said, copy or no copy is about the same speed in the end.
    backgroundLayer.swapBuffers(false);
}

SmartMatrix_GFX *matrix = new SmartMatrix_GFX(leds, mw, mh, show_callback);

// ========================== CONFIG END ======================================================

And then, the start-up inside void loop() {}

  matrixLayer.addLayer(&backgroundLayer); 
  matrixLayer.begin();
  matrixLayer.setBrightness(defaultBrightness);
  matrixLayer.setRefreshRate(240);
  backgroundLayer.enableColorCorrection(true);

  // Time for serial port to work?
  delay(1000);
  backgroundLayer.fillScreen( {0x80, 0x80, 0x80} );
  backgroundLayer.swapBuffers();

But I could use it to draw a triangle.

I would love to make it work because it includes SmartMatrix’s backend and adds a lot of methods, functionality and style, but I haven’t figured it out yet.

Let’s not mix everything up, this is about fonts, not triangles. I already replied on Simple code lights up the whole display · Issue #2 · marcmerlin/SmartMatrix_GFX · GitHub .
Basically don’t assume both libs use the same API for triangles.

I don’t know about APIs, but it’s basically the same method:

//SmartMatrix
void SMLayerBackground<RGB, optionFlags>::drawTriangle(int16_t x1, int16_t y1, int16_t x2, int16_t y2, int16_t x3, int16_t y3, const RGB& color) {
    drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color);
    drawLine(x2, y2, x3, y3, color);
    drawLine(x1, y1, x3, y3, color);
}
//SmartMatrix_GFX
void Adafruit_GFX::drawTriangle(int16_t x0, int16_t y0,
        int16_t x1, int16_t y1, int16_t x2, int16_t y2, uint16_t color) {
    drawLine(x0, y0, x1, y1, color);
    drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, color);
    drawLine(x2, y2, x0, y0, color);
}

I

Of course ! I will carry this discussion over there. I would love some help to make it work !
Thank you !

And about the fonts: if SmartMatrix_GFX won’t work, I will later try Try improved font code · Issue #47 · pixelmatix/SmartMatrix · GitHub

Is it still the case that it’s impossible to have fonts wider than 8 pixels?

Check the pull requests on GitHub, I think someone submitted a fix

(I’m updating old threads mentioning fonts.) SmartMatrix Library 4.0 will have much better support for custom fonts and larger fonts. I’m posting more details here: