[SDL] *fancy* text with SDL_ttf?

[Pete Shinners]

Paul wrote:
> I'm looking for tips on how to create *fancy* text using SDL_ttf.  What I'm 
> after is text like Macromedia "Fireworks" can generate.  Such effects as:
> 
> - Alpha blended drop shadow
> - Alpha blended "glow" around text
> - Textured text characters
> - Variable size/colour outline around each character
> 
> oh...and with all the above nicely anti-aliased too  :)

this may not quite help you, but maybe it will. in december the pygame 
folks had a little "font contest" where people tried to do some simple 
creative effects with fonts. the code is all in python, but could easily 
  be turned into c code. if you go in pixel by pixel in c you could even 
make them a bit fancier.

as far as antialiasing goes, most people quickly ran into problems with 
SDL's lack of handling the pixel alphas in the destination surface. 
therefore most of the effects just use colorkeys to get around this.

anyways, you can check out the results and maybe get some ideas. there's 
stuff like dropshadows, outlines, and even some animated entries.
http://www.pygame.org/fontcontest.shtml