Using dot matrix fonts in LED matrix displays.

Using Arduino LEDs and Multiplexing
1

I would like to use the dot matrix fonts available online to print text on my LED matrix display. Don't worry about the dimensions(i.e., no. of rows and columns) of my matrix display. I just want to be able to read the font files and use them in my matrix display.
To get these fonts, just google "dot matrix fonts". All fonts are in ttf format.

Thank you.

2

Very nice. So what exactly do you need help with?

Paul

3

Well, sorry for not being clear on my previous post.

I want to know if there is any way of doing it... I want to read the ttf files and use it to get the text in a binary matrix format.

UPDATE:

I did discover a method of rasterizing a .ttf, by first converting it to .bdf and then rasterizing it. But it was for LCD displays. Is there any way of using it for LED matrix displays as well. I could not make any sense out of the data generated by this.

Here's the link to that page that describes it: http://arduinoexplained.blogspot.in/2012/05/generating-your-own-lcd-raster-fonts.html

Thank you.

4

What does the rasterised data look like? That utility you linked to was designed to be used with a particular lcd library. In general there are not many similar libraries for led displays because there are so many different controller designs. Many do not have a controller as such and use the Arduino for multiplexing.

But once the data is rasterised, it might be in a suitable format to be further manipulated into something you could use. What design is your led matrix controller?

5

Thank you for your reply.

I have attached the rasterized font file generated by the tool, which is in .c format , to this post. This is the raterized file of a font called PROG.BOT, which you can get from:PROG.BOT Font | Divide By Zero | FontSpace. It's a dot matrix font.

And if you want to get the library and the tool, you can get it from: Server error.

Also, i'm using 74hc595 shift register(for displaying the content), with 4017 decade counter(for multiplexing) as controller of my LED matrix display.

PROG.BOT_10.c (12.3 KB)

6

I see. You can probably cut&paste that into your sketch, or #include it. Problem is it will use up nearly 2K ram, so if you are using an Uno, you won't have any left for your program. You'll have to figure out how to use the PROGMEM directive to get the font data into flash memory instead of ram.

So you are using shift registers and multiplexers to drive your led matrix. Are you using any library to support this? How big is your matrix?