# How does OPENRNDR render text

**URL:** <https://openrndr.discourse.group/t/how-does-openrndr-render-text/367>\
**Category:** OPENRNDR\
**Created:** [April 22, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://openrndr.discourse.group/t/how-does-openrndr-render-text/367 "2022-04-22T13:42:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JochemP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eada6e/32.png) [@JochemP](https://openrndr.discourse.group/u/JochemP)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://openrndr.discourse.group/t/how-does-openrndr-render-text/367/1 "2022-04-22T13:42:29Z")

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Does OPENRNDR just use a bitmap/ texture atlas for text or something else. And what tool does it use for generating the fint and glyphs etc. Does it use a freeType binding or java.awt.font or something else?

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**Author:** ![abe](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/openrndr.discourse.group/abe/32/700_2.png) [@abe](https://openrndr.discourse.group/u/abe)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 5:34pm UTC](https://openrndr.discourse.group/t/how-does-openrndr-render-text/367/2 "2022-04-22T17:34:40Z")

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Hi! Yes, OPENRNDR uses currently a texture atlas for text. Looking at [openrndr/FontImageMapManagerStbTruetype.kt at master · openrndr/openrndr · GitHub](https://github.com/openrndr/openrndr/blob/master/openrndr-jvm/openrndr-gl3/src/jvmMain/kotlin/org/openrndr/internal/gl3/FontImageMapManagerStbTruetype.kt) I see it’s using LWJGL to generate that texture.

It is easy to display the texture by calling `drawer.image(font.texture)`.

There has been discussions in the past about implementing alternatives, like SDF fonts (Signed Distance Field).

Are you working on something text related?