SlugText-Sharp 0.1.1

SlugText-Sharp

SlugText-Sharp is a C# implementation of Slug-style text rendering data generation. It compiles OpenType/TrueType fonts into a compact binary .slug payload ("SLUGGISH" format in this repository) that can be consumed by a GPU text renderer.

This repository contains:

• SlugSharp.Core: library for generating and exporting .slug binaries.
• SlugSharp.CLI: command-line utility around the core API.
• renderingShaders/: reference HLSL shaders derived from the original Slug project shader approach.

Why use SlugText-Sharp

Compared to MSDF workflows, Slug-style generation can be significantly slower in exchange for simpler dynamic/on-the-fly generation. A commonly cited benchmark reports roughly one order of magnitude lower generation performance (about 10x slower) than MSDF in specific scenarios.

Reference: "Improved signed distance field generation for modern text rendering" (Lund University):

• https://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?fileOId=9024911&func=downloadFile&recordOId=9024910

In practice, the model is still very attractive when you need:

• Runtime/on-demand font asset generation.
• A compact API with very few integration lines.
• Good quality for scalable text rendering pipelines.

Install (NuGet)

dotnet add package SlugText-Sharp

Quick Start

using SlugSharp.Core;

var slugBytes = SlugCompiler.Compile(
    fontPath: "fonts/SpaceMono-Regular.ttf",
    options: new GeneratorOptions
    {
        BandCount = 16,
        FullRange = false,
        Whitelist = null
    });

File.WriteAllBytes("SpaceMono.slug", slugBytes);
SluggishParser.Validate(slugBytes); // optional sanity check

See full usage guide in docs/core-usage.md.

API Overview

• SlugCompiler.Compile(string fontPath, GeneratorOptions? options = null)
  • One-shot call that generates and serializes .slug bytes.
• SlugGenerator.Generate(string fontPath)
  • Lower-level call returning raw generation data before serialization.
• SluggishWriter.Export(SlugGenerationRaw generatedData)
  • Serializes generated raw data to binary format.
• SluggishParser.Validate(byte[] bytes)
  • Validates binary structure and texture blocks.

Release Automation

CI + NuGet publish is configured in .github/workflows/ci.yml.

• Push/PR on main or master: build and test.
• Push a tag vX.Y.Z: package and publish to NuGet using NUGET_API_KEY.

Local helper script (ignored from git):

./scripts/local/release.sh 0.2.0

This script updates SlugSharp.Core.csproj version, runs restore/build/test, commits, tags, and pushes.

Licensing

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.

Original Slug project by Eric Lengyel is dual-licensed (MIT or Apache-2.0):

• https://github.com/EricLengyel/Slug

Shader references in renderingShaders/ are derived from the Slug project and are credited accordingly.

For details, see docs/licensing-and-attribution.md.