C# Font character rendering (GDI Bug)?

Question

I am trying to draw the character "t" to a bitmap at location (0,0), then save the bitmap. However, whenever I do this, the character is rendered at x = 8 (for size 42). The offset can be different per font size, it is 6 when the size is 36. This seems to be a bug related to GDI. How can I query this value that is creating this offset? I tried "GetCharABCWidthsFloat", but the left and right bearings will be zero. I tried "GetTextMetrics", but that does not help. I noticed this article mentions it, but does not mention how to fix it http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307208

As a testing measure, I tried to render t at (-8, 0) and it ended up rendering at (0, 0). Does anyone know how I can get this offset value? I am not interested in hacking something together, but a real viable solution.

GetMeasureString, GetLineSpacing does not help.

Example Code:

static class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        FontStyle style = FontStyle.Regular;
        FontFamily fontFamily = new FontFamily("Times New Roman");
        Font font = new Font("Times New Roman", 48, style);

        Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(64, 64);
        Graphics graphic = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap);

        SolidBrush blackBrush = new SolidBrush(Color.Black);
        graphic.FillRectangle(blackBrush, 0, 0, 64, 64);
        graphic.TextRenderingHint = System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias;

        SizeF size = graphic.MeasureString("t", font);
        float lineSpacing = fontFamily.GetLineSpacing(FontStyle.Regular);

        graphic.DrawString("t", font, Brushes.White, new Point(0, 0));
        bitmap.Save("t.png");
        graphic.Dispose();
    }
}

max max · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-31T21:28:58

Try StringFormat.GenericTypographic:

graphic.DrawString("t", font, Brushes.White, new Point(0, 0), StringFormat.GenericTypographic);

C# Font character rendering (GDI Bug)?

1 Answers