Glyph management in texture atlases

A system configured to perform glyph management, comprising:

• a memory for storing a texture atlas comprising red, green, blue, and alpha (RGBα) color channels and an associated atlas index;
• and
• a processor operably coupled with the memory, the processor generating a glyph image for each for each of a received one or more characters and at least one parameter associated with each glyph image and storing the generated glyph image to only one of the color channels of the texture atlas and storing an atlas index for the glyph image in the associated atlas index, the atlas index defining the character represented by the glyph image, a position of the glyph image within the texture atlas and the at least one parameter of the respective character represented by the glyph image in the atlas index wherein the at least one parameter associated with each of the glyph images comprises any one or more of font size, font family, original image width, original image height, and a UV array;
• wherein for consecutive color channels of the RGBα color channels within the texture atlas, the atlas index available space is determined within a current color channel of the texture atlas for storing the glyph image and if there is available space within the current color channel for storing the glyph image, otherwise the glyph image is stored within the current color channel and if there is no available space within a first channel for storing the glyph image, determining available space within a next consecutive color channel for storing the glyph image, the glyph image is stored in the next consecutive color channel if there is available space within the next consecutive color channel and if there are no remaining color channels, a new texture atlas is created;
• wherein an associated glyph image can be retrieved from one of the channels of the texture atlas using the atlas index when rendering of an associated character in a user interface generated by an application executed by the processor.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer-executable glyph management instructions stored thereon, the glyph management instructions comprising:

• receiving one or more characters;
• generating a glyph image for each of the one or more characters;
• for each generated glyph image:
• storing the glyph image in only one of a plurality of red, green, blue, and alpha (RGBα) consecutive color channels of a texture atlas stored on a memory coupled with the processor;
• receiving at least one parameter associated with each glyph image;
• creating an entry for the glyph image in an associated atlas index stored on the memory, the entry defining the character represented by the glyph image, a position of the glyph image within the texture atlas and the at least one parameter of the respective character represented by the glyph image in the atlas index wherein the at least one parameter associated with each of the glyph images comprises any one or more of font size, font family, original image width, original image height, and a UV array;
• wherein for consecutive color channels of the RGBα color channels within the texture atlas:
• determining from the atlas index available space within a current color channel of the texture atlas for storing the glyph image;
• if there is available space within the current color channel for storing the glyph image, storing the glyph image within the current color channel;
• and
• if there is no available space within a first channel for storing the glyph image, determining available space within a next consecutive color channel for storing the glyph image,
• wherein the glyph image is stored in the next consecutive color channel if there is available space within the next consecutive color channel and if there are no remaining color channels, a new texture atlas is created;
• wherein an associated glyph image can be retrieved from one of the plurality of color channels of the texture atlas when required for rendering of an associated character in a user interface generated by an application executed by a processor.