Make png bitmap fonts?

Anyone know of a decent util to make bitmap fonts that have antialiased (to transparent) edges that are saved as png so they are suitable for use with BMax ... Thanks in advance for any help. Perhaps this is a util that needs to be written for the community?

I've used Fontext in the past:

http://www.blitzbasic.com/toolbox/toolbox.php?tool=89

The website is down and I couldn't find any other active links to the software. Maybe it's gone freeware by now.

I don't think it does png though does it?

Yes it does Png alpha - that's why I suggested it. :-P

oh ok haha, thanks,

:-D

As it's by beaker, I hope he fixes the site soon as it may be a tool I need to invest in.

Here's something I quickly knocked-up using it, for you to try. Each character is in blocks of 32 X 48 (you can use any size).

www.elliottproductions.co.uk/temp/text.png

wicked, well I would be interested in buying this then unless anyone knows of equally good free ones of course.

http://www.angelcode.com/products/bmfont/ and it plugs straight into my BitMap Text module.

Grey Alien - if you wish to make a purchase e-mail me direct. Thanks.

Fontext forum is here:
http://playerfactory.proboards25.com

thanks Tim, it seems to save as TGA which I not sure I can use - it looks weird in Gimp just a white bitmap. I'm looking for PNG with proper transparency info...

Beaker: where can I download a demo please, I need to see what it can do first. Thanks.

Grey - I don't know if this is useful at all, probably not, but something that I put in the code arhives a while ago will take 2 antialiased images and turn them into a single tga with alpha channel. Basically take your image containing the bitmap fonts, draw them antialiased against a black background, a white background and it then calculates which parts (by comparing the two images) should be transparent, which are opaque and the alpha values of the antialiased bits and stores it in a single tga format image with alpha. While I'm not offering to do it it should not be hard to write a program to convert tga with alpha to png with alpha...

Matty: sounds like good code thanks, but time is of the essence more for me which is why I'd buy in for this.

Grey - sent you an e-mail (or two).

thanks, checking now ... replied, checkout your email in 15 mins or so.