# Install msdf-atlas-gen with Homebrew

Generator of multi-channel signed distance field atlases from fonts. Version 1.4 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-07.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:msdf-atlas-gen
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install msdf-atlas-gen
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:msdf-atlas-gen
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.4
- **Source summary:** Generator of multi-channel signed distance field atlases from fonts
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/Chlumsky/msdf-atlas-gen>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/Chlumsky/msdf-atlas-gen>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-07T14:41:28Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- msdf-atlas-gen (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.4
## Project history and usage

msdf-atlas-gen is a C++ utility and library for generating compact font atlases using multi-channel signed distance fields.

### Project history

The official README presents the project as a utility built around MSDFgen. It loads glyphs from TTF or OTF fonts, generates distance fields, packs them into atlas bitmaps, and can export image, CSV, JSON, or Artery Font outputs.

The changelog records version 1.0 as the initial release on 2020-03-08, followed by releases that updated MSDFgen, added CMake support, added multiple-font and variable-font features, and moved the build toward CMake plus vcpkg.

### Adoption history

The project is packaged by Homebrew as a standalone CLI, which makes a graphics-programming font-atlas generator available through normal developer package-manager workflows.

Its README explicitly ties font atlases to real-time rendering contexts such as video games, so adoption centers on rendering engines, game tooling, and UI systems that need scalable text assets.

### How it is used

Command-line use starts with a required font input, optional character or glyph sets, atlas type selection such as MSDF or MTSDF, output options such as image, JSON, CSV, or Artery Font, and generator controls for ranges, padding, threading, and coordinate origin.

The project can also be used as a library; the README includes C++ examples for generating a whole atlas and for dynamic atlas growth.

### Why package nerds care

For package users, msdf-atlas-gen is notable because it wraps specialized real-time text-rendering algorithms in a normal Unix-style executable.

It also exposes a compact dependency story familiar to C++ packaging: upstream MSDFgen, CMake, vcpkg, and release tarballs that package managers can build reproducibly.

### Timeline

- 2020: Version 1.0 initial release.
- 2021: Version 1.2 added multiple fonts or font sizes in one atlas and y-origin selection.
- 2021: Version 1.2.2 added CMake and Conan package-manager support.
- 2024: Version 1.3 switched primary dependency management to vcpkg and overhauled CMake configuration.

### Related projects

- MSDFgen is the core related generator technology.
- Artery Font format, vcpkg, Conan, CMake, FreeType, and real-time rendering engines are adjacent pieces named or implied by the official README and changelog.

### Sources

- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/msdf-atlas-gen>
- <https://github.com/Chlumsky/msdf-atlas-gen#readme>
- <https://github.com/Chlumsky/msdf-atlas-gen/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md>
- source_facts.repo


## Security Notes

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for msdf-atlas-gen. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.



## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/msdf-atlas-gen.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/msdf-atlas-gen.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
