Is there a way to outline text with a dark line in PIL?

Question

I\'m using python/PIL to write text on a set of PNG images. I was able to get the font I wanted, but I\'d like to now outline the text in black.

Answer 1

This is how I handled the problem when I needed to do it for frame counters. Just a heads up if you start to push this too far for the thickness, then you will need more draws to cover your areas you're missing.

from PIL import Image,ImageDraw,ImageFont
import os

#setting varibles
imgFile = "frame_0.jpg"
output = "frame_edit_0.jpg"
font = ImageFont.truetype("arial.ttf", 30)
text = "SEQ_00100_SHOT_0004_FR_0001"
textColor = 'white'
shadowColor = 'black'
outlineAmount = 3

#open image
img = Image.open(imgFile)
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(img)

#get the size of the image
imgWidth,imgHeight = img.size

#get text size
txtWidth, txtHeight = draw.textsize(text, font=font)

#get location to place text
x = imgWidth - txtWidth - 100
y = imgHeight - txtHeight - 100

#create outline text
for adj in range(outlineAmount):
    #move right
    draw.text((x-adj, y), text, font=font, fill=shadowColor)
    #move left
    draw.text((x+adj, y), text, font=font, fill=shadowColor)
    #move up
    draw.text((x, y+adj), text, font=font, fill=shadowColor)
    #move down
    draw.text((x, y-adj), text, font=font, fill=shadowColor)
    #diagnal left up
    draw.text((x-adj, y+adj), text, font=font, fill=shadowColor)
    #diagnal right up
    draw.text((x+adj, y+adj), text, font=font, fill=shadowColor)
    #diagnal left down
    draw.text((x-adj, y-adj), text, font=font, fill=shadowColor)
    #diagnal right down
    draw.text((x+adj, y-adj), text, font=font, fill=shadowColor)

#create normal text on image
draw.text((x,y), text, font=font, fill=textColor)

img.save(output)
print 'Finished'
os.startfile(output)