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)

Answer 2

Check the stroke_width option, which implements stroke/border/outline effect. For shadow effect, you can draw with a small offset. Bellow is an example to add subtitle to image.

#!/usr/bin/env python
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont


def add_subtitle(
    bg,
    text="nice",
    xy=("center", 20),
    font="font/SourceHanSansSC-Regular.otf",
    font_size=53,
    font_color=(255, 255, 255),
    stroke=2,
    stroke_color=(0, 0, 0),
    shadow=(4, 4),
    shadow_color=(0, 0, 0),
):
    """draw subtitle on image by pillow
    Args:
        bg(PIL image): image to add subtitle
        text(str): subtitle
        xy(tuple): absolute top left location of subtitle
        ...: extra style of subtitle
    Returns:
        bg(PIL image): image with subtitle
    """
    stroke_width = stroke
    xy = list(xy)
    W, H = bg.width, bg.height
    font = ImageFont.truetype(str(font), font_size)
    w, h = font.getsize(text, stroke_width=stroke_width)
    if xy[0] == "center":
        xy[0] = (W - w) // 2
    if xy[1] == "center":
        xy[1] = (H - h) // 2
    draw = ImageDraw.Draw(bg)
    if shadow:
        draw.text(
            (xy[0] + shadow[0], xy[1] + shadow[1]), text, font=font, fill=shadow_color
        )
    draw.text(
        (xy[0], xy[1]),
        text,
        font=font,
        fill=font_color,
        stroke_width=stroke_width,
        stroke_fill=stroke_color,
    )
    return bg


if __name__ == "__main__":
    bg = Image.open("./Screenshot_20200626-131218.png")
    bg = add_subtitle(bg)
    bg.save("out.png")

Answer 3

I was looking for that on the internet and I saw that PIL doesn't have native support to add text border. In that case, I create this proposal method based on Alec Bennett solution.

The problem that I found with that solution is about how to create a smooth border on larger border size. Problem Example

If we walk over 360 degrees or 2pi radians, adding the same text, we could create a better implementation of the text border functionality.

Here's the example function

    def add_text(image, text, location, font, fontsize=14, fontcolor=(0, 0, 0), 
                 border=0, border_color=(0, 0, 0), points=15):
        font_format = ImageFont.truetype(font, fontsize)
        drawer = ImageDraw.Draw(image)

        if border:
            (x, y) = location
            for step in range(0, math.floor(border * points), 1):
                angle = step * 2 * math.pi / math.floor(border * points)
                drawer.text((x - border * math.cos(angle), y - border * math.sin(angle)), text, border_color, font=font_format)
        drawer.text(location, text, fontcolor, font=font_format)
        return image

The same image, text and config generate the next Final Result

Answer 4

You can take a look at this Text Outline Using PIL:

import Image, ImageFont, ImageDraw

import win32api, os

x, y = 10, 10

fname1 = "c:/test.jpg"
im = Image.open(fname1)
pointsize = 30
fillcolor = "red"
shadowcolor = "yellow"

text = "hi there"

font = win32api.GetWindowsDirectory() + "\\Fonts\\ARIALBD.TTF"
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(im)
font = ImageFont.truetype(font, pointsize)

# thin border
draw.text((x-1, y), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x+1, y), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x, y-1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x, y+1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)

# thicker border
draw.text((x-1, y-1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x+1, y-1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x-1, y+1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x+1, y+1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)

# now draw the text over it
draw.text((x, y), text, font=font, fill=fillcolor)

fname2 = "c:/test2.jpg"
im.save(fname2)

os.startfile(fname2)

Answer 5

import Image, ImageFont, ImageDraw

import win32api, os

x, y = 10, 10

fname1 = "c:/test.jpg"
im = Image.open(fname1)
pointsize = 30
fillcolor = "red"
shadowcolor = "yellow"

text = "hi there"

font = win32api.GetWindowsDirectory() + "\\Fonts\\ARIALBD.TTF"
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(im)
font = ImageFont.truetype(font, pointsize)

# thin border
draw.text((x-1, y), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x+1, y), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x, y-1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x, y+1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)

# thicker border
draw.text((x-1, y-1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x+1, y-1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x-1, y+1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)
draw.text((x+1, y+1), text, font=font, fill=shadowcolor)

# now draw the text over it
draw.text((x, y), text, font=font, fill=fillcolor)

fname2 = "c:/test2.jpg"
im.save(fname2)

os.startfile(fname2)