Skia Graphics Engine 🚧

Skia does one thing really well, 2D graphics.
The original “Skia” was the development name for QuickDraw GX.
This Skia—which, again, doesn’t share code with either of its predecessors—is a kind of version 3, with a tribute name back to that original Skia. - HN / wikipedia

Cairo emphasizes ease of use and high-quality, device-independent rendering with a stateful API, while Skia targets performance and flexibility, especially in GPU-accelerated environments, with a stateless, more granular control of each drawing operation. Depending on whether the focus is on performance or precision, one library might be a better fit than the other. - ChatGPT

Overview

Drawing Text ? 🚧

Example

Setup

Skia doesn’t seems to be already available as binary and you need to compile it yourself.

One way is to use chromium depot_tools

Procedure doesn’t install gn tools, one easy way is to build it directly. see gn.

Here is a a detail procedure

Install Depot Tools

# Clone Depot Tools
$ git clone https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/tools/depot_tools.git

# Set Environment Variables
$ export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/depot_tools"

Build gn binary May require clang to be installed

$ git clone https://gn.googlesource.com/gn
$ cd gn
$ python build/gen.py # --allow-warning if you want to build with warnings.
$ ninja -C out
# To run tests:
$ out/gn_unittests

Build skia

# go back to your project directory
# Fetch Skia Source Code
$ gclient config --name=skia https://skia.googlesource.com/skia.git
$ gclient sync

# link gn where it belongs
$ mkdir -p skia/buildtools/linux64
$ cd skia/buildtools/linux64
$ ln -s <path to gn>/out/gn .
$ cd -
  
# skia need also a link in ./bin or it will failed in is_official_build=false while trying to build dm
$ mkdir -p skia/bin
$ cd skia/bin
$ ln -s <path to gn>/out/gn .
$ cd -
  
# The next command may failed silently when gn is not present: normal output is build.ninja file
# different flags combination can be used
# is_official_build=false: Ensures all test and example programs (including dm) are built.
# gn gen out/Release --args='is_debug=false'
# gn gen out/Release --args='is_official_build=false is_debug=false skia_use_gl=true skia_use_expat=true skia_use_libpng=true skia_use_zlib=true'
$ gn gen out/Release --args='is_official_build=false is_debug=false skia_use_gl=true'

#  You can also check the args.gn file in the out/Release directory to confirm that skia_use_gl=true is set.
  
# if everything is ok, you now have a build.ninja
# launch compile and go for a coffee
$ ninja -C out/Release skia 

# You should see built files and libraries related to Skia.
$ ls out/Release

# Run the dm (Drawing Manager) to test different backends: This will test Skia’s OpenGL rendering.
# this is only build/buildable if is_official_build=false has been set
$ ninja -C out/Release dm
$ out/Release/dm --config gl

Adding Skia to a meson project

project('my_project', 'cpp')

# Step 1: Locate Skia
skia_inc_dir = '/path/to/skia/include'
skia_lib_dir = '/path/to/skia/out/Release'

# Step 2: Declare Skia dependency manually
skia_dep = declare_dependency(
  include_directories: [skia_inc_dir],
  link_args: [
    skia_lib_dir + '/libskia.a',  # Link to the built static library
    skia_lib_dir + '/libskshaper.a',  # Other Skia modules if necessary
  ],
  dependencies: [
    dependency('freetype2'),  # Skia uses freetype for font rendering
    dependency('fontconfig', required: false),  # Optional, based on your needs
    # Add more system dependencies here if Skia needs them (e.g., icu, harfbuzz)
  ]
)

# Step 3: Your source files
executable(
  'my_executable',
  sources: ['main.cpp'],
  dependencies: [skia_dep],
  install: true
)
Written on October 5, 2024, Last update on October 6, 2024
vector-graphic image-lib opengl 2d svg in-progress