width = height = 1; surface = view->create_surface (instance, width, height); view->render (instance, surface, context, &width, &height, NULL); I sometimes generate text images with a command like this, $ pango-view --font="Vera Bold 25" --align=center -q --backend=ft2 -o text.ppm --width=400 --wrap=word --hinting=none -t "Hi there." which is what led to look up the source there. -Jamie