Watermarks (image_lib) for non-latin or special characters

[eluser]popovich[/eluser]
The solution:
- encode everything as UTF-8 (your database table and field);
- user a TrueType (.ttf) font; though the freetype documentation states, that Type1 and OpenType can be used, the cyrillic characters will not be found in the font table; however, it works fine with latin characters;
- apply html_entity_decode() to be able to display special chars;
- triple check what you are testing — from strings you are trying to display to, well, the MVC setup (my case);

Cheers.