2. The structure

The pseudo code for generating a font goes like this:

read .fontinfo file

read font from freetype2

for each glyph:
    get glyph bitmap from freetype2

    for each layer:
        use color function with glyph bitmap as input
        apply each effect on the image

        alpha blend layer on top of previous

    for each post effect:
        apply effect on image

render glyphs to texture
save texture

save glyph info