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Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 7:58 pm
by JJDOWNEY
I remember from early versions of the software there was a shadow effect option to apply to the font is that available in the last 3 versions as I've never seen it. I know when I tried version 5 I believe it had shadow effect. Like a 2d/3D shadow effect shadow of text. Can or will it be available as an update or downloadable to add to the font effects menu? As its a time save in terms of doing all the characters in shadow form from scratch.

I was also thinking off another effect that could be produced which is if you have a font that wide in style. There could an effect to narrow it. I know there is THIN effect but it makes letters thin. But make the letters NARROW in width not thickness.

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:02 pm
by MikeW
Any such effect was before my time with FC I think.

As for narrowing a font, you can use the transform dialog to scale horizontally to achieve that I think.

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:05 pm
by Bhikkhu Pesala
There was, and still is, an Outline Effect.
Outline Effect.png
Outline Effect.png (15.47 KiB) Viewed 13107 times
I am not aware of there ever having been a shadow effect.

There is a scale effect in the Glyph Transformer that can be used to scale glyphs, but it will also scale vertical strokes.
Scale Width.png
Scale Width.png (16.03 KiB) Viewed 13107 times
You can design and save your own Glyph Transform scripts in all recent versions of FontCreator as long as you have the Standard or Professional Editions.

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 9:29 am
by JJDOWNEY
Thank you to all who have left comments. Can someone who has worked on all the versions please tell me what version had the effect for shadow. As Font Creator is the program is the only program ive used. To generate the shadow effect as far back as version like 2,3,4.

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 10:29 am
by Bhikkhu Pesala
Can you attach a font that you created with a shadow effect using an earlier version?

I have used all versions since FontCreator 4.0

Drop Shadow effect?

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 10:36 pm
by jch02140
It would be great to have a drop shadow effect like the sample attached available for glyph transform. since creating "Outline" is already available...
af.gif
af.gif (4.3 KiB) Viewed 12544 times

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 8:52 am
by Erwin Denissen
We've added this request to the wish-list. It would be great if other people who would like to see this included in a future version of FontCreator, would let us know here as well.

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 9:01 am
by Bhikkhu Pesala
It looks like it ought to be easy to automate, but it's quite laborious to do manually. It's not something that I need personally, but I am sure it would be a useful enhancement.

Here is one that I made by manually moving some nodes after applying a thin outline.
A Shadow.png
A Shadow.png (24.76 KiB) Viewed 12522 times

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:58 am
by MikeW
I think it would be very useful, Erwin.

Mike

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:39 am
by Erwin Denissen
Last time we tried to implement it, we failed. Since then we've significantly improved our outline algorithms, so maybe it is easier now.

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:06 pm
by jch02140
It would be nice to have an option to allow us to specify the drop shadows length and angle.

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:32 pm
by Hafonton
Yes it would be a great feature!

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2018 5:34 pm
by nabsltd
Since any shadow effect by FontCreator will be algorithmic in nature, it really won't be much different from shadow effects offered by drawing programs.

I'd rather buy a really well-done font with no shadow and then add whatever kind of shadow I want using my drawing program of choice than try and find a font with a shadow that looks the way I want. Even a 3-D shadow isn't hard to do with a drawing program, like this image I created. The shadow is just a black-filled duplicate of the original text that is offset, then the 3-D effect is done with "Add Depth" that joins the two copies using the black. A little manual tweaking to make the curved edges look right, and it's done.

The drawing program allows me to control the shadow direction, depth, color, and strength, which a font doesn't allow.
clue-5b6ca1b30e8a6.png
clue-5b6ca1b30e8a6.png (44.66 KiB) Viewed 9642 times

Re: Shadow Effects in FontCreator

Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:56 am
by outofstepfontco
If anyone is still looking to achieve this effect, it's available in FontForge:
Elements > Style > Shadow

I typically push my fonts to FontForge to apply effects or solve problems before finishing them in FontCreator.