Copy/Paste from Illustrator

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jedbadda
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Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by jedbadda »

Is there any way to paste a glyph coming from Illustrator close to the center of the glyph editor window? I do my whole alphabet from A-Z horizontally, side by side in AI and paste each letter individually into FontCreator, which means the position where it lands after the Paste varies wildly. Surely there is a way to just paste it into the center of the window?

I know there was a thread about this last year but there was no solution.
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

The position can be changed in Tools, Options, Import.
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jedbadda
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by jedbadda »

I went to Tools/Options/Import and changed all the Origin X and Origin Y values to 0 and it made no difference.

And 'Paste Special' isn't even an option (it is ghosted in the menu).

Using version 10.1, Windows 7.
peetwanaka
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by peetwanaka »

Exactly the same problem since the last update !
  • I design fonts on a unique illustrator file and copy/paste from it.
  • When pasted, the characters used to be placed at the origin of the character in Font Creator.
  • Now, they are placed according to illustrator coordinates.
We can change Origin X and Y in the "Import" tab (in the "Options" panel) but the problem is still here : you can change these origin coordinates as many times as you want... it will never be good on the next paste : example, if you paste several characters copied from illustrator on the same character panel, you'll recreate the exact disposition they were on illustrator...

I found NO options to switch between the older method and the new, and that's more than annoying because it was a big big time saver.

what to do then ??
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Can you zip a few AI images into an archive and share them with me? I don't have many AI images for testing as I don't use Illustrator.

Tell us where you expect the images to be placed, and what Import settings you are using.

Also tell us which version of FontCreator you're using.
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peetwanaka
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by peetwanaka »

Hi,

Thanks for your response ! Here is a zip with some more explanations >> https://www.dropbox.com/s/5t4j0ee9sv35j ... e.zip?dl=1

I use FontCreator Pro 10.1.0 build 2272. I can't tell you the older version I had until today which worked perfectly for me.

01_importSeveralChar.jpg : I imported several characters from the same .ai file INDEPENDENTLY ( always a new ctrl + c / ctrl + v for each character, and not all at the same time)
> You can see they are not pasted at the same scale as before (you can see the original "a" at the top left), but let's say that's not a problem)
> You can see that they are pasted in the same way they appear in illustrator

02_importSeveralChar.jpg + 03_importSeveralChar.jpg : I tried to assemble with photoshop the screenshot of the .ai file and the screen of font creator
> It is clear that the characters are pasted at thoses coordinates : (x:0 + x from illustrator * scale ; y:0 + y from illustrator * scale)
> You can see that the origin of the illustrator file is perfectly positionned at (0,0) on the fontCreaor coordinates

On the other files, you can see the version, screenshot of illustrator file, parameters...

On the file FontCreatorIssue_copyPasteIllustrator.jpg, you can see the way it used to be pasted before the update (the way I need it ! ) : perfectly at (0, 0) in the fontCreator coordinates, independently of the coordinates of the element copied in illustrator.


ps : I can understand the functionnality in the case you design each character in an independent .ai file and you just want to paste it without replacing it, but when you have the all font on the same .ai file, the previous method of copy / pasting is a great time saver : should definitely be a toggle option "keep illustrator coordinates" : (yes / no)

Thanks in advance !
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

I had a look, but I don't think I can help. Copy/paste from Inkscape always seem to paste in the same place and at the same small size, whatever the options I set.

No doubt Erwin will reply later.
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peetwanaka
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by peetwanaka »

That's what I though... I literally checked all the options in Illustrator and FontCreator to find a solution, and that's a new different logic / method of import.

That's why I think it should be a toggle option, because the two methods are justified... It just depend of the method you have for designing.

I already asked for a download of the previous version (whithout this new fonctionnality which eliminate definitly (apparently) this other one) because I don't have the time to create a whole set of individual files for each characters and my font is now complete in a unique .ai file... and I don't have the time to wait for a new toggle option either... And the v11 (in demo for me) has the same paste logic, keeping illustrator coordinates... already checked.

Thank you anyway Bhikkhu Pesala !
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

This is the best workflow I can offer you for FontCreator 10.1
  1. Export each alphabet as a separator ai file
  2. Import the alphabet to glyph a (using the settings in the screen shot)
  3. Select the "a"
  4. Shortcut Ctrl T to invert the selection
  5. Cut (Ctrl X)
  6. Move to the next glyph (Shortcut Alt right)
  7. Paste (Ctrl V)
  8. Shift the select glyphs to the left (Shift + Left Cursor)
  9. Select the "b"
  10. Repeat x 25
I attach a font project that I made quickly. I ran optical metrics to fix the side-bearings and Font Validation to fix redundant points.
Import Options.png
Import Options.png (6.49 KiB) Viewed 9313 times
Attachments
Peet Wanaka.fcp
(27.55 KiB) Downloaded 647 times
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Erwin Denissen
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by Erwin Denissen »

peetwanaka wrote:ps : I can understand the functionnality in the case you design each character in an independent .ai file and you just want to paste it without replacing it, but when you have the all font on the same .ai file, the previous method of copy / pasting is a great time saver : should definitely be a toggle option "keep illustrator coordinates" : (yes / no)
If you copy and paste from other vector image editing software, make some changes in FontCreator, and then decide to copy and paste back into the third party software, it is important to have it back in the same size and position as the original vector drawing. That is why we made this change.

There is no perfect way to automatically scale and position individual characters from one document, so we discontinued it. Maybe we can add an additional option to automatically position individual characters, if more people are interested.
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Did you look at this thread?

Importing an entire alphabet is quite easy in Scanahand. If one could do something similar in FontCreator it would be great. Adjusting the baseline and scale factor is actually all that's needed. Optical Metrics can calculate the side-bearings. Even if the vertical position is not quite right, it's easy to fix with the Glyph Transform wizard, as long as all glyphs are imported in the same relative vertical position to the original illustration.
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peetwanaka
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by peetwanaka »

Thank you for your propositions and responses

I actually have 150 characters x 6 styles = 900 chars on the same illustrator document. That is not really an option for me to re-create independents .ai files for each characters as this is a completely different process of work and will cost me hours of work whereas I had a perfectly working software I bought here at High Logic until yesterday (before the fatidic update which never told me such functionality would disappear).

Once again, I can understand this evolution because there is a logic behind it, but both methods have their logic and you can't private users of their workflow in the middle of a design without warning.

I just ask (beg) here for a downgrade, getting back my perfect older version sticking to my process and workflow.

Please, I'm pretty sure you have this older version in stock, this one I bought (FontCreator 10)


Thanks again in advance
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by Erwin Denissen »

I'm not sure when we made the change, but here is a the download link for FontCreator 10.0.0.2125.
http://www.high-logic.com/previousrelea ... 0.2125.exe
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peetwanaka
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by peetwanaka »

I can't test it until monday but finger crossed, thanks in advance !
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Re: Copy/Paste from Illustrator

Post by Erwin Denissen »

The real downside with a downgrade is the lack of cubic bezier support.
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