Import Images the Right Way (Size Does Matter!)
In vector based image editing software you can use all kinds of objects to create your images. Such objects can be paths, lines, shapes, text, etc. That's not it, as you can also apply specific strokes to each of these objects. These strokes control thickness, how segments join, and the appearance of both ends of an open path. There are numerous other capabilities like fill objects, gradients, etc.
FontCreator only extracts the bare paths, thus completely ignores the strokes, fills, etc. And since glyphs can only consist of closed contours, all open paths are automatically closed.
We could enhance the vector import to support strokes and even more, but this is very complex so we carefully have to decide which features to add in future versions of FontCreator. Fortunately most common vector graphics editors can convert strokes to paths/outlines that can be safely imported into FontCreator.
Here is a logo created with Adobe Illustrator. It contains four lines and a rectangle with two rounded corners and a gap at the lower right. All of these objects contain strokes to give them thickness.
- logowithstrokes.png (4.54 KiB) Viewed 1437 times
When imported into FontCreator, the result is not as intended as the strokes are not imported, thus the thickness of the objects is stripped off. The lines are all discarded as contours with only two points are useless. The rectangle is imported but the gap is no longer there.
- importedlogowithstrokes.png (2.11 KiB) Viewed 1437 times
One easy step ensures our vector image can be safely imported into FontCreator. In Adobe Illustrator, select all objects, then from the main menu select Object -> Path -> Outline Stroke. The result is shown here:
- logogood.png (4 KiB) Viewed 1438 times
When we import this version of the vector image the result is a perfect fit!
- importedlogogood.png (3.59 KiB) Viewed 1418 times
5 contours with 44 points is the final result.
