importing a vector image

[kazimier]

Hi,
appologies if this has already been covered in this forum - I couldn't find the answer. I have been developing a font for a project and I have drawn it out in Adobe Illustrator (all the letters are vector drawings), I was wondering if I could import these vector images into FontCreator? I have read the tutorials about how to do import an image (bmp or jpg ) but it seems a bit of a shame to lose the vector based quality of the original image - as the font I am developing needs to be stroked (what I mean is just the outline - not filled in) and I don't want to lose any detail.

thank you for any help

[William]

The Tools Import Image... facility of FontCreator has a Load... button which when clicked opens a dialogue panel.

Various types of files can be loaded, including .wmf, which can be a vector format.

I have not used Adobe Illustrator but it might well be possible to save your vector artwork from it into a .wmf file as .wmf is a widely supported file type. Some graphics programs use the term export rather than save for situations when producing output in a format other than the native format of the graphics program.

I hope that this helps.

William Overington

12 March 2008

[Erwin Denissen]

I have been developing a font for a project and I have drawn it out in Adobe Illustrator (all the letters are vector drawings), I was wondering if I could import these vector images into FontCreator?

Native AI/EPS (or any other vector based format) is not supported, but the available import images feature does give very good results as described here:
viewtopic.php?t=1576

as the font I am developing needs to be stroked (what I mean is just the outline - not filled in)

It is not possible to make single stroke TrueType or OpenType fonts, because the glyph shapes consist of a series of closed contours and you need open contours to make a single line font.

[William]

- as the font I am developing needs to be stroked (what I mean is just the outline - not filled in) and I don't want to lose any detail.

When you say just the outline, do you mean as in a single track for some special application such as use with an engraving machine, or are you meaning in the sense of a font used for screen display and printing on paper where the artistic design of the font is made of lines rather than being made of solid areas?

For example, a font of mine used for screen display and printing on paper where the artistic design of the font is made of lines rather than being made of solid areas is the following.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/GALILEOL.TTF

William Overington

12 March 2008

[kazimier]

Thanks for all the replies -
seems to have clarified a few things:

i was not aware that it is not possible to make single stroke TrueType or OpenType fonts, this could be a problem.
In response to the example font posted by William - the font I have designed has some similarities to the one posted by yourself. As you describe the artistic design of the font I am developing is made up of lines (hence my desire to export the original vector desgins in Illustrator) - the lines form areas which I guess could be filled in, but that is not the desired design. How would it be possible to create a font like the Galileo? Am I right in thinking that it is a TrueType font? If so how is the problem described by Erwin overcome?

[Dave Crosby]

Thanks for all the replies -
seems to have clarified a few things:

i was not aware that it is not possible to make single stroke TrueType or OpenType fonts, this could be a problem.
In response to the example font posted by William - the font I have designed has some similarities to the one posted by yourself. As you describe the artistic design of the font I am developing is made up of lines (hence my desire to export the original vector desgins in Illustrator) - the lines form areas which I guess could be filled in, but that is not the desired design. How would it be possible to create a font like the Galileo? Am I right in thinking that it is a TrueType font? If so how is the problem described by Erwin overcome?

I have seen single line fonts, but they are problematic.
The Bounding Boxhas a hard time determining which pixels to turn on.

Make a rectangle or triangle contour and then delete all but two points.
That gives you your line.

Good luck on your project.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The Truetype Format doesn't support open contours.

You mind find this post on Quadratic (TrueType) v. cubic (Type 1) Bezier curves of interest.

I think you should draw your fonts within FontCreator. If you have already done a lot of work in Illustrator, then export as high resolution bitmaps and import those into FontCreator. Then tidy up the curves in FontCreator.

[William]

i was not aware that it is not possible to make single stroke TrueType or OpenType fonts, this could be a problem.

It appears that that is only going to be a problem if you are wanting to use the font which you produce in conjunction with some specialized equipment such as a computer-driven engraving machine or something like that. If you are just wanting a font for ordinary use on computer screens and in printed pages, then that is not an issue at all.

In TrueType fonts one does not produce something like a thin circle by drawing one thin line, even though the result of using the font might look as if that is how it is done. One draws two circular contours, one within the other. The outer contour is clockwise and the inner circle is counterclockwise. The outer contour produces a black filled circle. The inner contour, because it is counterclockwise, produces a white filled circle. Thus the total effect is of a thin black circle as if the inner white disc is covering most of the black disc.

How would it be possible to create a font like the Galileo?

Such a font can be drawn directly in FontCreator using the Insert Contour... facility. Suppose that you are wanting to draw a letter A, not an A like in the Galileo Lettering font, just an ordinary A as if drawn with a pencil on a piece of paper. One way would be as follows.

Open the glyph window for the A.

1. Insert Contour... then click somewhere in the glyph window so as to be at the outside top of the A.
2. Then move the mouse down and to the right and click again.
3. Then just a little left and click again.
4. Then up and left a bit and click again.
5. Then a bit left and click again.
6. Then down and left a bit and click again.
7. Then just a little left and click again.
8. Then click on the first point so as to close the loop. That is, eight clicks producing a closed loop of seven points.

9. Next use Insert Contour.. and position the mouse a little below the very first point and click.
10. Next move the mouse a bit down and left without going outside of the original loop and click again.
11. Next move the mouse to the right without going outside of the original loop and click again.
12. Next click on the point produced at stage 9 so as to close the loop. That is, four clicks producing a closed loop of three points.

There should now be a display in the general shape of the letter A on the screen. It is now a matter of moving individual points around so that the desired final shape is achieved. If points are not showing, double click on the background and they should then be displayed. A point can be moved by selecting it by clicking on it and then using the arrow keys of the keyboard. This can be done with precision as the coordinates of the point are displayed on the lower bar. Using the arrow keys alone is ten font unit steps. Holding down the CTRL key while using the arrow keys is one font unit steps. Holding down the SHIFT key while using the arrow keys is one hundred font unit steps.

Producing the effect of a thin black line in the display is by moving the points so that the inner contour is almost the size of the outer contour. The exact values depend on the design that you are trying to produce, though as a figure to give an idea, I mention that the thickness of the vertical lines in the Galileo Lettering font is 32 font units. Less would give a thinner line, more would give a thicker line.

Positioning the points in the example so as to get a good design of an A may take some experimentation, yet hopefully the above notes will help you get started. Please notice how the lines of the A at the lower left and at the lower right are both produced using two parts of the same contour whereas the lines at the upper left and upper right and across the middle are produced as being between two contours.

----

There is, in fact, a thread about the Galileo Lettering font in the Gallery forum.

That thread is about other aspects of the font, so I am not suggesting that it needs to be read in relation to the present discussion.

viewtopic.php?t=859

William Overington

12 March 2008