Font Forum

When I Copy and Paste a scanned image into an Edit window I end up with a glyph which, on activating Points mode, has hundreds of points, faithfully reproducing every imperfection in an original hand-drawn character. No matter what scanner settings I use the result is the same.
How can I smooth the resulting glyph outline, in Point mode by, probably, reducing the number of points?
Perhaps FCP3.1.1 is too accurate!
Joe.

It depends what kind of font you want to create. Most fonts have smooth outlines with smooth curves and straight lines, but not everyone wants the machine-cut look. Some typefaces have rough outlines to make them look hand-drawn. Handwritten fonts also have irregular outlines.

Many people scan handwriting to make fonts, so they want to trace the contours accurately.

You could try using Corel Draw (version 4.0 exports TTF), which has autoreduce function to reduce the number of points. Its probably a bit much to expect a $50 Font Editor to include a sophisticated vector graphics program. Corel Draw 4.0 is about $10 now if you can find it (Corel Draw Essentials does not seem to support Truetype export). After creating the basic character outlines in Corel Draw and exporting to a Truetype font. Open that font in Font Creator and make the final adjustments, character mapping, etc. Corel Draw is fine for Vector Graphics, but it is pretty crude for font editing.

In Font Creator it is just about practical to select multiple points by dragging a rectangle around them, then pressing the delele key. That way you end up with a managable number of points to adjust.

Thanks Bhikkhu,
What an informative reply. Thanks for taking the time and trouble. I'll look for Corel Draw 4. I have been using your last method i.e. selection and deletion of numbers of points. My fonts are all from handwritten script.
Thanks again, very appreciative.
Joe.

If you have access to PhotoShop, the add-in filter, 'KPT5 Smoothie' does a good job.

phb

Thanks for that phb.
I have Adobe Photoshop Elements and I have been trying to find an equivalent to the add-in filter, 'KPT5 Smoothie'. So far I've failed but will persevere. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
Joe.

Arey bhai koi mujhey bhi tou batayey.
Would you tell me how this Font Creator works?