How do I vectorise it?

Fonts and More Type Design
1

AT masthead.jpg
I wish to convert this bitmap image into vectors.

  1. On close examination, the 'T’s and the 'e’s appear to be of differing proportions.
  2. The alignment is not true.
  3. I do not know if the kerning is correct. If it is not, please advise how I may correct it.
  4. The vectorisation is likely to force me to arrive at two final results. Firstly, to vectorise it as is, without altering the alignment, the non-standard dimensions of the individual letters and the kerning. Secondly, I would like to achieve true digitisation with accurate kerning, alignment, and overall uniformity.
  5. The white highlights will probably require similar considerations too.

I would be grateful to receive your comments and advice on how to approach this project and on anything else I might have missed.

2

What is the final aim here? To get a vector graphic of that phrase only, or a font that you can write different words with?

If you just clean up the bitmap a bit and paste it directly into a new font, then you could have the whole phrase as one symbol, making any adjustments you think are needed to the spacing by eye.

Kerning and spacing a not an exact science.

If you separate each letter after importing the phrase, and give each letter appropriate side bearings, it makes it easier to adjust the spacing later. Kerning may not be required for this font if you get the bearings right.

Here’s how it looks as a font with the side-bearings all set to 10 funits.

The curves need a lot of cleaning up to get what I would consider an acceptable font.

Edit: I cleaned up the lowercase “e” to show how I would clean up the outlines in FontCreator.

3

Thank you Mr Pesala, for the suggestion of font creation and the spacing demonstration.

Yes, I would love to be able to create a font. I did wonder, if I could use the phrase as a basis for a new font but did not know how. I would appreciate any advice in that regard.

I am very pleased to see that the dream of creating my very first font is a possibility, thanks to this forum.

4

You would need a medium to high resolution scan of the entire alphabet including numbers and punctuation to make a font. You could create a few missing glyphs such as a £ sign yourself, but with just a few letters to start with it is not feasible.

It would be much easier to start with a free font like mine and modify it to create your own. The GNU license terms allow that, as long as you rename it and include the same GNU license agreement terms for your font. It is not technically difficult to add the white contours for the outlining, but it would require considerable artistic skills.