Font Forum

I did it
(user removed picture from server)

The size for the scanned image recommended in the help file is 100 to 500 pixels. If you scanned at only 300 dpi the original image would need to be about 1" high, but normal handwriting is usually much smaller. I scanned some typical handwriting at 1200 dpi and got an image that was only 240 pixels high. I think you need to scan sharp handwriting drawn with black fibre-tip pen at 1200 dpi or more to get a decent result, though this is not something I have tried in earnest.

The import image feature will convert the bitmap to a vector. The smoothness can be controlled with the import filter, and the threshold can be adjusted to compensate for less than 100% black originals.

Congratulations highwaykind ... terrific first font. How ever you did it seems to work very nicely.

Dick Pape

Very pleasing handwriting and a very commendable first font-making result. Handwriting is personal and no person has a monopoly of taste; there can be no rules about handwriting. All that can be said is that if it is aesthetically pleasing to you then it is fine.

I notice that you have a missing apostrophe. The reason and cure are explained elswhere in the Forums. Use the Search facility at the top of the index page and enter the keyword 'apostrophe' as the search target.

In my opinion some more attention needs to be paid to the spacing of the characters. For example the space character itself (U+0020) needs to be larger and some inconsistency is evident in the other characters. Look at the 'h' for example. It has more white space left and right of the actual character than other letters. Possibly Tools -> Autometrics would help here.

I do not think you need to dwell too much on getting clean outlines; after all you are making a tool to produce a facsimile of actual handwriting and the outlines of that depend upon the surface on which you write and the impliment producing that writing. Water-based ink on blotting paper is at one extreme and good permanent marker spirit-based ink on acetate sheet is at the other end of the 'spectrum'. I get good results with marker on glazed paper. (Perhaps glossy photo paper would give good results). Converting the hand-produced copy to image will give some degradation at each stage. 'Work large' and 'reduce result' seems to be the answer.

Experiment a bit and then come back and tell us how to do it!.

Nice to see this font.

Joe.

Thanks for the comments !
I need to fine tune it a bit ( lot) - indeed the 'h 'spacing ( don't think I'm missing an apostrophe by the way ? ), and my a is higher than my e which makes it look odd when they're next to eachother.

The handwriting was done on fake vellum ( no bleeding ) with a B nibbed Waterman Charleston fountain pen The use of a fountain pen might explain the not very smooth edges when scanned too maybe ??