I have a graphic in eps format that contains some text and small graphical elements. I used ghostview to convert it to bmp. I have been trying to make it into a font character. I have been experimenting with all of the settings to import it, and can bring it in at a somewhat reasonable quality. However, it gets way way way too many handles/control points.
It looks like I will have to recreate the font using the imported bitmap as a pattern to follow. This is going to be extremely tedious, especially considering the text parts.
I suppose I could try to find out what text font it is and import glyphs from that font and revise as neccesary rather than constructing each letter individually ?? Does that cause any copyright issues?
Any other suggestions as to the process to follow?
Thanks!
Is this really the easiest way to create a font?
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Bhikkhu Pesala
- Top Typographer
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EMF Import in Font Creator 4
As a quick experiment I typed two letters "Ac" in the Truetype font Pagoda SF in Corel Draw. I then drew a horizontal line over the c, changed the text to curves and exported the whole group as an Enhanced Metafile.
I imported that into Font Creator 4 and ended up with 98 points. Does that sound more workable?
I imported that into Font Creator 4 and ended up with 98 points. Does that sound more workable?
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Chris Eilers
- Posts: 42
- Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2003 12:21 pm
- Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
You can import your EPS outlines into Font Creator by following the instructions in the “Importing EPS glyphs into Font Creator” topic in this “Tutorials and Solutions” section. However, as explained in the “Quadratic (TrueType) v. cubic (Type 1)“ topic, there will be approximately 50% more control points on the resultant Font Creator outlines than there were on the original EPS outlines. Also, the control points on the Font Creator outlines are unlikely to be located in positions that will make it easy to edit the outlines in Font Creator. However, if you simply want to accurately translate EPS outlines into Truetype glyphs, this method will work fine.
If you found out what the original font was, and if it was a TrueType font, then you can certainly open it in Font Creator. You may be able to get the font identified on the Type Identification Board at Typophile Forums:-
http://www.typophile.com/cgibin/discus.pl
The copyright situation seems to be rather clouded and complex. Apparently, some font copyright provisions allow editing of the font if you are a legal owner of the font, and some don’t. From what little I know of copyright on fonts, the situation in the U.S.A. seems to differ from that in many other countries. Apparently, in the U.S.A. the configuration of control points on an outline is subject to copyright but the shape of the outline itself is not subject to copyright.
Again, Typophile Forums is a good place to pick up information on copyright questions, and many of its members know a great deal more about the subject than I do.
If the suggestions above don’t work well for you, and if you don’t need absolute precision as to the dimensions of each of the TrueType glyphs or absolutely identical point patterns on each of their serifs, if they have any, then I’d suggest that you persevere with recreating the glyphs by hand by loading them into Font Creator as background images. Once you’ve got the hang of left-clicking and right-clicking your way around the bitmaps, placing the absolute minimum number of points that are necessary to create their outlines, and placing them orthogonally wherever possible, and then tidying them up after their initial placement wherever necessary, it really can be a whole lot quicker than it might seem to begin with.
If you found out what the original font was, and if it was a TrueType font, then you can certainly open it in Font Creator. You may be able to get the font identified on the Type Identification Board at Typophile Forums:-
http://www.typophile.com/cgibin/discus.pl
The copyright situation seems to be rather clouded and complex. Apparently, some font copyright provisions allow editing of the font if you are a legal owner of the font, and some don’t. From what little I know of copyright on fonts, the situation in the U.S.A. seems to differ from that in many other countries. Apparently, in the U.S.A. the configuration of control points on an outline is subject to copyright but the shape of the outline itself is not subject to copyright.
Again, Typophile Forums is a good place to pick up information on copyright questions, and many of its members know a great deal more about the subject than I do.If the suggestions above don’t work well for you, and if you don’t need absolute precision as to the dimensions of each of the TrueType glyphs or absolutely identical point patterns on each of their serifs, if they have any, then I’d suggest that you persevere with recreating the glyphs by hand by loading them into Font Creator as background images. Once you’ve got the hang of left-clicking and right-clicking your way around the bitmaps, placing the absolute minimum number of points that are necessary to create their outlines, and placing them orthogonally wherever possible, and then tidying them up after their initial placement wherever necessary, it really can be a whole lot quicker than it might seem to begin with.