Syllable Bows

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Karin1610
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Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:07 am

Syllable Bows

Post by Karin1610 »

I could use a little help with my current issue.
I'm trying to add a special school feature to my font: syllable bows. Like this:
silbenboegen.jpg
silbenboegen.jpg (14.3 KiB) Viewed 3591 times
This sample is made with a special software, so mine is not going to be that perfect, but that's alright.

I want to add a bunch characters with bows in different lengths to my font, from very short to quite long, all with Advance Width = zero. The user can then insert the bow with the desired length by typing a combination (like ^01) before the letter where the bow is supposed to begin. So far that works as expected.

My problem is that, if one syllable ends between two letters that are kerned, the kerning of course no longer works.

Simple example: the word LAVA. The bows would need to go under LA and VA, so I'd have to insert the second one before the V, so the kerning pair AV is no longer recognized.
Does anyone have any idea how position those pairs right again?

Any help would be much appreciated!
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Syllable Bows

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

They are basically the same as combining diacritical marks.

Create them with a negative left side-bearing, and have users type them after the syllable.
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Karin1610
Posts: 100
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:07 am

Re: Syllable Bows

Post by Karin1610 »

That wouldn't solve my problem I guess. For LAVA I'd have to type the bow for LA before the V, so again there would be a glyph placed between A and V which would mess up the kerning pair, right?
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Syllable Bows

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

You might be able to fix that with more kerning pairs for Bow:A, Bow:V, Bow:Y, etc.
My FontsReviews: MainTypeFont CreatorHelpFC15 + MT12.0 @ Win 10 64-bit build 19045.2486
Karin1610
Posts: 100
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:07 am

Re: Syllable Bows

Post by Karin1610 »

I thought about that too at first, but then those pairs would always be kernend, even in words that don't need kerning. Like BA-NA-NA.
What I'd need is a way to for instance position the V in combinations like A-Bow-V.
There's this feature, chained context positioning. I just don't really understand how it works. Would this be usable for my issue?
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Syllable Bows

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Karin1610 wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 3:36 pmThere's this feature, chained context positioning. I just don't really understand how it works. Would this be usable for my issue?
I suspect that it would, but it is beyond my experience. Maybe others can offer a suggestion?
My FontsReviews: MainTypeFont CreatorHelpFC15 + MT12.0 @ Win 10 64-bit build 19045.2486
Karin1610
Posts: 100
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:07 am

Re: Syllable Bows

Post by Karin1610 »

That would be great.
Thanks for trying to help anyway!
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