Grouping letters so the parts don't move separately?

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lforbes
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Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2022 1:16 am

Grouping letters so the parts don't move separately?

Post by lforbes »

Hi,

I am a newbie to Font Creator but I have designed in other font programs like Font Forge for years.

In Font Creator it seems to "lose" the compound path or group when I import my letters. So for example the "middle" of the 0 becomes separate from the outside.

This gets very problematic when re-sizing or moving the glyphs because I cannot just click on the glyph, I have to drag select to select all of it.

It also makes it impossible to align a glyph because when you click align it aligns each piece separately rather than the group

I have gone through all the icons in the toolbar and cannot find the "Group" nor can I find it in the menu?

Does anyone know how to group the glyph parts so they can be moved/resized as one without having to drag select?
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Grouping letters so the parts don't move separately?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Some letters, like C, E, or F usually consist of a single contour. Others, like A, D, and O consist or two contours, while some have three or more contours, e.g. B or 8.

Select all contours with Ctrl+A to move them all together. There is no way to group them permanently.

Align will then align the contours with the largest contour.
Selected Contours.png
Selected Contours.png (22.08 KiB) Viewed 2996 times
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lforbes
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Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2022 1:16 am

Re: Grouping letters so the parts don't move separately?

Post by lforbes »

So can they add a group option to the software?

If say you have a glyph that has multiple contours in multiple pieces there is no way to align the pieces without messing up the inner contours.

I make fonts with a lot of loops and flourishes and it would be nice to click the glyph piece and have it behave as one piece not multiple pieces.

Ctrl A does work but it selects every piece and all internal contours and often I just want to select 1 piece especially for resizing.
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Grouping letters so the parts don't move separately?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Please read the Help File.
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lforbes
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Re: Grouping letters so the parts don't move separately?

Post by lforbes »

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 12:37 am Please read the Help File.
Hi,

Yes I have read the help file PDF manual and I am very familiar with creating SVG files. I guess if font creator cannot group then I will have to do all the glyphs ahead of time in my SVG software. Thanks.
Husham
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Re: Grouping letters so the parts don't move separately?

Post by Husham »

lforbes wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 12:29 am So can they add a group option to the software?
I agree with you, it is important to add group and ungroup option (icon) to Fontcreator.

Regards
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Grouping letters so the parts don't move separately?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Grouping has been requested before, but I don't know if it is feasible.
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Husham
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Re: Grouping letters so the parts don't move separately?

Post by Husham »

WAW 2004

This feature is available in all vector softwares like Corel draw, Photoshop...etc.
I think the time is comes to be available in FC.
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