Customising Unicode Data
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 11:52 am
The file called UnicodeData.txt found in your \Program Files\High-Logic\FontCreator\Unicode\ directory is used by Font Creator to display the names of glyphs in the Glyph Properties window and Insert Character dialogue.
The Unicode Standard is updated periodically to add new glyphs. If you make use of the Private Use Area for your own purposes you may like to assign your own glyph names to some code-points.
FontCreator uses the Private Use Area for stacking diacritics needed for Vietnamese fonts. Each pair of diacritics was assigned a code-point to be used by the Complete Composites and Insert Characters features found in the Professional Edition of Font Creator.
I added some lines to the UnicodeData.txt file to give names to these codepoints. The result is that the new glyph names now display in FontCreator dialogues.
I have now added a lot more definitions in the Private Use Area for Petite Capitals,¹ Non-lining Figures (Old Style Figures), and Stacking Fractions (Nut Fractions). When you use the Insert Characters Dialogue you can see the names of the characters that you are about to insert.
However, you won't see the glyph outlines as shown in the dialogue above unless your template font already contains the glyphs. They are not part of any Unicode standard. The font used for empty glyphs and for the Insert Characters dialogue can be changed from, Tools, Options, Overview, "Font Used by Samples." The Block Names in the drop list for "Go to Unicode Block" are defined in Blocks.txt in the same \Unicode\ Program folder.
The names can also be seen when you go to select a new character mapping from Format, Mappings, Select. The Blocks defined in Blocks.txt are also used by this dialogue.
Let me know what you think about my arrangement of the Private Use Area. Some such arrangement is essential if you wish to add Open Type features like Small Capitals and Old Style Figures to Truetype fonts.
Extract UnicodeData.zip to C:\Users\<Your User Name>AppData\Roaming\FontCreator\Unicode\ to modify FontCreator's dialogues.
¹ Petite Capitals are designed on the x-height for use with lowercase, while Small Capitals are usually about 70-80% of the Caps Height, and are designed for use in Subheadings. They share the same code-points.
The Unicode Standard is updated periodically to add new glyphs. If you make use of the Private Use Area for your own purposes you may like to assign your own glyph names to some code-points.
FontCreator uses the Private Use Area for stacking diacritics needed for Vietnamese fonts. Each pair of diacritics was assigned a code-point to be used by the Complete Composites and Insert Characters features found in the Professional Edition of Font Creator.
I added some lines to the UnicodeData.txt file to give names to these codepoints. The result is that the new glyph names now display in FontCreator dialogues.
I have now added a lot more definitions in the Private Use Area for Petite Capitals,¹ Non-lining Figures (Old Style Figures), and Stacking Fractions (Nut Fractions). When you use the Insert Characters Dialogue you can see the names of the characters that you are about to insert.
However, you won't see the glyph outlines as shown in the dialogue above unless your template font already contains the glyphs. They are not part of any Unicode standard. The font used for empty glyphs and for the Insert Characters dialogue can be changed from, Tools, Options, Overview, "Font Used by Samples." The Block Names in the drop list for "Go to Unicode Block" are defined in Blocks.txt in the same \Unicode\ Program folder.
The names can also be seen when you go to select a new character mapping from Format, Mappings, Select. The Blocks defined in Blocks.txt are also used by this dialogue.
Let me know what you think about my arrangement of the Private Use Area. Some such arrangement is essential if you wish to add Open Type features like Small Capitals and Old Style Figures to Truetype fonts.
Extract UnicodeData.zip to C:\Users\<Your User Name>AppData\Roaming\FontCreator\Unicode\ to modify FontCreator's dialogues.
¹ Petite Capitals are designed on the x-height for use with lowercase, while Small Capitals are usually about 70-80% of the Caps Height, and are designed for use in Subheadings. They share the same code-points.