Considering purchasing FontCreator: I have a question

Tigress · Post by **Tigress** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:24 pm

I already have a typeface designed in Illustrator. I want to be able to make it into a font. Can I import the vectors in Font Creator? It's a calligraphic font that would take a long time to redraw in Font Creator.

Also, how does Font Creator compare with Fontographer or other font design softwares?

Thanks in advance!

Erwin Denissen · Post by **Erwin Denissen** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:27 pm

Hi Tigress,

A recent topic does answer your import question:
viewtopic.php?t=1670

Also, how does Font Creator compare with Fontographer or other font design softwares?

Good question. It heavily depends on your needs and how much time and money you are willing to invest. Maybe someone else would like to comment.

Bhikkhu Pesala · Post by **Bhikkhu Pesala** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:13 pm

I think the only way to make an informed choice is to download the trial versions of each and use them for a few weeks. I have used Fontographer many years ago, and have never used FontLab so cannot offer any objective comparison.

I think FontCreator wins on ease of use and value for money, but if you look at the Feature Set of FontLab and Fontographer they have more features.

I think that with some trial and error you can get a satisfactory result with importing vectors, but FontCreator doesn't support Postsrcript Type 1 curves, only Truetype curves. See this post

The other main difference is the absence of support for hinting in FontCreator. Spindly script fonts may not look so good on screen with only greyscale rendering, but without hinting. If that is crucial, then you will have to stretch your budget. TypeTool2 does not seem to offer satisfactory results with automatic hinting.