How is the Font Picture Generated

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HalRoenick
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How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by HalRoenick »

I have my font looking and working very nicely, but the sample of the font that is displayed in the font drop down in programs like Write and Outlook is very fuzzy. The font, even when a very small type face is very clear in a document, but very faint and pretty much illegible in the drop down. If I did not know what to look for, I could not tell what is was. Is there a way to control what this might look like?
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

To look good at small sizes the font needs to be hinted.

Please see the FAQ
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HalRoenick
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by HalRoenick »

Thank you. I changed the setting "Font Direction hint" to "Strong left to right, contains neutrals" and made sure hinting was not being removed but this did not seem to help. Do I need to regenerate the bitmap of the font or anything? I did uninsatll and reinstall the font, but still no change.

Thanks again.
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

If the font lacks hinting, changing those settings won't add it. FontCreator will retain hinting if it already exists in a font — unless you edit a glyph, then it will be removed for that glyph. If you created the font from scratch in FontCreator, then hinting was never there in the first place.

If a glyph contains hinting there will be a capital H at the ruler intersection on the top left of the glyph edit window.
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HalRoenick
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by HalRoenick »

I am using Font Creator 6.2 home version. Yes, my font was created from scratch. OK, I see that the "H" is not present in any of my glyphs. Is there a way to turn this on?

Thank you.
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

As it says at the FAQ link:
Screen fonts are incredibly complex to make well, but if you want to hint your font then you could use Microsoft Visual TrueType to add hinting to your fonts. VTT is a professional-level tool for graphically instructing TrueType and OpenType fonts.
If you're new to font creating, then its probably way beyond your knowledge to use VTT. Its way beyond my knowledge too.

Automatic and Manual hinting are both on the Font Creator Wish List. Maybe we will see it in FontCreator 7 some time next year. I doubt if it will be released this year now.

Other programs can add hinting, but VTT is the only free one that I know of.
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HalRoenick
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by HalRoenick »

Would it be easier to start with a "Hinted" non copywrited font, then replace my characters to produce a hinted font? Will my new characters then have hinting?

If so, is there a good place to get hold of a non copywritten hinted font so I can create my own? When I tried using an existing TT font, modifying it and installing it, I found that I could not uninstall the font thus I could not save changes. It was only createing a new font from scratch where I could install and uninstall at will as I made changes/corrections.

Thank you...I only have this one font to create so VTT deos not look right for me.
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

HalRoenick wrote:Would it be easier to start with a "Hinted" non copyrighted font, then replace my characters to produce a hinted font? Will my new characters then have hinting?
No. Any new characters, and any existing characters that you modify will be unhinted. If you don't modify any of the characters used in the Font selection drop list, that particular problem will be solved, but I don't think that is a good solution.

Hinting really is not that important. It makes the font look better on screen, but it is not used for printing, and is not obvious at larger sizes. When I am editing normal sized 12 point text, I always zoom in anyway, so hinting is no longer relevant. At less than 100% zoom it looks a bit faded.

What you can do without losing hinting from an existing font is to create composite glyphs from two or more hinted glyphs, e.g. if a is hinted and " is hinted you can add a composite glyph for ä that will also be hinted.
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HalRoenick
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by HalRoenick »

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:
HalRoenick wrote:What you can do without losing hinting from an existing font is to create composite glyphs from two or more hinted glyphs, e.g. if a is hinted and " is hinted you can add a composite glyph for ä that will also be hinted.
I'm not really understanding what you are suggesting. Any time I try to copy one of my characters into a hinted font in the glyph editer the, "H" goes away.

I don't like asking because I don't want to sound needy, but I am creating this font of my mothers handwriting so she can type her notes to her children because it hurts her to write. Right now the name of her font is illegible and she or my father will be able to read the font name in the drop down. I know this sounds corny but it's the truth. Are you aware of anyone who provides a service that i could pay to turn hinting on in my font? Is is that simple, just "turn it on" or is it a process, I don't want to be a bother.
vanisaac
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by vanisaac »

You do not turn on font hinting, hinting is added to a font. It is an incredibly complex process by which a designer actually programs the computer to alter the shape of the font outline. Let me repeat, you cannot turn on font hinting. That's not what it is. You have to program it. Bikkhu already mentioned VTT as an option, and I can also add that if you have a friend with a Linux computer, you can send your font to them, and try having them add auto-hinting with FontForge. The other way to do it is to have your mother type in a regular font and simply select all, change the font to the handwriting font, then print. She'll have a nice, professionally hinted screen font to do all of her writing in, and then change it to her handwriting at the last minute.
HalRoenick
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by HalRoenick »

Thank you all for your help.
Dave Crosby
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Re: How is the Font Picture Generated

Post by Dave Crosby »

You may be interested in the last line of:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2046
Aut nunc aut nunquam
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