Problem adding a glyph

Get help with FontCreator here. Please do not post feature requests or bug reports here.
Post Reply
Mike Thompson
Top Typographer
Top Typographer
Posts: 408
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:10 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Contact:

Problem adding a glyph

Post by Mike Thompson »

!!!!!! THIS PROBLEM HAS BEEN RESOLVED - SEE MY LAST POST

I added a glyph in the middle of my font. The font is, as far as I can see, in Unicode order.
The glyph was added using Insert Glyph then I used Properties to set its Unicode mapping.

a) In Font Creator 6.2, the displays in the Font ->Test window look ok.

b) In MainType 2.1.1, the samples are displayed ok providing they only use glyphs that occur
before the added glyph. Glyphs that are after the added glyph do not display well.
However when I type into the sample window any letter , then the glyph that appears is the one following it, for instance, when space is typed. an exclamation appears. Both of these glyphs are before the newly added glyph.

c) On loading the font using MainType, it displays well in a word processor.
I tried installing it with MainType and the result was ok.

d) When I change the font to OpenType using VOLT, the behavior in (b) and (c) is the
same as it was with TrueType version of the font.

Any ideas on how to fix this?
Mike
Last edited by Mike Thompson on Mon Sep 26, 2011 12:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mike Thompson
Hebrew Font Design
http://hebrew-font-shuneet.com
Erwin Denissen
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 11108
Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2002 12:41 am
Location: Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Erwin Denissen »

Maybe you did not add mappings for all platforms, but it is hard to tell without seeing the font file.
Erwin Denissen
High-Logic
Proven Font Technology
Mike Thompson
Top Typographer
Top Typographer
Posts: 408
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:10 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Mike Thompson »

Erwin,
The entire font only has one mapping: Windows Unicode BMP (UCS-2).
The new character does have that mapping.

I will email the font to you, Thanks, Mike
Mike Thompson
Hebrew Font Design
http://hebrew-font-shuneet.com
Erwin Denissen
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 11108
Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2002 12:41 am
Location: Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Erwin Denissen »

I've just received the font. I can't see anything wrong, and it shows and works just fine within MainType 4.

Just to be sure I've recalculated the Unicode character ranges as well as the code page characters ranges through FontCreator 6.2. I'll send that modified font to you for further testing.

Do let us know your results through this forum.
Erwin Denissen
High-Logic
Proven Font Technology
Mike Thompson
Top Typographer
Top Typographer
Posts: 408
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:10 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Mike Thompson »

I have made some progress using Insert -> Characters instead of Insert -> Glyphs.
Text now displays well in Main Type v2.1

The new character was added at the end of the font so to move it into the Unicode order
I applied Font -> Sort Glyphs with Windows Unicode checked.
Text that uses characters that follow the added character is now displayed garbled.
What have I done wrong?
Mike
.
Mike Thompson
Hebrew Font Design
http://hebrew-font-shuneet.com
Mike Thompson
Top Typographer
Top Typographer
Posts: 408
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:10 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Mike Thompson »

I should add more information as I have been asking a question and not presenting full circumstances.

My font has up to now had one glyph with two Unicode mappings:
Glyph 140
1465 HEBREW POINT HOLAM
1466 HEBREW POINT HOLAM HASER FOR VAV

I noticed that some other Hebrew Fonts have two separate characters:
Glyph 140 1465 HEBREW POINT HOLAM
Glyph 141 1466 HEBREW POINT HOLAM HASER FOR VAV
This is what I am trying to achieve.

Mike
Mike Thompson
Hebrew Font Design
http://hebrew-font-shuneet.com
Mike Thompson
Top Typographer
Top Typographer
Posts: 408
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:10 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Mike Thompson »

I got fed up with this problem and restored fonts backedup before it arose.
Then I added the character to (almost) all the fonts without difficulty
However...
One of the fonts exhibited the problem (all characters after the added one added, were display as the following character).
Then I noticed 'a similar font was installed' and that font did not have the added character.
Very strange.
All this may only interest V2.1 users and is moot now since Main Type has moved on.

Mike
Mike Thompson
Hebrew Font Design
http://hebrew-font-shuneet.com
Erwin Denissen
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 11108
Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2002 12:41 am
Location: Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Erwin Denissen »

Thanks for letting us know. I'm glad you've found a way to solve it.
Erwin Denissen
High-Logic
Proven Font Technology
Mike Thompson
Top Typographer
Top Typographer
Posts: 408
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:10 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Mike Thompson »

This problem has reoccurred. I have added the same glyph as described above to four more fonts.
I'm more practiced with Font Creator so I tried adding the glyph in different ways.
One way way was to add a glyph and then add a mapping to it. Another way way was to add a character
and then sort the font into Unicode order. I also tried the other sort orders.

This time I also looked at the sample texts in Main Type V4, the Font Creator V6.5 Test Window,
a word processor (Open Office Writer) and Notepad. The results are both interesting and confusing.

Font Creator (v6.5) Sample texts look fine in the Test Window for all these fonts
and for some different sort orders.

Main Type v2.1 For the fonts that was sorted into Unicode order, the sample texts are mostly OK
but the spacing between letters doesn't look good for characters that are after the added character.
For the other sorts (postscript, alphanumeric etc) the sample texts are completely garbled.
Note that the Characters Window looks fine in all cases.

Main Type V4 Here the characters window is full of semi-random characters. Not true random
because in one font the numerals are in order BUT in the Hebrew code page (!)
The samples window contents are OK when the characters are all BEFORE the added character
but for text with characters after the added character for example all Hebrew text, the display is completely
garbled.

Word processors All the samples I looked at are displayed correctly for all the fonts !!!!

Somewhere something is wrong. I feel uncomfortable about releasing a font in these circumstances...
Mike Thompson
Hebrew Font Design
http://hebrew-font-shuneet.com
Mike Thompson
Top Typographer
Top Typographer
Posts: 408
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:10 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Mike Thompson »

AMAZING DISCOVERY
I renamed the apparently corrupted font from "ShuneetDEV Oblique" to "aaaShuneet Oblique" so it would appear at the top of tediously long
font menus. The corruption has disappeared!
How can this be?
Mike
Mike Thompson
Hebrew Font Design
http://hebrew-font-shuneet.com
vanisaac
Posts: 337
Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2003 1:33 pm
Location: Washington State, USA

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by vanisaac »

How many fonts do you have on your system?
Erwin Denissen
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 11108
Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2002 12:41 am
Location: Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Erwin Denissen »

Mike Thompson wrote:AMAZING DISCOVERY
I renamed the apparently corrupted font from "ShuneetDEV Oblique" to "aaaShuneet Oblique" so it would appear at the top of tediously long
font menus. The corruption has disappeared!
How can this be?
Most likely your font cache file is corrupted (or at least out of sync).

Delete the font cache file: C:\WINDOWS\system32\FNTCACHE.DAT (or on Windows 95/98/Me C:\Windows\ttfCache) and reboot to let Windows regenerate it.
Erwin Denissen
High-Logic
Proven Font Technology
Mike Thompson
Top Typographer
Top Typographer
Posts: 408
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:10 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Contact:

Re: Problem adding a glyph

Post by Mike Thompson »

Thanks Erwin,
Heavens I don't know how many hours I have wasted on this....
I have tried your solution and so far ---- so good!
Mike
Mike Thompson
Hebrew Font Design
http://hebrew-font-shuneet.com
Post Reply