How to make a contextual cursive font

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Jonne Haven
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Jonne Haven »

You can see the problem. Fortunately I have a version that doesn't have boxes, but i'd like to know why they show up.

Thanks.
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Erwin Denissen »

The space character contains incorrect codepoints: $00, $08, $09, $0D, $1D

It should only contain $20. You can simply replace them through the glyph properties tool window. The fastest way is to just click the "Auto complete code points based on glyph name" button. Don't forget to also click the Apply button!
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Jonne Haven
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Jonne Haven »

Erwin,

Thanks for saving my font! Sorry I haven't responded sooner, I've just been busy. That 'space' glyph fix I wouldn't have found in a million years. Your service is greatly appreciated in a world of large over stuffed organizations that don't make time for the little guys like me. The font is slowly coming to a finish and I'd be proud share it with you. Oh I do have one question.

Say I have a glyph that has space between it and the 0 y-axis and I want to place that glyph on the edge of the 0 y axis, is there a to do this without losing the kerning that has been done to it? Making the font, I didn't realize that it'd be easier to do things with apostrophes, hyphens, colons etc, if the glyphs were all in the same "place". I don't want to just move the glyph and lose all the hard work I've done with kerning like 4 alphabets.

Thanks ahead of time!
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

If the glyph that you wish to move is the first glyph in a kerning pair, moving it left (and thus reducing the left side-bearing) will affect the kerning if the advance width is unchanged, but not if the right side-bearing remains the same.

If the glyph that you wish to move is the second glyph in a kerning pair, moving it left (and thus reducing the left side-bearing) will affect the kerning pairs of which it is the second glyph member.
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Jonne Haven
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Jonne Haven »

So it seems that it's more work to it that way, which I'm not entirely sure how to do. I may have better luck making my different 'a's for example, a class and rekern that way. Thinking of the quickest and most painless way to do this...thanks for your quick response!

Jonne
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Here is an illustration of the problem.

If I move the T to the left, both left and right side-bearings will be changed, affecting the glyph's distance from all other glyphs.

I can edit the right side-bearing after moving the glyph back to -302 so that the kerning pair Ta is unaffected, but the Kerning Pair LT will need adjusting — not to mention the spacing after every other glyph that comes before T.
Glyph Side-bearings.png
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Bottom line: Adjust side-bearings first so that spacing looks fairly even without any kerning, before adding any kerning pairs. The quick way to adjust kerning pairs is to use Autokern, but the results may need manual adjustments especially if your font has swashes.
Autokern.png
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Jonne Haven
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Jonne Haven »

Erwin,

Have a curiousity. If i copy and past a glyph too much it seems to call it a composite glyph...now I don't know what a composite glyph is, all I know is that I can no longer edit the glyph. I would be a happy camper if I knew how to switch the composites back to simple.

Thanks.
MikeW
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by MikeW »

Edit menu, Make Simple.

To isolate composites you desire to make simple, on the left, select the composites entry. That will limit the glyph display to only composites. You can then select one or all of them to use the make simple command on.

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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by MikeW »

Think of composites as a clone of the glyphs that comprise the composites. Any change to the glyphs that make up the composites will be made to the composite glyphs.

Mike
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Jonne Haven »

Just got your message Mike,

I'd been running in circles trying to figure out something so simple I feel like a simpleton. You explained it thoroughly and simply for a nub like me.

Appreciate it,

Jonne
Jonne Haven
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Jonne Haven »

I noticed that an instance of my font is in one of your responses. Could you delete it if you please as i have plans for it.
Thanks and many blessings,

Jonne
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Jonne Haven wrote:I noticed that an instance of my font is in one of your responses. Could you delete it if you please as i have plans for it.
Thanks and many blessings,

Jonne
I deleted one instance from Erwin's Post
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Jonne Haven
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Jonne Haven »

Erwin and company,

I have a font with two versions. They're exactly the same except the glyphs on one of them is bolder (using the glyph transformer). It is very time consuming to manually kern this cursive font (can't autokern) and up until this point I have been simply copying and pasting the kerning pair values from the code editor from one font to the other...however this fails because the bolder font does not line up and kern properly. So that way is out. Is there another way I can transfer the kerning changes from one font to the other in a timely manner? I don't have it in me to kern 7000 manual kerning pairs for TWO fonts. I would like to have the identical fonts (identical except in boldness) kerned properly without having to manage them separately. Is this a possibility or am I chasing rainbows on this one?

Thankyou guys!

Jonne,

PS Erwin, what did you think of my winamp marketing idea I emailed you?
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Jonne Haven wrote:Is there another way I can transfer the kerning changes from one font to the other in a timely manner?
Exporting the OpenType Layout Feature Definition script *.otlfd from the regular font and importing it into the bold version will transfer the other OpenType features too, besides kerning, but it will only copy the kerning pairs the same as you're doing now.

If the two styles need different kerning values, then you're chasing rainbows. Nevertheless, either method will still save a lot of work.

Using Kerning Classes will reduce the work load a little, but not much for your font I suspect.
Make Kerning Classes.png
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Jonne Haven
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Re: How to make a contextual cursive font

Post by Jonne Haven »

Bhikkhu,

Thanks for the quick response and the information, yes I was aware of exporting and yes that's what I was in essence doing...and even though I'm chasing rainbows, it's good to know it for sure and puts my mind at ease. Ease in the fact that I'm not missing something.

So thank you for the peace of mind.

Blessings Bhikku,

Jonne,

PS - How do you pronounce your name. It is so deliciously unusual!
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