Maintaining Vertical Position

[Jim Johnson]

I have created a custom font to be used with a mapping application (ArcIMS). Many of the symbols on the map are layered glyphs from my custom font. I am layering them so that multiple colors can be used for the resulting symbology.

My problem is that each glyph that I use in a layered symbol ends up vertically centered with respect to other glyphs when put together. Imagine a circle as the first layer, then the upper half of a circle as another layer--the half circle should appear in the upper half of the full circle, but the half circle shifts down so that it is in the center of the full circle.

Am I missing something in the metrics of my custom font?

Thanks,

Jim

[Dick Pape]

Using Preview (View/Toolbars/Preview) will let you see how the glyphs are aligned to each other. This can help making sure they overlap properly.

The glyph which is to overlap another must be positioned to the left of Zero and above the other characters which makes the Metrics (Left Side Bearing and Advance Width) all unusual. Do not use Autometrics or these measurements will reset.

[Erwin Denissen]

If the software centers glyphs based on their bounding box, you might have to add a one point contour at the baseline.