Tracking problem

[Snorrt]

Hi.

I tried to minimize the space between characters like the function "Tracking" in Illustrator does in the character-palette (i.e. -20). But with FontCreator, there's no way to do this in a proper form. With Illustrator, all character white spacings are well weighted, with FontCreator, the whole font looks distorted. I tried to use "Auto Metrics" and calculated white spaces. But it doesn't look right. What does Illustrator do and is there any way to exactly do the same thing in FontCreator? Or do I have to edit every single Glyph?

Thanks in advance,
Peter

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I have not used Autometrics much as it is rather limited. There is no substitute for adjust each glyph individually. If you have the Professional Edition or the Trial Edition then you can use the Glyph Transform Wizard to increase or decrease the bearings by a fixed value instead of just setting a fixed value as in Autometrics.

Even then, I don't think it will be the same as altering tracking, which would reduce the white space more for wide glyphs than it does for narrow glyphs.

Here is a work around that seems to do what is needed.

To reduce the tracking by 10%

1. Select the glyphs a-z or A-Z and press shortcut "P" to preview them in the Preview Toolbar (then you can see whether the adjustment is what you need).
2. Select the whole font in the glyph overview, or the glyphs that you wish to adjust.
3. From the Format menu, select "Settings"
4. On the Header Tab, under Units per em, type a new value that is 10% more. If it is currently 2048 then type 2253 to reduce the entire font size by 10%.
5. Copy the still selected glyphs to the clipboard
6. From the Edit menu, select Undo to restore your font to its original size
7. From the Edit menu, select "Paste Special"
8. From the Paste Special dialogue, deselect everything except "Font Metrics" and OK to paste the font metrics

To increase the tracking by 10%, type 1843 for the Units per em value in step 4.

[Pedrober]

Dear Mr. Pesala,
Could you update this information to the current version?
Regards.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Dear Mr. Pesala,
Could you update this information to the current version?
Regards.

Feel free to do it yourself, if it bugs you. I have no intention of digging up threads from 2009 to fix outdated information.

[Erwin Denissen]

You can use the Glyph Transform wizard to decrease (or increase) the left and right side-bearing with a fixed value or by percentage.