Font Forum

We have a number of complex engineering symbols that we would like to convert to fonts. Some symbols incorporate more than one color. Is it possible to fill newly created fonts with color in Font Creater.

Thanks.

No. The Truetype format does not support colour, so no font editor can add colour to fonts. You could use hash patterns or dots.

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I raised the possibility of colour fonts in the Unicode list back in 2002.

http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicod ... /0143.html

If you need the guest password to view it, then it is on the following page.

http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/

There was quite a discussion and Marco Cimarosti wrote the following, in which he suggested the way that colours could be associated with individual contours in an extension of present font technology.

http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicod ... /0259.html

I have also suggested a technology, the eutofont system, which would have colour font capability, though that is not, as far as I know, implemented.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/eutofont.htm

However, whilst Bhikkhu Pesala is correct that TrueType does not support colour as such, there is the possibility of making sets of fonts where each colour is included in a separate font and colouring is performed using a desktop publishing package such as PagePlus from Serif.

http://www.serif.co.uk

For example, I recently saw some nice colour sets advertised at P22.

http://www.p22.com

http://p22.com/lanston/

http://p22.com/lanston/Catalog.html

http://p22.com/lanston/products/Jacobeaninitials.html

http://p22.com/lanston/Jacobean.pdf

Would the approach used for the Jacobean Initials sets be of any use for your application using complex engineering symbols?

Indeed, it would be possible to encode each symbol in one font, using, say, 1, 2, 3 and 4 for the parts for colours 1, 2, 3 and 4 if the colours are not set, and using R, G, B, Y and so on if user-friendly cues for which colours to use are needed.

William Overington