Disclaimer: By no means do I claim to be an expert on font design/modification/creation. My knowledge and experience comes from the time-honored method of jumping in with both feet and then kicking like mad. Also a lot of Googling! :)
If anyone knows of better/smoother/more elegant processes, please feel free to let me know! Thanks.
Fixing A Font That Won't Appear In Inkscape, Using FontForge
As many of you know from the discussion in this thread http://ift.tt/1B2a3XK, Inkscape sometimes has difficulty displaying certain fonts. After several episodes of "CSI:Typography" (tagline: "He couldn't have written that letter, ...he's not the type!"), I think I have discovered why this is and how to fix it.
Inkscape apparently has certain limitations regarding the fonts it is able to use.
First, only TrueType and certain OpenType fonts will work with Inkscape. Bitmap fonts, Type 1 fonts, or PostScript fonts will not work.
Secondly, the glyphs (characters) for the font cannot be encoded in unicode locations outside the range that Inkscape is able to access.
Confused? Fear not, all is (hopefully) explained as you read how to correct this situation.
The process is not difficult, just tedious (YMMV).
For this example, I am using August Horvath's font "RoyalCanadianAirforce1". This was downloaded from the Simmers Paint Shop website.
I chose this font for my example for a couple of reasons. First, it was one that Gary (and others) had mentioned having trouble with when trying to use in Inkscape. Second, while I could install the font (and use it in certain applications on my Mac), it would not show under the proper name:
To make the necessary changes you will need a font editor. As the thread's title implies, I will be using FontForge. I chose this program for a couple of reasons:
1) It's free.
2) It's available for Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows
To obtain FontForge:
Windows users: You can get an installer here: <http://ift.tt/1B2a5yR;. I did download this and try it on my XP virtual machine, and it appears to work just fine.
Mac users: Unfortunately, you need to do a little command-line work to install FontForge. The easiest tutorial I've found so far is here: Install FontForge on Mac OS X - Easy PC Tutorials. This is the method I used. Please note that you are building and compiling code, so this will take time. You will be downloading code from the internet, so keep that in consideration as well. If you get an error when you get to steps 6 and 7, don't panic. You need to retype the quote marks, changing them from smart quotes to plain quotes (go figure). Alternatively, you can got to your Applications/Macports folder, click on FontForge, and select "Make Alias" from the Apple menu. Drag this to your Desktop, Dock, etc.
Alternatively, you can try the beta installer package from here: Install FontForge on Mac OS X. I have not personally tried this, so I do not know how it compares to the above method (although, it looks like you are downloading a single package, so it might be a bit faster).
Linux guys… Google is your friend. I haven't run a Linux box in years, so I can't offer too much insight.
One note about FontForge: The user interface/GUI may be a bit different than what you are used to, so be aware of that. Some keyboard shortcuts do not work as expected, or at all- You will need to use the menu commands for these.
Ready? Got FontForge? Good. Let's get started!
If anyone knows of better/smoother/more elegant processes, please feel free to let me know! Thanks.
Fixing A Font That Won't Appear In Inkscape, Using FontForge
As many of you know from the discussion in this thread http://ift.tt/1B2a3XK, Inkscape sometimes has difficulty displaying certain fonts. After several episodes of "CSI:Typography" (tagline: "He couldn't have written that letter, ...he's not the type!"), I think I have discovered why this is and how to fix it.
Inkscape apparently has certain limitations regarding the fonts it is able to use.
First, only TrueType and certain OpenType fonts will work with Inkscape. Bitmap fonts, Type 1 fonts, or PostScript fonts will not work.
Secondly, the glyphs (characters) for the font cannot be encoded in unicode locations outside the range that Inkscape is able to access.
Confused? Fear not, all is (hopefully) explained as you read how to correct this situation.
The process is not difficult, just tedious (YMMV).
For this example, I am using August Horvath's font "RoyalCanadianAirforce1". This was downloaded from the Simmers Paint Shop website.
I chose this font for my example for a couple of reasons. First, it was one that Gary (and others) had mentioned having trouble with when trying to use in Inkscape. Second, while I could install the font (and use it in certain applications on my Mac), it would not show under the proper name:
To make the necessary changes you will need a font editor. As the thread's title implies, I will be using FontForge. I chose this program for a couple of reasons:
1) It's free.
2) It's available for Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows
To obtain FontForge:
Windows users: You can get an installer here: <http://ift.tt/1B2a5yR;. I did download this and try it on my XP virtual machine, and it appears to work just fine.
Mac users: Unfortunately, you need to do a little command-line work to install FontForge. The easiest tutorial I've found so far is here: Install FontForge on Mac OS X - Easy PC Tutorials. This is the method I used. Please note that you are building and compiling code, so this will take time. You will be downloading code from the internet, so keep that in consideration as well. If you get an error when you get to steps 6 and 7, don't panic. You need to retype the quote marks, changing them from smart quotes to plain quotes (go figure). Alternatively, you can got to your Applications/Macports folder, click on FontForge, and select "Make Alias" from the Apple menu. Drag this to your Desktop, Dock, etc.
Alternatively, you can try the beta installer package from here: Install FontForge on Mac OS X. I have not personally tried this, so I do not know how it compares to the above method (although, it looks like you are downloading a single package, so it might be a bit faster).
Linux guys… Google is your friend. I haven't run a Linux box in years, so I can't offer too much insight.
One note about FontForge: The user interface/GUI may be a bit different than what you are used to, so be aware of that. Some keyboard shortcuts do not work as expected, or at all- You will need to use the menu commands for these.
Ready? Got FontForge? Good. Let's get started!
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire