Editing fonts. How to change the font name. Pitfalls in the early stages

07.10.2021

Drag the font that needs to be edited onto the opened empty field of the program and release it. This will open the font for editing. You can also open the font through the item File - Open, or using the icon Open on the toolbar. After the font is opened in the program, you will see all the characters that are in it.

Adding support for Russian tags in MP3 files

So, if there is a font containing Cyrillic, it means that there are already Unicode characters on the card that have already written HEX encoding values. Thus, we need to find these characters and assign their HEX values to the Cyrillic characters.
For ease of use, it is necessary to sort the font. Click the icon icon on the toolbar Sort glyphs. In the window that appears, mark Microsoft Unicode or Simbol Code points. Click OK. The font will be sorted and our characters in it will be arranged in ascending order according to HER encoding values.

Now we need to find the first Cyrillic character in unicode. As you probably remember, the first character (capital letter A) has the HEX value 00C0. Click the icon icon on the toolbar Find a glyph or use a hotkey combination Ctrl+F. A glyph search window will appear.

Go to the tab Mapping to search for HEX values of a given encoding on the font map. We note where the search is performed, i.e. Microsoft Unicode BMP only. In the number line, enter the number in HEX representation for our symbol, namely 00С0, to search for the first character of the Russian alphabet in unicode. Click Find.

As a result, the symbol you are looking for will be highlighted on the map. As we remember from the article, this is exactly what our first Cyrillic character in unicode looked like.
Do not remove the selection from the found character, scroll through the font, finding the last character.

HEX is the value of the last character (capital letter i) of the Cyrillic alphabet in unicode 00FF. We find it on the map. It is located a few lines below our highlighted first letter. While holding down the Shift key, mark the last Cyrillic character on the map with HEX heading 00FF.
As a result, all Cyrillic letters will be marked. We look at the bottom line in the program to check. We should have 64 glyphs marked.

Right-click on the selected characters. In the menu that appears, select the item Copy.

Now let’s scroll through the font and find the Russian letters in it that are displayed in the font. HEX header values begin with 0410 and end with 044F. Mark the first capital letter A, hold down the Shift key and mark the last capital letter I. We check in the bottom line that we have 64 glyphs selected on the map.

Go to the tab Edit and choose Paste Special Ctrl+E. With this action we call up the paste special window for our font.

In the Paste Special window, set the flag Gliph Mappings(copying the HEX value of a character in Unicode), clear all other flags. And note below Add mappings. Click OK.

As a result, we get that our Russian letters, which are displayed on the font map, have also been assigned HEX unicode values, copied from the characters located above.

Let's check to make sure that the symbols are assigned the values that we needed. We select symbol A, the value of which we need to check, for example, on the map. Right-click on the symbol and select from the menu that appears Properties.... We get into the map of this glyph. As you can see, now the letter A is assigned both encoding values.

Next, we will delete those characters that are no longer needed at the moment, because... they are no longer written on the font map; we assigned their meanings to our Russian letters. It’s easy to search for them; we go higher and look for symbols that no longer have a HEX header. Mark the first and last character while holding the Shift key.

As a result, we will have 64 glyphs without HEX headers, we check this by looking at the bottom line of the program. Right-click on the selected characters. In the menu that appears, select the item Delete to remove character data from the font map.

As a result, unnecessary and unused symbols will be removed from the card. Now we can save our font and test it. Install the font on your phone. As you can see, you now have support for Russian tags in MP3 files.

We insert our letters into a font that supports a large number of languages and symbols

We choose a font whose characters you like and would like to have such a font, but so that it can support a large number of languages and many different additional characters. Or, you liked the font of your OS, but you don’t want to think about how to find all the special ones. symbols. That is, you want to use only the style of characters of the English and Russian alphabet that you like.
Open a font with a large number of languages and symbols. Then open the font whose characters you want to use for embedding.
For ease of use, use the tab Windows - Tile Vertical or Tile Horizontal. Thus, you will be able to work with two fonts simultaneously, i.e. It will be convenient for you to see all the characters in both fonts.

We mark on the font that you liked the style of the first character on the map. Then, holding down the Shift key, mark the last character in the line where we see the last letter of the English alphabet. Thus, we select a certain number of characters, which includes the entire English alphabet. Right-click on the selected symbols and select the item from the drop-down menu Copy.
Then we make a similar selection on the font into which we want to insert. We compare the number of selected characters with the number of glyphs in the font from which we are copying. Right-click on the selected characters and select Paste. I would like to immediately note that only numbers, English and Russian characters can be implemented. That is, highlight strictly defined characters. This is at your discretion. But remember, the more characters you transfer into the font used for insertion, the more harmonious your new font will be.

We insert all characters, including Russian letters.
Let me remind you once again that it was possible to insert only numbers and letters of the English and Russian alphabet. Or insert sequential characters that are located nearby on the font map, thereby copying a larger number of characters. But here you need to pay attention, if one of the fonts has at least one extra symbol, then your copying will lead to confusion of symbols on the map. Therefore, if you are not sure that all characters exactly match in both fonts, then it is better to insert through the tab Edit. Choose Paste Special, or simply use a hotkey combination Ctrl+E. Set the flags in the Paste Special window Gliph Outline Data(copying the symbol itself), Gliph Metrics(copy size and position) and Gliph Mappings(copying the HEX value of a character in Unicode). Click OK. In this case, when copying, all symbols will take their values on the map.

We see that our symbols have been replaced in the font, and now the letter spellings that we liked are embedded in it. Let's see how this font looks.
Press the hotkey F5 or item Font - Test. An additional window will open in which you will see the available symbols. As you can see from the screenshot below, we have achieved the expected result.

Customize the font to suit you

There are times when you like the font, but it is too small and difficult to read. Or another option - the font is good, but is cut off along the baseline. There is a need to adjust (correct) such a font to suit you.
Go to the tab Tool, select the menu item Glyph Transformer.... With this action we call up the transformation window.

To increase the font, select the value Outlines - Scale. Use the right arrow to move the effect to the right window. Enter the required value. Typically, a value of 110 (for both vertical and horizontal to ensure even magnification) will be sufficient. To ensure that when a symbol is enlarged, its contours do not go beyond the established dimensions for the glyph, we use Fixed Point.

If the font is cut along the baseline, then it must be raised above it. For this we use the value Outlines - Move. And set the value that we need to move the font vertically. Click OK.

Now we can save our font and test it. Install the font on your phone. We check whether we are satisfied with this increase and whether you have achieved the expected effect. If you raised the font, check the display of the font in various programs and windows on the phone.

Smoothing

It is possible that your font will seem too “chopped” to you, i.e. There will be no proper smoothing in the letters. In this case, you can try using an anti-aliasing effect for your font.
Press the hotkey F5 or item Font - Test. An additional window will open in which you will see the available symbols. If you think that your symbols require anti-aliasing, then let's compare the results. The screenshot below shows the font without anti-aliasing.

Go to the tab Format, select the menu item Grayscale. Using a button Insert add the values shown in the screenshot. Click OK.

Press the hotkey F5 or item Font - Test. An additional window will open in which you will see the available symbols. Let's see how our symbols are displayed. The smoothing effect is noticeable (unfortunately, the screenshots do not show a clear difference, but you will see it in the program).

Assigning an internal name to your font

The final touch is to add a name to your font. This is necessary if you created something new. If you edited someone's font, then doing so is not entirely ethical.
Go to the tab Format, select the menu item Naming.

We fill in the fields, indicate the name of the font, thereby specifying its internal name, and the version number. It is possible that you will make more than one version of your font, but edit it several times.

Save the font. You can open your font using standard Windows tools to see how the internal name of your font is written.

Everything that we did in the second part of the article, namely: increasing the font size, raising the font above the baseline and smoothing, all this can be done using the program. As you can see from the screenshot below, all these values can be changed in the ini file of the program. But the goal of our article was to learn how to quickly and easily change the font itself, so we performed this character transformation in the font file itself.

Everything that is described in this article can serve you so that at any time you can easily change the font that you like, but has some inconvenience in using it. You don’t have to ask anyone to change anything in it, you don’t have to give it up. You can do it yourself, in just a few mouse clicks.
Chervonaya Olga Practical tips for editing a finished font

When developing a website, one of the key tasks is to make the product unique. In addition to the graphic design, it is very important to make the information part itself, that is, the text, unique. In this review, we will look at several tools for creating your own fonts. Of course, on the Internet you can find hundreds of beautiful, and at the same time free, fonts for your website, but who doesn’t want to try themselves as an artist and create something of their own? The problem is that many font editors cost a significant amount of money, but today we will talk about free editors that provide enough functionality to create the font you need.

FontStruct

FontStruct is a free online font editor. Font creation is done directly in the browser, so you don't even need to install any software on your computer.

Once you've finished creating a font, you simply save it as a TrueType font file (.ttf) and then install it on your computer. This format is supported by all versions of Windows and Mac OS operating systems.

FontForge is a free font editor compatible with Windows, Mac OS and Linux. A very important feature here is the ability to edit an existing font. Supported font file formats include TrueType (.ttf), PostScript (.ps), OpenType (.otf) and many others.

The application's interface may seem quite complicated, especially if you have never encountered such tasks before, but thanks to the step-by-step font creation tutorial, which is located on the FontForge developer website, learning will become much easier.

BitFontMaker

This free online tool allows you to create a simple, easy-to-read font right in your browser, then download it to your computer as a TrueType file.

Font creation is carried out literally pixel by pixel. This can be time-consuming, but it is extremely simple.

Type light

Type light is a free font editor for Windows that allows you to create your own fonts as well as edit existing ones.

The utility supports TrueType, OpenType and PostScript formats. It is possible to convert one font file format to another. It is worth noting that this software is provided free of charge for private, non-commercial use only.

Raster Font Editor

The advantage of this free font editor is that it does not require installation, so you can run it anywhere directly from a flash drive or from cloud storage.

The functionality of this editor cannot be called wide, but it is perfect for basic simple actions with fonts.

Much has been written about type design, especially about the history of its creation. We have read about many techniques for creating fonts. But where, exactly, should we start? If you are a designer or illustrator and this discipline is new to you, then where should you start?

We found useful information that we collected from many sources and decided to put it all together.

1. Start with a brief

Creating a font is a long and painstaking job, so it is very important to have a clear understanding of what this font should be.

Developing a brief will certainly require research and thought. How will your font be used: will it be needed for a specific project or for personal use? Is there a problem that your font would solve? Will your font fit into an array of similar designs? What makes it unique?

There are many options. Fonts can be created, for example, specifically for academic texts or for posters. Only when you know how your font can be used, then you are ready to start designing.

2. Fundamental choice

There are a number of decisions to keep in mind. Will it be a sans serif or sans serif? Will it be handwritten text based or more geometric? Will the font be designed for text and suitable for long documents? Or maybe it will display text in a creative style and look better in a larger size?

Clue: It is assumed that the design of sans serif fonts is more difficult for beginners, since the capabilities of such fonts are more specific.

3. Pitfalls in the early stages

There are several pitfalls:

You may decide to start by computerizing handwriting, which can be a useful practice exercise. But because handwriting is so individual, your font may not have much success due to its specificity.
You should not use existing fonts as a basis. By slightly reworking a font that is already familiar to everyone, you will not create a better font and will not develop your skills.

4. Use your hands

There is a lot of material on how to draw fonts using computer programs, but we strongly recommend that you draw it by hand first. Trying to do this on a computer will make your job much more difficult.

Try to create beautiful shapes of the first few letters on paper, and only then start computer work. Subsequent letters can then be designed based on the existing shapes, according to key features.

Clue: By hand you can usually draw smoother, more precise curves. To make it more convenient, do not be afraid to rotate the sheet of paper the way you need.

5. What characters to start with

Creating specific characters first can help you set the style of your font. Well, then these symbols will be used as guides. Typically, the “control characters,” as they are called, in Latin are n and o, and capital letters are H and O. The word adhension is often used to help test the basic proportions of the font (but some write this word as adhencion because the letter s can be very insidious).

6. Transfer the font to your computer

There are many ways to transfer a drawing to a computer. Some recommend tracing programs, but many prefer to do this work manually so they have full control over the points and shapes.

Many programs need a clear and vibrant design, so once you like your font, trace it with a fine pen and fill in the shapes with a marker.

Clue: If you processed the drawn font as described above, then you can simply take a photo of the drawing and work with it.

7. Program selection

Many designers like to use Adobe Illustrator. It's great for drawing individual shapes and experimenting. But later it becomes obvious that it is not suitable for creating fonts. You will want to work with a program that allows you to work with letter spacing and word creation.

An excellent program is FontLab Studio, but new software such as Glyphs and Robofont are gaining more and more popularity. These programs aren't cheap, but Glyghs has a "mini" version in the Mac App Store with some missing features, which isn't great because those features are important for beginners.

8. Using programs

Don't forget to position the extreme points of the letter shapes (top, bottom, right, left) to better control the process.

9. Words

When you have finished all the work on smoothing out the shapes, look at how it looks in full text. Make it a goal to analyze how the font looks in a line, paragraph, and so on. And don't wait until you've done the entire alphabet.

One of the most popular font design programs. Available on Windows and Mac.

The program is available on Windows, has an intuitive interface and is perfect for beginners.

Another powerful font editor from FontLab that allows you to create new fonts or modify existing ones. Available on Windows and Mac.

This program works on Windows, Mac, Unix/Linux and has been translated into many languages. It also allows you to create new fonts and edit existing ones.

OpenType font editor, available on Windows and Mac OS X. Quite simple and contains a sufficient number of functions.

Another free tool with which you can create dot fonts.

A free trial ($9 per font download) online tool that lets you create fonts from handwritten text.

Another online tool (also almost $10 to download) that lets you create a font from handwritten text.

A free and fairly powerful font editor. Great for beginners and those who don't want to spend money on buying software.

This app is available on iPad and Windows 8. It allows you to create a font from a sketch and edit existing fonts.

Free tool for a limited time. With it you can create fonts and download them.

A free online tool that allows you to create TTF and OTF fonts from handwritten text.

There is a free and premium version. The program runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and BSD.

To create fonts I recommend using an editor FontCreator from High-Logic. I’ll say right away that the program is paid, but this is the best option that caught my eye. If you need a free font editor, pay attention to the program Type light from cr8software and online service Glyphr Studio. I'll stick with FontCreator (if I'm not mistaken, it was version 6.0).

Step 1: and so, launch the editor and using the command: File > New(File > New) - create a new font. In the window that opens New Font (from English) New Font) , you will need to specify a number of parameters:

Font family name- name of the font family, i.e. just the name of the font, something like that Times New Roman, I pointed My Font.
Character set- a set of characters included in the font, I recommend choosing Unicode (characters).
Font style- font style, for each style you need to create a separate file. For regular (default) font style, select the option Regular.
Predefined outlines- built-in circuits. I recommend selecting the Don’t include outlines option, which will allow you to create a clean outline of silhouettes.

Step 2: A window will appear in front of you with a form of silhouettes of some symbols, numbers and Latin letters. For adding Cyrillic alphabet to the font, you need to do the following:

2.1. Using the command: Insert > Characters… (Insert > Symbols...)- Open the window Insert Characters(from English) inserting characters).

In this case, you may receive the following message:

This operation is not undoable. Do you want to continue?

It informs you that the operation is irreversible and to complete it you need to confirm your action, press the button “ Yes».

2.2. Next, a table of symbols will appear in front of you. For convenience, in the list Fonts select font Arial. On the list Go to Unicode Block select Cyrillic. Using the field Selected Character, looks at the code for the letters “A” ($0410) and “I” ($044F). In field Add these characters and/or character ranges… we add the necessary characters and/or range of characters, in our case it is: $0410-$044F . Click the button " OK».

2.3. Symbols of Cyrillic letters will be added to your font form. In the same way, but separately, you can add the letters “е” ($0451) and “Ё” ($0401), which were not included in the range of characters specified in the previous step.

Step 3: Now you can start creating symbols. Here, in addition to vector editing, using the appropriate tools, FontCreator allows you to create characters from pictures by converting them into a vector image. Obviously, for each symbol you will need to draw a separate picture.

3.1. As an example, I draw a capital letter "A".

3.2. In principle, after scanning, this image file can be used for import. To do this, select the image of the desired symbol in the form. Then using the command: Tools > Import Image… (Tools > Image Import)- Open the window Import Raster Image (from English) import bitmap) .

3.3. In the window that opens, click the button Load…» (from English) download) and select the image file you need.

3.4. Moving the slider Threshold (from English) threshold) Set the darkening level of the image to create a clearer outline. You can also use filters:

Smooth Filter- smoothing filter.
Erode- blur, makes the symbol bolder.
Dilate- stretching makes the font thinner.

Import Mode (from English) import mode) better leave it Trace, to convert to curves. WITH Negative (from English) negative) , I think everything is clear. So click the button Generate».

Step 4: By switching to editing mode, double-clicking on the symbol in the form, all you have to do is correct the irregularities, adjust the size and set the indentation line. You will need to do the same for other symbols.

In general, the process of creating a font cannot be called particularly difficult. This requires patience and a lot of time. Using the FontCreator font editor, this time can be saved in many ways by importing and converting a character image into a vector. However, even this option is a lot of work. That's all I have. Thank you for your attention. Good luck!