Isn't the handle extended way too much here?

AbiRasheed

In this [video link] right around 00:39 the handle is extended way more than its optimal. Shouldn't there actually be an additional node for the rounded corner like I've circled in this [link] instead of the node being stretched so much horizontally? or am I not seeing that extra corner node in just the video? 

Craig Eliason

The curve goes up and then down, so there will presumably be an extremum node placed at the underside of the hood, but like Frode said during the design process finding the right curve is easier without that node, which can be added later. 

Craig Eliason

(Of course the footage is no doubt a "reenactment" of the design process for marketing purposes rather than actual footage of when the /f/ was being first designed, but the principle is the same...)

Jasper de Waard

Somehow a promo video like this for a font is hard to take serious, but it must be said, she's a beauty.

On topic: what's the problem with such an extended handle? For drawing purposes, I always find that fewer nodes make smoother curves. But apparantly there's a production (tt conversion?) downside?

Robin Mientjes

Jasper de Waard said:

On topic: what's the problem with such an extended handle? For drawing purposes, I always find that fewer nodes make smoother curves. But apparantly there's a production (tt conversion?) downside?

I used to think that, aside from easier access for TT hint instructions, it also benefits rendering when you have an on-curve point – the renderer ought to weight on-curve more heavily than off-curve. But I might be so horribly wrong on that!

Thomas Phinney

As long as there are nodes at extrema it is fine. That is, you don't need a node in the top left corner of the inside-counter curve in this example. You should have a node at the leftmost extremum, though... at least in the final issued font—you might well design without it at first.

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

Frode Bo Helland said:

Drawing and making production ready outlines isn’t necessarily the same thing. Some curves are easier (or more natural) to shape when you only have one handle.

Indeed half-dead curves (as I like to call them) are sometimes so much more elegant – it's a shame they [are made to] cause problems in dumb rasterizers. I wonder if there's a good reason for that though.

Nick Shinn

A little trick, 

going back to pre-digital days, 

making the transition between straight and curved less abrupt.

I learned this from Malcolm Waddell.