FontLab VI is here! Unleash your type design creativity with FontLab VI, our ultra bold font editor. Design and edit glyphs more easily than ever, draw multi-color fonts, or make variable fonts. Type drawing, spacing, kerning, hinting, OpenType features and Python scripting — FontLab VI does it all, on both Mac and Windows.
Get your free 30-day trial or buy FontLab VI at https://fontlab.com/VI
FontLab VI is $689 (it includes both Mac and Windows versions).
If you bought FontLab Studio 5 between Nov 30, 2015 and Dec 6, 2017, the upgrade to VI is free, all other users of FontLab Studio 5 can upgrade for only $199, and Fontographer 4.7 & 5 users for $344.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bEIm8lo2OA
Comments
I’ve been loathe to use VI while still in beta, but am now considering switching over. I have two quick questions, though:
1 - will the release version, like the beta, safely run alongside FontLab Studio 5?
2 - Does FontLab VI share the same data files as FontLab Studio 5 (I only really care about .nam files since they're the only ones I’ve customized)
André
Here you get more info about user custom files.
You can select to have everything docked in a single window (first icon), to have glyphs tabbed in a single window and fonts in separate windows (second) and to have everything floating (third).
Note that you can freely position and dock panels by dragging their titles. Icons at left are X (close) and V (retract). At right the icon alternates between the three dock options: dock at any place, dock with others and no dock.
The interface organization could be saved as a workspace in Window > Workspaces. Pretty much the same you have in InDesign, among other applications. Attached is a sample workspace that can be imported to FontLab VI.
Use setting 3 of http://help.fontlab.com/fontlab-vi/Preferences/#windows-and-tabs-configuration if you prefer to work with floating windows instead of tabs.
Note that you can undock the toolbar and the panels from "inside" the main window and stick them to the edge of the screen.
Also, each panel has a docking button on the top-right corner which controls its docking, which you can use to prevent panels from docking. See http://help.fontlab.com/fontlab-vi/Panels/
Fortunately I found out you can use System Preferences for it
And if you export as SVG instead, you get the WYSIWYG vector rendering of the window, with nodes, guidelines etc.
"FontLab VI, our ultra bold font editor"
But what if I want to design other weights?
;-)
Congratulations to everyone at FontLab on this important and exciting milestone!
Sheesh, I was so tired last night when I posted the stuff that I got the wrong attachment. sigh. I'll see if that can be fixed.
I'm hoping you aren't going on vacation to celebrate the release, but instead are working non-stop to fix and add necessary Fontlab 5 features to this program people are now purchasing.
Not saying the app is perfect, just that using the number of bug reports prior to ship as a measure of how buggy the app is *now* may be misleading, in the absence of other data.
Cheers,
T
So the reality will be sometimes slightly less spectacular, but a frequent release schedule and swift responsiveness is an important goal to keep in mind, and an actual principle we’re using in our work.
Fortunately, this isn’t magical thinking.b
It’s evolution of software: we’ve been using a new issue tracker for the last few years that is swift and comfortable, much better than what was available even a few years ago, and also the infrastructure which we can use when we can work together as a company, building, testing and releasing new versions, has been made much better.
But it’s also an evolution of mental experience: quite a few of us have been working on FontLab tools for a long time now, so we had a chance to speak to many type designers, watch them work, learn about their priorities. This experience has taught us some humility and moderation between what we think is best and what the users tell us they’d like to see. We’ve worked on FontLab VI for over five years, which I guess means that we’re dedicated.
I’m confident that the combination of these two factors will allow us to get nearer that goal of mine.