What Font making software are you using?

Charles Borges de Oliveira
Charles Borges de Oliveira Posts: 71
in Technique and Theory
Sorry if this has been asked repetitively. Just curious. I have been using Fontlab for years and I do enjoy it minus the occasional bugs /crashes here and there. I have heard of Glyphs but have never used it.
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Comments

  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,993
    I do almost everything with Glyphs and RMX for Glyphs. I still use Metrics Machine for kerning. I only use Fontlab to move VFB data to/from Glyphs.
  • Ralf
    Ralf Posts: 170
    Glyphs for the reasons mentioned here.
    FontLab Studio 5 for (double) checking existing/exported fonts.
  • Charles Borges de Oliveira
    Charles Borges de Oliveira Posts: 71
    Thanks guys for the responses. I need to check out Glyphs. RMX is a lifesaver.
  • Mark Simonson
    Mark Simonson Posts: 1,734
    I've been working with RoboFont quite a bit, but still dependent on FontLab for finalizing and generating (so far). Still very interested in Glyphs, but it's not as friendly to legacy font data as RoboFont. I'm trying it out on some new projects, but have not spent enough time with it yet. It does come in handy sometimes, even though it's not what I'm primarily using currently.
  • Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh
    Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh Posts: 539
    RoboFont, Metrics Machine, Prepolator, Superpolator, etc.

    I really really really like the UFO ecosystem's simpler, more specialized tools and the accessibility/durability of the UFO format.
  • Nick Shinn
    Nick Shinn Posts: 2,208
    Still using FontLab. Change is slow around here.
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,993
    What are RoboFont users using to master fonts? Can you do it in RoboFont or are you using the FDK to create release versions of your RoboFont output?
  • PabloImpallari
    PabloImpallari Posts: 806
    edited March 2013
    A little bit of everything....
    Mostly using FontLab, lots of custom macros, RMXtools, UFOstrech, Prepolator and Superpolator.

    Also:
    - Licensed Metrics Machine, mostly to play around, and its great. Haven't used it for a complete project yet, but hopping to put it to real work in the future.
    - Played around on both Glyphs and RoboFont betas, and both looks great. They will be my next purchases pretty soon. Among other reasons, to be able to use Yanone's awesome SpeedPunk plugin.
    - FontForge is getting a complete makeover. Since a few weeks ago, there is an easy to install drag-and-drop Mac version available (And they keep releasing new and improved builds every day). I've been playing around lately with Spiro curves, and they seems great for creating swashes and things like that.
  • Charles Borges de Oliveira
    Charles Borges de Oliveira Posts: 71
    Thanks guys! Too bad Glyphs is Mac only. I have a mac but my primary system is windows.
    @James, how do you like Metrics Machine?
  • Charles Borges de Oliveira
    Charles Borges de Oliveira Posts: 71
    I just realized its for Mac only. :(
  • Jason Campbell
    Jason Campbell Posts: 100
    edited March 2013
    What Jackson said...
    Except that if the font is intended for web use and needs TT hinting, I'm kind of stuck with FL, or I have to hint in VTT.
  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,190
    FontLab Studio 5 (and a lot of macros I've had written over the years)
    VOLT
    VTT
    Font Validator
    DTL OTMaster

    I'm mostly Windows based -- which is why I've always been happier with FontLab than most of my Mac-using colleagues --, but occasionally fire up the Mac to use UFO Stretch.

    People are often surprised by how much use I make of MS Excel in font development.

    I like the idea of UFO files as a source format, but I've found that they get pretty big for some of my fonts and slow to load. Since we're using VOLT for OTL work and VTT for hinting, sfnt is our main source format. I look on FontLab VFBs as glyph sources rather than font sources.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited March 2013
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,887
    FontLab Studio 5
    RMX Tools
    ...and a host of utilities and tools outside of my font editing environment. TTX, DTL OTMaster, ttfautohint, VTT, Font Validator, AFDKO CompareFamily, etcetera.

    Because I only do type design part time, I have a lot of inertia. I am tempted by Glyphs and need to learn more about RoboFont. I have recently had enough exposure to FontForge to be clear that it is not for me any time real soon.
  • Ben Blom
    Ben Blom Posts: 250
    edited March 2013
    FontLab Studio 5
    A lot of Python scripts for FontLab
    RMX Tools
    RoboFab
    AFDKO (autohint, compareFamily)
    MS Excel (font info; a lot of small calculations, most of them related to measurements in FontLab)
    MS Word (to write scripts, OpenType features, in-house documentation)
  • Max Phillips
    Max Phillips Posts: 474
    edited March 2013
    OK, James M. Why are you using FL on both Mac & PC? I understand having both around for testing fonts on screen, but why use the same program on two different OSs?
  • Ray Larabie
    Ray Larabie Posts: 1,432
    FontLab Studio 5 in Win8. ttfautohint. Font Validator
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • Max Phillips
    Max Phillips Posts: 474
    Makes sense, James. Thanks!
  • Paul van der Laan
    Paul van der Laan Posts: 242
    I’m still using FontLab Studio 5 (with RoboFab and tons of Python scripts that I wrote myself) way too much I have to admit. But the latest OS X Intel versions are “helping” me a lot to fully make the transition to RoboFont. I will still keep FontLab on Windows for a while for TrueType hinting though.
    I use TextMate on a daily basis for writing/editing scripts. Numbers or Excel are handy for family planning.
    Then I use almost all other UFO-based tools (Prepolator, UFO Stretch, Rounding UFO, Superpolator, MetricsMachine).
    And in the last stage of production I use Font Validator, AFDKO, TTX and some other afterburners.
  • Ermin Međedović
    Ermin Međedović Posts: 81
    Same here. Still Font Lab Studio 5 (waiting for Vicotria) , RMX Tools, AFDKO, MetricsMachine, Font Validator and FontPrep.
  • Mark Simonson
    Mark Simonson Posts: 1,734
    Besides RoboFont, FontLab and Glyphs, I also use a bunch of other tools: MetricsMachine, roundingUFO, Superpolator, Prepolator, TextMate, BBEdit, TTX, AFDKO, ScanFont, Font Validator, OTMaster, Adobe CS (Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign) and a bunch of Python scripts (including RMX Tools, Autopsy and UFOCentral in FontLab). Occasionally I use Fontographer to open ancient FOG files. Also, Numbers for spreadsheet-type stuff.
  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,190
    James mentioned cachett. That's also in my regular toolbox, along with fastfont (which reorders sfnt tables in optimal order for fast access by Windows software). Both these are included in the free MS console tools.

    Over the years, I've collected a sizeable collection of one-off font tools, mostly now obsolete thanks to DTL OTMaster. Some of them, I can't even remember what they were for, or if I ever actually used them in production or only tested them. I've even got an sfnt table editor that is entirely in Japanese.
  • Eris Alar
    Eris Alar Posts: 454
    "I've even got an sfnt table editor that is entirely in Japanese." - this made me chuckle :-D
  • Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer
    Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer Posts: 157
    My production set-up: Glyphs with Remix tools, SpeedPunk a lot of Python scripts, and the webfontmaker, plus TextMate. And then some TTX/FontTools, OTMaster, TransType, very rarely FontLab Studio (for converting VFBs and checking hints).

    I do have licenses for Robofont and the other UFO tools, Fontographer, TypeTool etc. but hardly ever use them. I used to work mainly in FLS, but that changed pretty soon once Glyphs was out.
  • Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer
    Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer Posts: 157
    We are working on a flashlight-shaped tool that you can point at anything, including specimens, the screen, a tattoo or you eye, and it'll make an OTF.
    Does it have a Python interface? :-)
    SCNR.
  • Deleted Account
    Deleted Account Posts: 739
    Yes, and it's behind glass.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

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