Fontlab 7 Help -- Absolute Beginner

Terry Vuong
Terry Vuong Posts: 2
in Type Design Software
Hi everyone,

I hope this is the right place for this. As a complete novice Fontlab 7 is HARD to use. 

After much trial and error I managed to create an "o", but it felt unnecessarily complicated and I was wondering if someone can go over the steps I did to see what I did wrong.

1. Using the ellipse tool, dragged out a circle.
2. While holding alt, dragged out a duplicate.
3. Resized the second ellipse and centered it to the first ellipse.
4. Switched to the Fill tool to unfill the second ellipse. This unfills both ellipses.
5a. Confused face.
5b. In the Elements panel, I moved one element into the other. Both elements are now empty.
5c. Confused face x 2.
5d. Move a node from the second ellipse. The action is mirrored on the first ellipse. These two elements are linked.
5e. Get frustrated.
6. Fumble through a bunch of options.
7. Select both Elements and go to Glyph>Decompose
8. Sees that both ellipses are now within the same element.
9. Try to unfill the second ellipse again.
10. Success!
11. Happy dance.

Alternate 2. Drag out a second ellipse.
Alternate 3. Center that to the first ellipse
Alternate 4. Unfill second ellipse.
Alternate 5. Success!
Alternate 6. Confused face.

Aside from the frustration, it's fun and I can't wait to figure this out!

Thank you!

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Comments

  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,227
    You can ask questions here, but the best place is the FontLab Forum:
    https://forum.fontlab.com/fontlab-7/
  • Igor Freiberger
    Igor Freiberger Posts: 279
    Here is a short video showing the procedure. Please feel free to ask for any additional help.

    Notes:
    1. You don't need to handle elements for this. Just draw your contours.
    2. The Fill applies to the area under the cursor. Opt (Alt) reverses it.
    3. Filled and unfilled areas are properly converted to contours when you export the font.
  • Terry Vuong
    Terry Vuong Posts: 2
    Thanks, John! I'll check out their forum.

    Thanks, Igor! That was very helpful.
  • André Simard
    André Simard Posts: 186
    As Igor and John wrote, the Fontlab Forum is really the way to be to learn and get lots of tips & technics. Do note hesitate to join it.

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