I have basic setup done for working with Illustrator to bring in glyphs, but still unsure of what else I need to setup.
1. Let say, I want to create an Opentype Pro font, what are the things I need to do setup character set? (Do I simply add stuff from font info > Encoding and Unicode? or generate glyph?)
2. What should I setup for Tools > Options?
3. If I go over 1000 UPM, it seems like glyphs I copied from Illustrator screws up in scale. (4000 UPM made it go 4x what I copied) Should I just change to appropriate UPM after adding glyphs?
4. What mode should I work with? Unicode ranges? codepages?
Please throw any advice essential or useful!
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1. Define what you will include in your pro font. Latin extended? Greek? Cyrillic? Math operators? IPA? This is the very first step. Of course, you can add glyphs and Unicode blocks anytime. But to begin with a clean idea will help all the further work.
2. Try the FL Index mode. Contrary to codepages or ranges, it will let you freely drag-n-drop glyphs. You can use any order and this may be helpful in a number of situations: to compare different scripts, to control the base+diacritic composites, to group all phonetic characters, etc.
3. Organize your own 'blocks' with colors. You can also use a color to mark glyphs already finished.
4. The easiest way to add glyphs at a glance is to choose a Unicode range and double-click over the drafts you want to include. But note that FL5 Unicode blocks are not up to date and you need to verify the charts.
5. Consider to make all draws directly in FL. I also begun with Illustrator, but after two or three days using just the FL tools, I understood why most type designers prefer this way. It is quicker and more confortable.
I'm following this atm. So start with default character set and add in glyphs as I need them?
Usually what holds people back from making the jump is an irrational fear of a tool’s complexity. But their own workflow is so tangled up in complexities that they’re usually faster at drawing type even a day or two after getting started in a professional tool.
In the good ol’ BezierMaster and the its new successor GlyphMaster one centimeter in Ai is treated as 1000 units. I always considered this to be normal practice until students showed my how they import data from Adobe Illustrator into FontLab Studio and Glyphs.
But Ai can also offer you nice technical solutions for stuff that otherwise can become very complex to control.
Try this link:
http://forum.fontlab.com/fontlab-studio-tips-and-tricks/working-with-illustrator-and-fontlab-studio-(updated-for-illustrator-cs5)/msg25739/#msg25739
Thanks for the link! Only after reading this I’m already breathing like Darth Vader, let alone if I would have to apply this all.
F.
Chris, IIRC, Twardoch's instructions were posted in Typophile. Maybe he can rescue that and make available again.
If I try to import the same EPS in FLS 5.1.4 I get an error and FontForge crashes hard. One could blame the EPS file here or the alignment of dwarf planets with Jupiter, or whatever, and one can be convinced that the font tool one is using is highly professional, but one has to be always cautious with drawing conclusions IMHO.
The question is not whether, but how FLS (and Glyphs, RoboFont, FontForge, etc.) handles Ai data (see also the link to Adam’s manual) and the conclusion one can draw from that handling.
F.
2. When you assign to a glyph any Unicode value from the PUA range, it becomes parte of PUA. But avoid using it. For glyphs without a Unicode value (like small caps) simply use a logical name (like a.smcp). Any Unicode you adopt from the PUA will be outside any standard and may cause issues. Just very specific situations justify the PUA use, as the niche standard developed by the MUFI research group.