For a design student, what is the best option for software to dip toes but do so decently?
There are free options for type design. FontForge but, runs as UNIX on Mac and there is Glyphr on the Web.
Otherwise paid: Fontographer, FontLab, RoboFont, TypeTool, or FontCreator.
Students often find the pen tool to be difficult to understand or use. So, if any of these has advanced since 1986, that would be good… Also, I like the idea of components and changing one adjusts them all across the whole design. Which have that?
Thanks!
Comments
For paid options, don't forget Glyphs, which has a free trial period.
I think pretty much all font tools will include composite support. The upcoming FontLab VI also has live subroutines — I can't remember what they're calling them — allowing you to treat portions of outlines like components. [This actually harks back to FontLab 2.5, c.1994, which used PS subroutines.] Oh, and Glyphs has very clever interpolable composites.
FontCreator is a true native font editor, so no need to buy or install third-party tools or extensions.
If you feel advanced OpenType features are important as well, you should seriously consider FontCreator.
You can download a trail version to see if it suits your needs.
Does Fontographer do composites?
Needed: Comparison chart and review of them all…
http://cr8software.net/type.html
There is individual review/comparison chart of several editors here:
http://font-editor-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
(though note, the feature list is not quite correct for Type 3.2 - which DOES support vector import, batch transformation and test font).
Binaries are quite old but I'll make new ones soon.
In the program of the KABK LetterStudio I offer the 1001 ways to digitize type module. The students have to make a plan (i.e., to come up with a problem) first and subsequently to define a block diagram that shows the route from starting point (for instance analog drawings or pictures of historic prints) to the goal (in most cases a digital font). Many of them are experienced in drawing in Illustrator, so they compare this with the drawing tools in font editors. The more font editors they investigate, the better. In almost all cases they redefine the block diagram at the end of the course.
Well, that is not a restriction IMHO, but a good reason to get acquainted with the operating system that many font users use. And if you don’t like Windows for whatever reason, FontCreator is a good reason to install Wine on your Mac system. I like Wine, if only because one can allocate virtual drives to physical drives and folders (I have to switch often for all kind of supporting files).