Bad_Wolf Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Hi all, I like to create a font in Font Creator which convert fractions written as 3/4 in the proper fraction format where the nominator and denominator are above each other with a dash in between. I like to create the font characters in Affinity Designer and then import them in Font Creator. I am more used with Affinity Designer. I intend to create one document which will contain all the font glyphs. 1. In the "New" dialog, which type do I use (web or print) and which resolution? 2. For a proper fraction, I need to scale the numbers so they fit on one rule when placed above each other. What height do I need to draw the nominator and denominator? Just use their full height and when imported in Font Creator scale them down until they fit vertically? 3. Maybe the wrong place to ask this question. How can I automaticly convert a fraction typed as "3/4" so the nominator and denominator are placed above each other with a dask (-) in between? I will appreciate your advice very much and will thank you in advance. Have a nice day; Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Perhaps this thread can help https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/13848-typeface-design-wip/&page=1 Alfred 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wosven Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 And we've got @Raymond Larabie here too, using Affinity apps. (It's always strange to "meet" famous people you know of for long ) Perhaps we'll have tips and more in the spotlight site about the way Mr Larabie uses AP and AD. I'd like to read this. Oups, edit: I think I need to add @KateM for pushing this idea. Alfred 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 For the nut (stacked) fractions part, it is best that Chris continues the thread on HL's forum. There is a sample/demo font file called nutso (and a second one, nutso2) that can be opened in FC that will demonstrate arbitrary nut fractions. It's not a process I would consider easy for a beginning. Heck, properly working normal arbitrary fractions (slanted fraction bar) can be difficult enough for someone new to font design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wosven Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 About the second point, you can learn tips from this page: Typography is impossible, it should be the same principle as about the superscript 2 mentioned. R C-R and Alfred 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad_Wolf Posted June 25, 2018 Author Share Posted June 25, 2018 Thank you all for your very usefull replies which I appreciate very much. As a typesetter in the past, I read the "Typography is impossible" page which is very interesting. Also the link about the comic lettering by Milos, interested me a lot. I already found out that I can draw the glyphs in Affinity Designer and export them directly into Font Creator. In the Font Creator manual it is mentioned to draw the glyph in a box of 300 x 300 pixels. I feel more comfortable drawing in Affinity Designer than in Font Creator. Like Mike W said, creating fonts is a difficult process. I am a complete beginner, however I am very interested in this subject. Our small daughter use different numbers than we are using here. So besides the fractions, I will also create the numbers and letters she is used to. I persue to make a difference in our small ones life and hopefully many other children in Botswana. To make things easier for me, I took a look at Bhikkhu Pesala Sukhumala regular, Nutso2 and Cadman (PJ Miller) fonts in Font Creator. I am now thinking besides of the normal numeric, alphanumeric, punctuation and operators, to create the fractions like 1/2, 3/4 for example ready made in my font. Therefore I intend to create smaller numbers from 0 to 9 and then copy them in their specific glyph locations. I think for a beginner this is easier and I gain experience by doing it. Scripting at this stage, is not for me. I first have to walk then to run. Thank you again everybody for sharing and helping me. Wish you all a very nice day and all the best. Chris firstdefence 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad_Wolf Posted June 25, 2018 Author Share Posted June 25, 2018 Hi, I just play with the idea to use "artboards" with a size of 300 x 300 pixels for each letter. The layers panel will be much more organized and when creating other versions (bold, italic and bold italic) I can make a duplicate of the whole document and just change the individual artboards. In this way, for example the glyph "A" will be in the exact same position over all the versions. Just thinking after I finished my former posting. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wosven Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 34 minutes ago, Bad_Wolf said: Our small daughter use different numbers Hi @Bad_Wolf , Do this means that she uses another way for counting or others symbols for numbers that you want to draw? I'd like to see an example if you've got one or the name of a font, or some examples from your project. SSFF9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_B_C Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 A great resource for learning the language of OpenType features is The OpenType Cookbook by Tal Leming: http://opentypecookbook.com/index.html It has a chapter on dynamic OpenType fractions (feature tag “frac”) as well. Scroll down a little on the linked page below: http://opentypecookbook.com/common-techniques.html You might also want to have a look at the specification: https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/typography/opentype/spec/features_fj#a-namefrac-idfracatag-frac Hope this is useful for you … Alex Mithferion, MEB and Alfred 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 41 minutes ago, A_B_C said: A great resource for learning the language of OpenType features is The OpenType Cookbook by Tal Leming: ... I use a variation of his fraction feature in my fonts. Easy to recycle once it is written so it can be reused in future fonts. I've reused the code in 30 or so fonts. But I like I can turn on the frac feature globally. A font from scratch is a daunting task and made all the more daunting if also trying to figure out feature code. If I were Chris I think I would combine one, two or three open source fonts into a single font. So for instance, I would start with a good font for the body, add in Nutso2 for the arbitrary stacked fractions (along with its OT feature code) and add any specific characters Chris desires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raymond Larabie Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 If you just want to create prepared nut fractions, I think the simplest way is to make them directly in font software like Font Creator. There's less learning curve that way. Copy the numerals to a new font. Scale the target size. Copy the numerals to empty glyph locations. Offset vertically. Make a bar. Copy and paste to make your nut fractions and put them in the A-Z, A-z locations for easy access. Even if you can get all that OpenType stuff working, it's hard to get a nice visual balance for nut fractions without aligning each one by eye. And this way you can change the bar width as needed. I don't recommend importing from vector applications into font applications unless it absolutely can't be avoided. The way vectors work in fonts isn't the same as how they work in drawing apps. With fonts, you're usually dealing with a coarse grid of about 700 units tall for a capital letter and fonts require extrema points on each curve. The points and handles are forced to snap to the coarser grid, causing all kinds of distortion. I'm not saying it's impossible to import from a drawing application but I find it takes more time to clean up the mess that it would have taken to redraw it in the font application. Wosven, goen and Alfred 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_B_C Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 As a side note to what Ray has said, these grid-snapping features for nodes and handles will be added to version 1.7 of Affinity Designer. So it should be possible to draw glyphs in Designer then … https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/52300-sneak-peeks-for-17/&page=21&tab=comments#comment-311315 Alfred 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff KateM Posted June 26, 2018 Staff Share Posted June 26, 2018 Interesting idea @Wosven, will discuss it with the Spotlight team Wosven and A_B_C 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 On 6/24/2018 at 9:36 AM, Wosven said: About the second point, you can learn tips from this page: Typography is impossible,... I finally got around to reading that page. Very informative, explaining quite a few things I vaguely knew a little about, fully & in easy to understand language. Thanks for the heads up! Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 Affinity Photo 1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wosven Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 @R C-R , I found this page after reading an article from Affinity spotlight, citing this A Five-Minute Guide to Better Typography — simple and short page about typography— and ended up on “Typography is impossible…” with a rebound as Internet can give us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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