Typophile - Analog or digital--how do YOU start a glyph? - Comments

Joe Pemberton — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 22:45:07 -0700

I'm nominating this thread as one of the best so far this year.

Diner — Wed, 26 May 2004 07:22:14 -0700

Before we end this discussion, I'll add this since it is significant to our discussion regarding drawing glyphs and is on topic.

On page 215 of Leslie's Logo and Lettering Bible, at the bottom of the page is a fantastic description called Shape groups which refers to related glyph forms that share common elements.

With respect to Leslie I will leave you with that information to look up on your own. Yuri, I will ask Leslie for permission to send you a scan of the page to define exactly what I'm referring to.

Best,
Stuart :D

kentlew — Wed, 26 May 2004 05:55:32 -0700

>OK, it will measure distance (direct and h-v) and angle from the "active" node or single selected node to the "free" cursor, OK?

Yuri, this sounds perfect. So we'd have : cursor x,y | selected node x,y | distance from selected node to cursor x,y | distance from node to cursor direct measure | angle from node to cursor. Great!

>I'd recommend to leave this thread with FL-related questions, it looks to be offtopic here.

Yes, you're right. I'll stop now.

Thanks.

-- Kent.

yar — Tue, 25 May 2004 16:52:06 -0700

Stuart:
good idea, I will look into it. Can you send me a sample list of "related" glyph groups, for LC and UC, Latin script. I only afraid that display of more than one outline will slow down rendering and editing, but you can always get faster pc :-)

Kent:
OK, it will measure distance (direct and h-v) and angle from the "active" node or single selected node to the "free" cursor, OK?

Eric:
OK, I'll try to do something with "jumping lines" in the new Metrics window.

I'd recommend to leave this thread with FL-related questions, it looks to be offtopic here.

hrant — Mon, 24 May 2004 20:47:53 -0700

That's called onionskin, a classic technique in 2D/cel animation.

hhp

Diner — Mon, 24 May 2004 20:37:58 -0700

Yuri, one thing that does strike me as perhaps being useful would be a 'smart' palette or ghost layers of related glyphs and glyph peices.

I usually build my h, n, and r together, so it would make sense that I can quickly see an onionskin of them behind what I'm working on OR have the peices available to me to construct that glyph.

Leslie Cabarga illustrates this point quite nicely in his Font book.

Stuart :D

kentlew — Mon, 24 May 2004 06:06:37 -0700

Ah yes, the measurement tool -- another pet peeve, and a reason I stay comfortably ensconced in Fog. Fog's constant display of the relative distance between the cursor and a selected point is an important convenience, one that I sorely (and cursedly) miss whenever I am in FLab. Really slows me down.

Does anyone else miss this?

Yuri, how hard would it be to add this info to the data bar in the glyph window?

Sorry. Don't mean to turn this into a FLab pet peeve thread.

-- K.

eolson — Mon, 24 May 2004 05:50:21 -0700

> But while I'm at it, I will mention one pet peeve about the FLab metrics window.
> Because the data readout for the metrics is at the top of the window, when I
> want to toggle kerning on and off to compare the effect of kerning, the preview
> jumps up and down -- which completely defeats the ability to compare the effect.

> Does this make sense? Does anyone else experience this and does it bug them?

Yes! So much so that I've stopped comparing them. Not good.

It's almost as cumbersome as the keystroke for toggling through
a list of kerning pairs. Apple/Page Up + Page Down.
Or Option/4 for the Measurement tool...
I'll stop.

dezcom — Sun, 23 May 2004 19:28:56 -0700

Whoops, I am sorry. I got carried away with that previous post. I should have kept it to the topic but I strayed into stream-of-conciousness babble.

Chris

dezcom — Sun, 23 May 2004 19:25:56 -0700

Maybe I am crazy

kentlew — Sun, 23 May 2004 06:12:42 -0700

>>What if Mozart... i would very much like to see that one. any samples yet?

Re: Stadler. Sorry; still very formative. It may still be quite a while before this one reaches fruition. (It's already been gestating for four years). I think I may have finally found the right themes, but I have yet to pull them together, and the design is once again sidelined.

Ironically, I got sidetracked by something a colleague said. I was showing a few Stadler sketches and he mentioned an interesting possibility that he saw in them which was not in line with my [Neoclassical] concept, but which got me thinking about an older design I had stashed in a drawer. So I revisited the older concept (something more Baroque) and it suddenly gained legs. It's been getting all my available attention recently.

This is sort of how it goes for me.

-- K.

kentlew — Sun, 23 May 2004 05:43:19 -0700

Do you think that ability to edit outlines directly in Metrics window is really important?

Yuri -- Important? probably not. But definitely convenient. I would be happy just being able to grab nodes and handles and nudge them directly in the Metrics window. But I can't speak for anyone else.

And you might not want to listen to me, as I'm not a huge FLab user yet. Still primarily stuck in the comfort of Fog. (Though I'm trying to make the move. But all my automatic habits are defeated and I hate having to struggle to relearn a new tool.)

But while I'm at it, I will mention one pet peeve about the FLab metrics window. Because the data readout for the metrics is at the top of the window, when I want to toggle kerning on and off to compare the effect of kerning, the preview jumps up and down -- which completely defeats the ability to compare the effect.

Does this make sense? Does anyone else experience this and does it bug them?

pablohoney77 — Sat, 22 May 2004 19:51:06 -0700

What if Mozart... i would very much like to see that one. any samples yet?

hrant — Sat, 22 May 2004 16:12:22 -0700

I think if you can simply edit glyphs in one window and see the setting results in another window (which you can), that's plenty. But I guess if monitor "real-estate" is limited, combining them could be useful.

hhp

yar — Sat, 22 May 2004 15:28:32 -0700

Friends,
Do you think that ability to edit outlines directly in Metrics window is really important? I don't think I can make full set of Glyph window tools available there, but simple node-mover can be put there quite easily. What I really afraid is that after I put simple tool there you will ask for more :-)

Analog or digital--how do YOU start a glyph?

A. Scott Britton — Tue, 18 May 2004 07:37:15 -0700

Hello everyone. Just wanted to take a quick survey of sorts:

1) How many of you design your type from scratch in Illustrator (no scanned images, just pure composition inside the program)?

2) How many of you draft the glyphs first by hand, then edit that draft in Illustrator?

3) Do any of you use Illustrator (or any comparable program) simply to get the image in EPS format so you can do the majority of aesthetic work in FontLab?

It seems like more of #3 should be happening than what I suspect actually is--and it's a wonder, because FontLab has some really great glyph-construction tools (I don't mean to sound like I work for FontLab, no offense to those who do).

Oh, and why do you feel that your method is best?