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Flash script
Posted by roasthorse in
23 Aug 2002 — 5:50pm
23 Aug 2002 — 5:50pm
there are not many pixel fonts that work in flash & very few of those are italics or script style. so this is my attempt.
the quote btw is edgar allan poe
 swf samplefla-script.swf (7 k) |
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23 Aug 2002 — 10:47pm
it's nice... the 'b' seems to stand out - in a good way though - moreso than others like the f,t,r.. and altogether it has a surprisingly hand-drawn quality to it
on another note it's interesting to look at that swf file at low quality and resize the browser smaller and smaller (or bigger), to see a couple different distortions happening
the first moment that it turns into a smaller font (from the way it looks presently) is interesting - I mean despite the distortion it retains some legibility but holds a far looser and almost arabic feel to it
23 Aug 2002 — 10:48pm
here this is what I mean:
24 Aug 2002 — 10:07am
thanks. i have made a few amendments - i think the t is now more interesting but not sure about the F does it read properly?
24 Aug 2002 — 1:35pm
couple more changes - the k now reaches uplike the bar on the t and i flipped the s so it looks more natural. am i going forwards or backwards here? it's deffinitely looking a little more quirky than the first post.
btw i do like the way it breaks up when reduced - i may work on something similar, though to be completely legible i'll need a few more pixels to play with.
24 Aug 2002 — 1:36pm
couple more changes - the 'k' now reaches up like the bar on the 't' and i flipped the s so it looks more natural. am i going forwards or backwards here? it's definitely looking a little more quirky than the first post.
btw i do like the way it breaks up when reduced - i may work on something similar, though to be completely legible i'll need a few more pixels to play with.
24 Aug 2002 — 2:07pm
on your capital set it seems as if the 1st row on your grid should be shifted over 1 pixel to the left such as the capital Y is.
this stands out in capital B, D,H L , N (O's first 2 rows), capital P R, T, (capital U's 9th row move one bit to the left), and the first stroke on W's 9th and 8th row shift to the left.?
24 Aug 2002 — 6:12pm
thanks guys.
tanya - not sure i exactly understood what you were saying, but i have slanted the caps more. also cleaned up a few other letters.
25 Aug 2002 — 1:35pm
looks like you understood - it looks alot more oblique now.
eermm - except the W. is there a reason the first stroke is perpendicular?
25 Aug 2002 — 2:59pm
A few comments:
Am I the only one who dislikes the new capital "F"? For some reason, it looks more like a 7 to me...but maybe that's just me. I wouldn't mind a rounded version of the original F, though.
I also think the x-height of the "h" should be increased just a bit, like the "k". "the" looks rather strange to me.
And the newer "r" looks too short, for some reason.
Other than that, though, great work...
25 Aug 2002 — 10:54pm
I quite like it... But I'm sure there's a reason for the lack of slanted pixelfonts.
The lowercase "t" is way too high.
26 Aug 2002 — 8:08am
ok. i'm working on the international chars. the offensive F and t have been relegated to alternatives (though i quite like them - particularly the t which makes the x-height roll up & down)
im not sure why there aren't more slanted pixel fonts - i guess it's a limited market. there are a few that work well on screen (eg. georgia) but there should be more. those that use flash will know what a pain it is getting legible small copy (flash always anti-aliases text, and pixel fonts have to be specially designed to work properly).
26 Aug 2002 — 8:23am
Slanted bitmap fonts have the most to gain from anti-aliasing (and also ClearType). But not the way any software currently does it.
hhp
26 Aug 2002 — 8:46am
I would think about other markets too - flash developers are a small group to be creating for.
a bitmap oblique font could be used on wireless devices, palms, phones, or stock exchange tickers, reuters etc etc.
26 Aug 2002 — 1:11pm
thanks for all the help people.
here are a couple more samples.
if anyone wants to download the font for testing that would really help - especially the international chars. let me know if anything stands out (weird accents, kerning etc)
http://www.roast-horse.com/_temp/jotter-pc.zip
http://www.roast-horse.com/_temp/jotter-mac.zip
mac users will need the pc2mac thingy:
http://www.e-signature.com/en/mac/mmpc2mac.hqx
tanya - i really created this for my own use, i wasn't thinking about a wide distribution, though i agree there are still many uses where pixel fonts excel. having said that... if anyone here works for nokia and wants to negotiate a licence...
26 Aug 2002 — 1:14pm
Has anybody tried a bitmap font at a 1:1 (45 degree) slant?
hhp
26 Aug 2002 — 3:09pm
I'm intriqued -- since this is for your own use,
do you see yourself using it in long blocks like
you've shown above?
I'd be curious what the use is and would love to
see it set like that here. (Subheads, short, narrow
paragraphs, links etc. as opposed to these long
paragraphs.)
Your most awkward characters (like that f still) could be
avoided if you don't try to achieve subtle angular
nuances with your strokes. (Also, see how d and l are
subtly different. Does this bother anyone else?)
Finally, the b. I can see you're trying to
maintain the even color by not connecting the
stroke. A good thought. But it still bothers me --
it looks like a mistake.
This is nice. Keep it coming.
26 Aug 2002 — 5:47pm
no i wouldn't use it for long texts. i had in mind bullet points and short descriptions that kind of thing - like quick handwritten notes.
(similar to the 'You will upload your
file' on the left of this page)
26 Aug 2002 — 5:53pm
don't bother with Nokia - SVG is taking over the cell phone world.
Xerox and IBM however - have that inkless, rewriteable newspaper project underway. (Wired amg article circa 1995) I'd imagine they'd be interested seeing in how Oblique sets, bold and so on are needed in news worlds.
kudos for creating for yourself though
26 Aug 2002 — 6:08pm
example:
26 Aug 2002 — 6:45pm
> SVG is taking over the cell phone world.
Are you sure? I haven't seen SVG take over anything at all... What are you basing this on?
----
Joe, with this example I'm starting to see the potential! Good going.
hhp
26 Aug 2002 — 6:55pm
i just saw jonathan hoeflers chancery italic here:
http://www.typophile.com/forums/messages/29/226.html?1011108982
awsome. i feel about 2" high.
26 Aug 2002 — 8:06pm
SVG take over: It only makes sense. Especially where Bitflash comes in - its not fully out yet but Bitflash is starting to sell the idea B2B.
more:
http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/SVG-Implementations
Anywho - Joe, so what, you got a diff typeface.
26 Aug 2002 — 8:14pm
> It only makes sense.
Unfortunately, historically, making sense hasn't helped much. Otherwise we'd all be using Amigas now.
hhp
27 Aug 2002 — 1:53pm
> i feel about 2" high.
That's MY line....
Gulliver
29 Aug 2002 — 12:53pm
Hrant asked:
>Has anybody tried a bitmap font at a 1:1 (45 degree) slant?
The strong slant gives it a "scripty" feel :/
This was a 2-bit experiment, part of a set
of "45-degree experiments" (a detail here).
These were loosely based on Verdana.
29 Aug 2002 — 1:02pm
Hey, nice! And it's grayscale - heavy.
> The strong slant gives it a "scripty" feel
But this might be necessary to pull the italic away from the roman, since so little leeway is available in bitmap fonts.
hhp