![]() ![]() What happened?īut this is not the only configuration you can use to draw the H.įirst, save your drawing of the H. (Not pretty yet, but I will show you how we can make it good in the refining stage, in this tutorial.) Then draw and connect the beginning and end of the path like this. That’s the easiest to use, but least precise.īefore you start drawing, look at the Elements Panel. Your workspace should now look something like this ▼ Drawing Inside Elements ¶Ĭhoose the Pencil tool for now. The new way for opening panels is by right clicking (or Ctrl-clicking) an empty part of the toolbar. So we want to open that, if it is not open already. (In fact, when you import artwork from Illustrator, the Adobe layers show up in FontLab’s Elements Panel.) However, the “Elements Panel” is just about identical to Adobe Illustrator’s “Layers Panel”, but with some important differences that we’ll look at later. So, hover over the “Layers & Masters Panel” words and push (∨ ) to minimize. These are special layers used for making “Masks” for tracing, or “Masters” for making variable fonts or font families.Īt this point in time, it is not necessary to worry about those. This is not a “layers panel” in the traditional sense. If you’ve looked at the panels in FontLab, you might have seen the “Layers & Masters Panel”. If you are not familiar with panels from other pro apps, here’s what a panel looks like: If you can’t find this toolbar on your screen, go to menu: Window > Toolbar. (There’s a lot of tools here, and you don’t really have to know what all of them do. This is what FontLab’s toolbar looks like. If you are familiar with pro apps, you are probably familiar with toolbars and panels. That’s why there’s a ghostly H haunting this glyph!! Opening Panels And Tools ¶ Now you should see the drawing window (technically, the “Glyph Window”).Įven though this symbol is active, it’s empty. Another way is to select a symbol, and hit Enter ⏎ on your keyboard. To enter a symbol, do the same thing you did to activate it: double click. The difference between these symbols and regular artboards is that their height is more-or-less fixed, at more-or-less 1,000 units. In fact, if you draw your letters in a vector program, it’s a good idea to draw each letter on a separate artboard (see the tutorial Importing Artwork). If you come from vector programs, you can think of these squares-or cells-as similar to artboards. Notice how the active “H” and “I” look more filled compared to the inactive symbols. Here I activated the H and I, easy letters to start. Or select a symbol, and hit enter ⏎ on your keyboard. You can think of this font like a package-like a Christmas gift that contains an entire set of drawings and symbols.īecause this window shows all the contents of your font, this window is called the “Font Window”. In this case, the A is blue (selected) but is still inactive. When they are greyed out like that, the glyphs are inactive. Now you should see a bunch of glyphs or “symbols”. The glyph set can remain “Latin Simple”, or you can click and choose something else, such as “Drawing”. In the Quickstart screen, type in any name such as “My Font”. This tutorial is to help you understand how drawing works in FontLab 8, especially FontLab’s two arrow system, which when used correctly allows you to non-destructively edit letter shapes.Īlso, after this tutorial you should understand: What’s the difference between an element and a contour? Creating a Font ¶ ![]() Even if you have drawn in FontLab 6 or 7, this might be a helpful refresher. Or maybe you’ve drawn fonts in another font editor like Glyphs or Robofont. You might already be experienced in a vector illustration program. Two Minute Customizing Your Metrics Windowīenefit Feel confident, knowing how to start a font, activate glyphs, and draw into the correct containers. Merging, Separating, Overlapping Shapes: Surgery ![]() Importing Settings and Shortcuts into FL 8Īvoid Mistakes By Following the Basic Vector Rules ![]()
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