USINGYOUR OWN FONTS
Font design is tedious
A warning:font design is an art. Don’texpect to turn out professional-
lookingfontsin a fewhours.
Sometimes,though,youhavetobuildyourowntypeface,evenif youdon’t
workwitha companyin the font-sellingbusiness.Youmay,for example,
want to print yourown customizedcompanylogo. It meansbuildingup
characterswithinacellorgrid,perhaps50dotshighand35wide—lotsof
dots.
Because defining your own typeface is so tedious, make sure you’ve
checked out as many downloadablefonts as you can find from font
developmentcompanies.
The next handiestway to do thejob is to ask around,maybe whereyou
boughtyourLaserPrinter8,to seeifyoucangetoneofthefont-creatingor
font-editingutilityprogramsnowonthemarket.FontGen[V+isone.Keep
aneyeout,too,fornewwordprocessingtoolsthatmightsaveyouthetrouble
of painstakinglyfiguringoutdetailslikekerning.
Evenwithaidslikethese,buildinga customfontis an intricateprocess.It
callsforthecreationof a familyofup to 200characterssharinga common
designandproportionalscheme,andthat’sjust foronctypesize.No mean
feat. ‘
How to download your own fonts
Charactersthat you define and store yourself are called “user-defined”
characters.Let’sassumeyoualreadyknowwhattextistobeinyourcustom
font,andhavedesigneditstypeface,weight,widthandstyle.Onceyou’ve
createdyourown characters,you’llneedto downloadthemto yourlaser
printer.
Theprocessof downloadinga fontyou’vedesignedyourselfis somewhat
detailed.To downloadyourfont,youfollowthefollowingsteps:
1) assigna fontIDnumberto yourfont,
2) downloada fontheader,
3)
identifythepositionof eachcharacterto be downloaded,
4) senda characterdescriptorandbitmapforeachcharacter,
5)
specifywhetherthefileis to bepermanentor temporary.
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