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View Full Version : Who Knew? -> Make Your own Fonts!


TreoRenegade
03-24-2003, 09:27 AM
You can file this one under the heading "It pays to nose around and experiment". I'm new to hi-res stuff, so if this is a known deal, forgive me...

Imagine my delightful surprise when I realized I could use FontBucket Converter to make my own HiRes fonts! Free!! There are no instructions or hints about how to do this in the package, so I'm listing what I've learned via trial and error.

HandsHigh.com -> FontBucket -> Downloads:
FontBucket Application and Developer's Kit

Available for Win, Mac and Unix.

Don't let the "developer" handle spook you (hey, I can only spell developer). It's basically just FBConvert.exe. When the screen opens, you'll see 3 buttons on the right, the first of which = NEW. Clicking that opens to your Win Fonts folder (or equivalent for the other OS platforms). Pick the font you want, a desired variation of that font (regular, bold, etc, point size). Click "OK".

A "details" screen then appears. Be sure "HiRes" is checked, and (suggestion) enter a one letter description for the "style", i.e., B(old), N(arrow), R(regular), I(talics). Click "OK".

Continue per font to grab each variation you want (wise to grab a regular, bold, and italics, per point size). You can combine fonts in one pdb, or just do a pdb file per font- whatever you prefer. (FYI: For experimenting, I found it easier to segregate one font group per package, so I could keep track of discards versus keepers as I went along.)

After you get all the fonts/variations you want, package them for the TG50 by clicking the black floppy-disk icon (3rd from left, after New (file) and Open (pdb file), just under the main menu bar, which = save, i.e., TahomaHR.pdb.

Took me 3 times as long to explain it as to actually do it. But warning-- don't even think about jumping in unless you've got a free evening. Downright addictive! ;)

Sneezy
03-25-2003, 01:09 PM
This would be cool, but how do you change the system fonts? What good is making new fonts if you can't use them?

rhart00
03-25-2003, 01:35 PM
I think fontbucket only lets you change fonts in fontbucket enabled apps. The only 2 I know of are thoughtmanager and quickoffice. Has anyone tried fonts4nx or fonts4nz on their TG? it MIGHT work but could also cause a lot of problems. be careful if you do. Maybe the developer will release a version for the TG, fonts4tg.

Sneezy
03-25-2003, 01:48 PM
Fonts4nx works fine on the TG. It's on mine right now.

Man I wish HRfontmapper worked.

TreoRenegade
03-25-2003, 03:05 PM
The list of FontBucket-aware apps is posted at HandsHigh. It includes ShadowPlan and ToDoPlus, both of which I use extensively. I should have made it clear that it's not a universal thing-- it's just that ShadowPlan is so darn handy, I keep forgetting that not everyone uses it. (BTW, upgrade will probably be out this week, per Jeff).

I contacted Lubak to get confirmation about his NX/NR fonts working on the TG50. He said it should be OK. So I tried it, and purchased the same day. I think both packages have the Handera font, which seems the best to me in terms of overall readability, regardless of size.

TreoRenegade

cbulock
03-25-2003, 03:17 PM
Also, SilverScreen can use FontBucket fonts.