Tag: workflow

Opening fonts

RoboFont can read several file formats.

UFO files

RoboFont can read UFO1 and UFO2 font files.

Opening a UFO can either go by double clicking the file, only if RoboFont is the preferred UFO editor off course :) or drag the file on the app icon or through the 'Open' application menu.

Binary font files

RoboFont can read

  • otf
    OpenType CFF flavored font 
  • ttf
    TrueType OpenType font 
  • pfa
    PostScript ASCII font 
  • pfb
    PostScript binary font
  • WOFF
    Web Open Font Format
  • ttx
    fontTools xml font 
  • Font Suitecase
    Extremely Old mac font format

RoboFont will read all glyphs and their corresponding outlines and tries to read the font info. 

RoboFont will not read features from .otf and .ttf OpenType fonts.

Python files

RoboFont can be your preferred python editor. It opens all python files (*.py) in the scripting window.

A folder with several python files can be dropped on RoboFont's app icon to open the folder in a scripting window.

Feature files

RoboFont read and writes Adobe Feature files (.fea) natively. Opening a feature file will open a feature window. This Window is not attached to a specific font. 

To save feature files (.fea) from a font choose "Export Feature" from the file menu (see application menu)

Revert

It is possible to revert to a save data on disk with 'revert'. Users can select parts to revert, this ignore other data.

Import warnings

Groups with a ' (quote)

RoboFont will warn users when they have groups exported from FontLab with a ' (quote) master glyph.

Results are been printed in the output window.

Truetype font or font with quadratic curves

RoboFont can handle quadratic curves but with the limitation there are only two off curve points for each segment. During import RoboFont checks and converts all quadratic segments to two off curves points segments.

The warning sheet can be hidden for future display.

Mixed curve description

RoboFont doesn't not allow mixed curve descriptions. Mixing bezier curves and truetype splines is in general not a good idea. RoboFont provides a warning sheet that allows users to choose to which curve description they want to change.

Preferred curve description can be set in the Preferences.

Import errors

If something goes wrong during importing RoboFont show a nice traceback. This can either be the UFO is badly written or a font file isn't readable any more.

Read more: Preferences

Creating fonts

Users can create a new document with '⌘+N' or 'New' from the application menu. 

The document will have some predefined settings, those can be changed in the Preferences.

Character set

In the Preferences default template character sets can be predefined. Each new UFO document will have those glyphs as template glyphs. 

Set curve description

In the preferences you are able to switch between bezier curves and TrueType splines.

Read more: Preferences

Saving fonts

RoboFont can write several formats.

UFO files

RoboFont can write UFO1 and UFO2 font files. It's recommended to use UFO2.  

As an option is possible to save images next to the UFO. This makes it easier to exchange UFO with images.

Generating binary font files

RoboFont can write

  • otf
    OpenType CFF flavored font 
  • ttf
    TrueType OpenType font
  • pfa
    PostScript ASCII font

otf     pfa
Decompose An OpenType CFF flavored font is always decomposed
Remove Overlap Remove overlap during generating the font
Autohint Enable FDK autohint 
Release Mode Removes the word 'Development' from the name table Version (see MakeOTFUserGuide.pdf)
 ttf 
Decompse Enable to decompose components
Remove Overlap Remove overlap during generating the font
Autohint Will be enable if ttfautohint is installed on the users local computer.
Release Mode Removes the word 'Development' from the name table Version (see MakeOTFUserGuide.pdf)

Enable 'Use MacRoman as the start of the glyph order' will force MacRoman to start the encoding with, otherwise it will take the order from the font collection sort.

Python files

Saving python files from within the scripting window.

Exchange with UFO based apps

Exchange the UFO font with other applications that support UFO as native file format. There is a a "Edit With…" toolbar item that can send the active UFO file to a chosen applications.

Changes

If the UFO file is been changed by an other application outside RoboFont and the UFO file is still open, RoboFont will present you a message that there have been some changes.

Users can either:

  • Review their changes
  • Reject their changes, so the internal font data will not change
  • Update directly

Reviewing changes will present all changes made for each UFO that has been changed by an other application outside RoboFont.

Users can either:

  • Reject all changes
  • Update... all selected changes

Test Install

RoboFont can install a font directly in the OS. This font will be directly available for use in any other application. The font will be installed only for the current user and will be deactivated when the UFO document in RoboFont is closed, when the user quits RoboFont or when the user logs out.

Test install will always generate a *.otf. There are some setting you can alter in the Preferences like decompose, auto hint and remove overlap.

Test install can be found in the application menu.

Read more: Application menu