About TrueType Font Editor
Known Incompatibilities
When you're using the TrueType Font Editor application, it controls the TrueType fonts installed on your system. If you select another application to use while TrueType Font Editor is open, the fonts in the menu bar and in dialog boxes may not display correctly. If this situation should occur, follow these steps:
- 1. Open TrueType Font Editor.
2. Select Finder from the Applications menu (right side of the menu bar).
3. Select TrueType Font Editor from the Applications menu.
4. Quit TrueType Font Editor.
You should be able to print fonts you create with the TrueType Font Editor on most LaserWriter printers. However, you may not be able to print the fonts on some printers. If this happens, you may see a message that there is a PostScript error.
Introduction
The TrueType Font Editor lets you create Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese characters that you can enter in your documents. These non-standard or customized characters are called gaiji. The name gaiji refers to characters other than the standard 13,000 Traditional Chinese characters and 6,763 Simplified Chinese characters which are already part of the Chinese Language Kit. This document provides brief instructions on how to use the True Type Font Editor version 1.0.2.
Note: You can also create Korean and Roman characters using the TrueType Font Editor.
Overview
The TrueType Font Editor allows you to create new font suitcase files and to copy character outlines out of existing fonts, modify them and then save them in your newly created suitcase files.
The Font View window shows you the contents of a font suitcase file. From this window, you can select characters for editing and also change the code number allocated to each character. In this way you can manage your custom characters as a collection in one window by adding, deleting and arranging the characters according to their code numbers.
The Character Editor window enables you to combine and arrange shapes from any number of source fonts to form a new individual character. When you select a character from any location, a copy is made and shown in the Character Editor window. You do not see or modify the original outline. It is always a copy in the Editor window. In order to preserve the shapes you have edited, the contents of the Character Editor window has to be saved into a font suitcase by you. This is done at any stage of editing by using the Add In Font command from the Character Menu.
The activity of using the TrueType Font Editor falls into three parts:
1. Creating and opening font suitcase files.
2. Selecting fonts and characters within them by typing.
3. Editing the shapes and saving them into your suitcases.
Before You Start
Before creating a font, you need to set the Advance Width in the preference dialog box. This setting affects the size of the character, the position of the character and the distance between the characters.
Figure 1 Preferences
Click on the Use Defaults button. This sets the values shown. However the default values are not suitable for all fonts. For best results, set the value according those in your chosen starting font. To get the value from the existing font, follow these steps:
1. Choose Open from the File menu and open the chosen font file.
2. Choose Preferences from the Edit menu.
3. If necessary, click the TrueType icon on the left side of the dialog box.
4. Note the value of the "Advance width" option.
5. Close the dialog box and the font file.
6. With no windows open, go back to the Preferences window, type in the Advance width value you noted in 4. above and click OK.
Note: The Preferences settings will apply to font files which you create after changing the value. They do not change the values in existing font files.
Character Encoding
Each character you create must have a code number. If you are creating a Traditional Chinese character, it has a Big5 code, which is a hexadecimal number. If you are creating a Simplified Chinese character it has a Quwei code, which is a decimal number. The Big5 and Quwei codes are divided into three ranges for symbols, frequently used characters, and other characters respectively.
When you create a character, the default code number will not always fall in the correct range. The TrueType Font Editor has the ability to edit or overwrite any character in a font, including the existing standard characters. Therefore you must take care in choosing code numbers for your characters. Use the following guidelines to assign a code number to your character.
Traditional Chinese Big5 Code Ranges
The three ranges for the Big5 codes for Traditional Chinese characters are:
1. 1. For symbols, the full range is $A140 to $A3FE. Create new characters in the range $A3C0 to $A3FE.
2. For frequently used characters, the full range is $A440 to $C67E. Create new characters in the range $C6A1 to $C8FE
3. For other characters the full range is $C940 to $F9D5. Create new characters in the range $F9D6 through $FCFE.
Simplified Chinese Quwei Code Ranges
The three ranges for the Quwei codes for Simplified Chinese characters are:
1. For symbols, the full range is 0101 to 1194. Create new characters in the range 1201 to 1594.
2. For frequently used characters, the full range is 1601 to 5589. There is no open space in this range for new characters. Either modify an existing character or create new characters in the ranges for symbols or other characters.
3. For other characters, the full range is 5601 to 8794. Create new characters in the range 8801 to 9294.
Setting up a Font Suitcase File
To create new font suitcase for your collection of custom characters, follow these steps:
- 1. Choose New Normal Font from the File menu to create a font file. This will show you with the standard Save File dialog in which you must enter a name for the new font suitcase file and choose a folder to save it in. When you have chosen a folder and entered a name, then click Save. In the illustration below, the file has been named "ExampleSuitcase".
Note: Do not save the new font file in the System Folder.
Figure 2 New Font File
2. Clicking Save will take you to the New Font File dialog, shown below. Type a Family Name for your new font and select Traditional Chinese or Simplified Chinese from the Script pop-up menu. Then click OK to save the file to disk. In the screenshot below, the Font Family Name has been entered as "TCFamilyName".
Note: At this point the new empty font file has been created on disk with the Advance Width value you set earlier in the preferences window.
3. After clicking OK, the Font View window appears, as shown below. From the script you have selected, the application automatically assigns a Family ID number within the correct range. Characters added to the font will appear in the main display area at 24 point size.
Figure 3 ExampleSuitcase
Creating and Designing a Character
To create a new character using the TrueType Font Editor, start by copying an existing Chinese character and then changing it. Typically a Chinese character consists of several radicals, so you might delete one radical of a character and add a radical of another character to it. You can also move radicals that make up the character you are creating.
To create new character in the character editor window, follow these steps:
- The Select tool lets you select parts of a character in the window so that you can copy, delete, or move it.
- The Zoom tool lets you zoom in and out. Hold the Option key down to zoom out.
- The Scale tool lets you change the size of a radical.
- Double-click to select a radical of a character, then choose Clear from the Edit menu to remove the radical from the character.
- In another Character Editor window, double-click to select a radical then choose Copy from the Edit menu. Switch to the first Character Editor window and choose Paste from the Edit menu to add the radical to the character you are creating.
- Double-click to select a radical, then drag to move it.
- Double-click to select a radical, then select the Scale tool. Drag to make the radical larger or smaller.
1. Choose New Character Editor from the Window menu. The Character Editor window appears. The proportions of this window are determined by the four values entered in the Preferences, including the Advance width. If you already have a Chinese font selected the input mode palette will also automatically appear floating next to it, as shown below.
Figure 4 Character Editor 2
2. Choose Show Tool Panel from the Window Menu. The tool palette provides three character editing tools:
Figure 5 Tool Panel palette
3. Choose a font from the Select Font Template item in the Character menu.
You will use one or more characters of this font as the template for the character you are creating. Choose a Traditional Chinese font if you are creating a Traditional Chinese character. Choose a Simplified Chinese font if you are creating a Simplified Chinese character.
For example: With Traditional Chinese you could choose Apple LiSung Light or Apple LiGothic Medium. With Simplified Chinese you could choose Kai or Song.
4. Enter a character in the Character Editor window.
5. Choose an input method from the Keyboard menu and an input mode from the Pencil menu. For example, choose Pinyin to create a Traditional Chinese character or ABC Standard to create a Simplified Chinese character. You must also select a Traditional or Simplified Chinese font from the font menu in order to be able to select a character correctly.
6. Press the keys to enter the character you want to start with then press the Space bar. Select the character in the selection palette and press return. The character now appears in the Character Editor window.
Figure 6 Character Editor 3
Note: See the Chinese Language Kit Manual for detailed instructions on using the various Chinese input methods.
7. Enter additional characters in the Character Editor window.
If you want to combine radicals from two or more characters, you can enter more than one character in the same Character Editor window. The characters will superimpose on top of each other aligned at their bottom left corners, as shown below. You must then edit and re-position the shapes as required to form your new character.
8. Create Multiple Character Editor windows
Alternatively, you can create separate Character Editor windows for each source character and then cut, copy and paste between them to do the editing. Do this by selecting New Character Editor from the Window menu for each character you need.
Figure 7 Character Editor 3
9. Zooming in
Select the Magnification tool then click in the Character Editor window to zoom in. Hold down the Option key and click to zoom out. (Use the scroll bars to adjust your view when zoomed in.)
10. Selecting and editing parts with the Selection and Scale tools.
You are now ready to change the character. Here are some ideas of what you can do:
Figure 8 Suitcases
Saving a Character to a Font Suitcase
To save the character you have created in the character editor window, follow these steps:
1. To add the character to a font, select Add In Font from the Character Menu. In the file selection dialog box that appears, select the font suitcase file you created and click Open.
Figure 9 ExampleSuitcase
The Font View window for the selected file will then appear, including the newly added character, as shown below:
Figure 10 Character Code
2. You now need to check the code for the new character. Click the button at the bottom of the font view window called Change Selected Character Code. This will take you to the Character Code window.
Figure 11 Warning dialog
3. Compare the value in the dialog to the code ranges given in "Character Encoding" earlier in this document. If the default code value is within the appropriate range, then click OK. If it is not, then type in an appropriate value. When you're finished, click OK.
TrueType Font Editor checks the code value you have given with any other characters you have created and stored in the same font suitecase file. If there is a conflict with an existing character, you will be warned that the code is already in use.
Figure 12 Save Changes dialog
Either choose to replace the older character with the one you have just given the code value to, or cancel to go back and enter another non-conflicting code value.
You can now create other characters or you can quit from the TrueType Font Editor.
4. Choose Save from the File menu to save the font in the file. If you forget to save, you will be reminded when you close the Font View window or quit the application.
Preparing to Use Your Character
To enter the character you have created in a document:
1. Locate the font file you created.
2. Drag it to the System Folder. A message asks you if you want to place the file in the Fonts folder.
3. Click OK.
4. You must now restart your workstation.
When your computer starts up, you can enter the character in a document. See the chapter in the Chinese Language Kit User's Manual for the input method you are using for instructions on entering the character.
Working with a Collection of characters in a suitcase file
As you create new characters by using Add In Font from the Character Menu, your font suitcase file will gradually accumulate characters. These will be displayed, arranged in ascending code value order, at 24 point size in the main area of the Font View window.
Figure 13 ExampleSuitcase
- Click to select a character in the window. The character will be highlighted and its character code will be displayed at the bottom of the screen in Hexadecimal and Decimal notation.
- Change the relative position of characters in your collection by using Change Selected Character Code as described earlier.
- To be able to make further modifications, either double-click on a character or click to select it and then click on Export Selected Character. This will create a new Character Editor window and copy the character to it. When you Add it back into the Font Suitcase file, it will be automatically added to the collection as a new character, leaving the original intact.
- To delete a character from the collection, click on it to select it and then choose Clear from the Edit menu. Alternatively overwrite the character by changing the character code of another character to be equal to it.