Font Forge

mackenzieh · **Posted:** Fri May 19, 2023 9:46 pm **(#1)**

Has anyone used Font Forge? Is it complicated to use? Is there a steep learning curve? I'm asking because I'm considering downloading it and trying my hand at creating fonts.

Mackenzie

rich2005 · **Joined:** Mar 04, 2011 **Posts:** 2436

mackenzieh wrote:

....Is it complicated to use? Is there a steep learning curve? ....

Of course it is complicated. Start here: https://fontforge.org/docs/tutorial.html

mackenzieh · **Posted:** Sat May 20, 2023 5:33 am **(#3)**

rich2005 wrote:

mackenzieh wrote:

....Is it complicated to use? Is there a steep learning curve? ....

Of course it is complicated. Start here: https://fontforge.org/docs/tutorial.html

Thanks, Rich. I'll check it out. I've got the site bookmarked. Besides fontforge, are there any other sites that help with the creation of fonts? FontForge was the main one that came to mind when I searched google.

rich2005 · **Joined:** Mar 04, 2011 **Posts:** 2436

A more modern application is birdfont https://birdfont.org/

Might be a better bet to start with: https://birdfont.org/doku/doku.php/tutorials

mackenzieh · **Posted:** Sat May 20, 2023 5:41 pm **(#5)**

rich2005 wrote:

A more modern application is birdfont https://birdfont.org/

Might be a better bet to start with: https://birdfont.org/doku/doku.php/tutorials

I got the program to download but due to the file extension, .exe, my microsoft windows defender smart screen has popped up.

rich2005 · **Joined:** Mar 04, 2011 **Posts:** 2436

Quote:

...my microsoft windows defender smart screen has popped up...

Now there is a contradiction in terms : smart and microsoft

Attachment:

not-me.jpg [ 20.68 KiB | Viewed 3267 times ]

not many alternatives to FontForge

rich2005 · **Joined:** Mar 04, 2011 **Posts:** 2436

@mackenzieh

Hope you are still interested, making a font from scratch is a big project, I have a BBC video where they made a new font (to avoid paying royalties) for captions and the detail is amazing.

However, as an example of a draw-your-own, this using Inkscape and Fontforge.

About 6 minutes duration https://youtu.be/6NDq1TJeyEU

Video from : www.youtube.com

mackenzieh · **Posted:** Sun May 21, 2023 2:27 pm **(#8)**

rich2005 wrote:

@mackenzieh

Hope you are still interested, making a font from scratch is a big project, I have a BBC video where they made a new font (to avoid paying royalties) for captions and the detail is amazing.

However, as an example of a draw-your-own, this using Inkscape and Fontforge.

About 6 minutes duration https://youtu.be/6NDq1TJeyEU

Video from : www.youtube.com

I'm still interested in making fonts from scratch. I will definitely check out the video.

mackenzieh · **Posted:** Sun May 21, 2023 3:46 pm **(#9)**

vitforlinux wrote:

Quote:

I got the program to download but due to the file extension, .exe, my microsoft windows defender smart screen has popped up.

The Fontforge and Birdfont packages are available in Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) without any Smartscreen, it always remains the user's responsibility to know when the Smartscreen is wrong.

Virustotal can help you understand if there really are problems with an .exe file.

This is the scan with 69 antivirus by VirusTotal of BirdFont installer https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/c6a251d4c9932a71899bba211e17eaf792379efb4c6f8d66befb3d9f6fd1323e
.

How does it remain the responsibility of of the user to know when the Smartscreen is wrong?

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