Re:I made a font based on my handwriting
by jhpriestley on Saturday June 06, 2020 @01:13PM
(#23440674)
If the goal is to produce a simulation of handwriting then a font (which is a simulation of a case of metal blocks) seems like a bad starting point. Better to simulate a pen moving along a curve and then vary curve parameters (acceleration etc).
[ Parent
| on HN ]
> a font (which is a simulation of a case of metal blocks)
In metal typesetting, a font is exactly a collection of metal blocks (which embody glyphs of a given design, size, and thickness). But on a computer, a font is a piece of software that renders text in a given typeface — simulating a pen moving along curves with varying parameters is entirely feasible. Not at all a bad starting point.
One of the things I want to do is to use autotrace centerline to get a basic stroke trace, and then manually tweak it so that drawing the glyphs makes sense. Then I can use that for SVG animations (there are Javascript tutorials for that), which I can use to help my kiddo learn how to write. (Whether I should teach her to forge my handwriting so early might be another matter... ;) )