Hello,
my problem is that my circles (dots) are not round (font opened with Indesign CS5.5) I have downloaded ETHproductions fs dot serif. Here is the same problem. (picture // magenta = 100% round)
Is this normal … or a bug?
I have used horizontal and vertical brick size = 2 and grid scale = 1
Architaraz is correct. Apparently the problem has more to do with the TrueType specification than with the FontMortar itself. For one, standard bezier curves can, at best, only approximate perfect circles – one needs an infinite number of on- and off-curve (read: anchor and control) points to achieve absolute precision. For two, the position of on- and off-curve points in a .ttf file are quantized (limited number of positions), so problems with approximating circles increase the smaller they get. I can’t explain to you why the approximation errors are asymmetrical, and it would be nice to hear a more complete technical explanation.
According to Luc Devroye, TrueType is limited to a grid of 2,048 by 2,048 cells. Go to the following page and look at how he uses circles in his dingbat fonts:
will.i.ૐ's description is correct. Luv Devroye actually wrote an article just about circles in fonts. FontStruct was mentioned in quite unflattering terms. Its a bit embarrassing so I won't link to it, you can probably find it with your favorite search engine.
One great thing about FontStruct is that we just need to fix one brick and all FontStructions using that brick will be instantaneously fixed. Drawing a circle with TrueType béziers is not easy though and they will, as will.i.ૐ describes, get wobblier as your circle gets smaller.
Great news, mr. Meek, but only this font? Will it be fixed globally throughout fontstruct?
When I was editing my font Audio 2012, I had to replace all the circles, but it would be great if we didn't have to go through that :)
@ meek: Thank you!!! But I agree with architaraz … I´m working on 2 Dotted Fonts with some special versions. So you have to improve every font!?!?!????????
??? Only to be shure … the full circle (picture!?) is not working! I did a test with an unpublished font. And the circle still looks like before. Or do I have to redraw the font?
Ah … so you have changed the full circle only in this font?
In my opinion the full circle should be globally improved! The new circle in this font looks much better!
There is only one full circle shape for the whole of FontStruct. It can't be changed just for one FontStruction. One shape is used to draw all full circles in FontStruct.
But anyway, I'm very confused now. I didn't change the full circle at all. I thought this font was using the smaller circles which I did improve. So this font has not changed at all!
I need to look into this a bit further. More later.
I've done some more testing.
I think all the circle and ring bricks are ok now. Not perfect but ok. There may still be some room for improvement but not much.
One thing to note is that circles will always look a little different when downloaded. They sometimes look awful in the preview widget but fine in a font editor or a desktop application.
**Geekery alert** if, in the future, we add an option to download OpenType fonts with postscript outlines rather than the TrueType fonts we export currently, many circles will look better as it's easier to approximate a circle with cubic than quadratic béziers (so they say).
Hmm ok … my circle always looks like the blue one in the picture above. (this is how it looks like in InDesign CS5.5) Thanks a lot! And OpenType sounds good …
19 Comments
my problem is that my circles (dots) are not round (font opened with Indesign CS5.5) I have downloaded ETHproductions fs dot serif. Here is the same problem. (picture // magenta = 100% round)
Is this normal … or a bug?
I have used horizontal and vertical brick size = 2 and grid scale = 1
I think staff is aware of this issue.
http://luc.devroye.org/sugaku.html
One great thing about FontStruct is that we just need to fix one brick and all FontStructions using that brick will be instantaneously fixed. Drawing a circle with TrueType béziers is not easy though and they will, as will.i.ૐ describes, get wobblier as your circle gets smaller.
(If someone wants to copy something from the answers above … I will soon put the font back to private!)
When I was editing my font Audio 2012, I had to replace all the circles, but it would be great if we didn't have to go through that :)
No fonts need to be redrawn. When a brick changes, that change effects every FontStruction which uses that brick.
In my opinion the full circle should be globally improved! The new circle in this font looks much better!
But anyway, I'm very confused now. I didn't change the full circle at all. I thought this font was using the smaller circles which I did improve. So this font has not changed at all!
I need to look into this a bit further. More later.
I think all the circle and ring bricks are ok now. Not perfect but ok. There may still be some room for improvement but not much.
One thing to note is that circles will always look a little different when downloaded. They sometimes look awful in the preview widget but fine in a font editor or a desktop application.
**Geekery alert** if, in the future, we add an option to download OpenType fonts with postscript outlines rather than the TrueType fonts we export currently, many circles will look better as it's easier to approximate a circle with cubic than quadratic béziers (so they say).
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