My attempt at a (more than) 7-segment display.

A 7x5 matrix font.

A smoothed 5x3 matrix font.

It's got more "okayer" detail than the other one. Just as okay as the other one. Really.

This is proven to come from an okay screen. Well, not really.

This font is a recreation of Richard Wisan's "ELITEQ.LQN" font file (c) 1990 for use with the program LQMATRIX.  From Mr. Wisan's comment in the LQMATRIX documentation file: "ELITEQ.LQN: resembles Epson's resident Roman font, but slightly reduced to suit elite spacing."

LQMATRIX was a font design program for use with Epson LQ [Letter Quality] 24-pin dot matrix printers and compatibles.  Created by noted linguist, anthropologist, and photographer J. David Sapir, the program had its beginnings in 1985 and was published by Jimmy Paris Software; the last known version that I have been able to find is version 4.44 (1991).  Mr. Sapir included font set submissions from LQMATRIX users in some of the later updates; my version includes Mr. Wisan's file.  A screenshot of the program is included in the comments section below.

While the graphics mode of dot matrix printers could print rather complex pictures, it remained extremely slow for large amounts of specialized text.  By uploading an LQMATRIX font file into the printer's RAM, the temporary font could be used interchangeablely with the printer's resident ROM fonts.  The result was a much faster print speed with little sacrifice in quality -- plus, one could design their own special glyphs or characters to suit their needs!

This was accomplish by a sophisticated design program included with LQMATRIX, whereby users could create and save characters or symbols on a 24 vertical by 15 horizontal grid for the ASCII locations 032–126 (although 001-127 were permitted).  One could even place dots in the 14 half-positions along the horizontal.

I have cleaned-up some of the curvatures and harmonized a number of glyphs (along with outright modification of a few, like W and w), yet they still adhere to the same 24 x 15 grid.  The original designs can be found beginning in the "More Latin" section.  Because the characters for "left single quotation mark" and "right single quotation mark" were not present in DOS, I have "created" them here for sake of completion.

A serif dot-matrix display typeface.

Enjoy!

Inspired by the movement of a glitch, 80s arcade game titles and technology. Very computer esque. Unacceptable colours within a glitch.

A dot-matrix version of "Official-Ish", and a test of the Filters. :^)

The author recommends using this font at sizes that are multiples of 13, starting with 26, to ensure perfect pixel size/placement. 26, 39, 52, etc. were tested and looked perfect to my eye.

TIP: Size 13 looks like regular "Official-Ish"! You can treat this as two fonts in one for art purposes.

Yet another dot matrix typeface for a printer that never existed...

Last version (#25) from the original (#1) – same doc.

Diffused 33-Segment Pixel Matrix
a.k.a. 'D33SPM' {by dpla}

7- to 33-segment progression
(bitmap-only step-by-step)***



FONT MAPPING =

Abbreviations:
. 'S' Segment (#)
. 'L' Layer (I2O [Groups: 1/23/45/67])
. 'C' Character (ANSI)*
. 'U' Unicode (00+HEX)
. 'P' Position (Clockwise) [Matrix V1]**
. 'I' In/Inner
. 'O' Out/Outer


I to O table:

.S L C .U P..
==-=-=-==-===
00 1 0 30 Mdl
-- - - -- ---
01 2 1 31 N 
02 2 2 32  E
03 2 3 33 S 
04 2 4 34  W
-- - - -- ---
05 3 5 35 NE
06 3 6 36 SE
07 3 7 37 SW
08 3 8 38 NW
-- - - -- ---
09 4 9 39 NE
10 4 A 41 SE
11 4 B 42 SW
12 4 C 43 NW
-- - - -- ---
13 5 D 44 N 
14 5 E 45  E
15 5 F 46 S 
16 5 G 47  W
-- - - -- ---
17 6 H 48 NNE
18 6 I 49 NEE
19 6 J 4A SEE
20 6 K 4B SSE
21 6 L 4C SSW
22 6 M 4D SWW
23 6 N 4E NWW
24 6 O 4F NNW
-- - - -- ---
25 7 P 50 NNE
26 7 Q 51 NEE
27 7 R 52 SEE
28 7 S 53 SSE
29 7 T 54 SSW
30 7 U 55 SWW
31 7 V 56 NWW
32 7 W 57 NNW



NOTES =

* So that the FULL MATRIX can be revealed
 by enabling all the segments (33 layers)
 via "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW" 
(or any distribution of this full string).

**
Now you may 'fontstruct' my 25TH VERSION…
(the "MARS:BENZ" test showcases this one).

***
The expected final & plain VECTOR DESIGNS
could simply begin with rotating squares…
Even in this early and geometric step #0,
all the 33 segment areas would be similar.

33?!
1 BIT too many… try removing S00 yourself
(or merge by adding a 'separating value').

Use the glyph SPACING as usual in x and y
(even by kerning the variable width font).

I started drawing many V1 GLYPHS on April
(+ several ANIMATIONS for matrix testing).

The inherited 7-SEGMENT matrix is a LIMIT
(e.g. no added border for the diacritics).



URL =

fontstruct.com/fontstructions/show/1505159



LICENSE =

You may NOT use D33SPM commercially
{OR ask for my written permission}.



2018
0126 PNG
0320 TXT
0401 TXT UPD
dpla
 

This is only experimental and not Finisht.

<<<Softer Version>>>

Cryptographic Font utilizing a proprietary binary matrix algorithm designed by Joshua Michael Conci ©

This font and the symbols therein are direct results of the binary code for the letters, numbers, and special characters acting as seeds for a matrix code.

Every character is unique even if they "appear" similar. The top and bottom horizontal lines indicate the binary code for the associated letter. Black squares are 1 and spaces are 0.

Cryptographic Font utilizing a proprietary binary matrix algorithm designed by Joshua Michael Conci © 2017

This font and the symbols therein are direct results of the binary code for the letters, numbers, and special characters acting as seeds for a matrix code.

Every character is unique even if they "appear" similar. The top and bottom horizontal lines indicate the binary code for the associated letter. Black squares are 1 and spaces are 0.

While suffering some serious fonter's block, here's another "wonky" experiment: this time, based on my "21st Century Dot Matrix" font.  Random numbers were used to determine each dot's nudged position for the vertical (–½ / –¼ / 0 / +¼ / +½), and another set of random numbers for the horizontal.  Each position had an equal 20% chance of placement.

On the previous "wonky" font ("Wonky Pins"), I adjusted some dots manually to be more visually pleasing, but I refrained from doing that here.  Because so many dots were nudged to extreme positions (–½ & +½ vertically and horizontally) WITHOUT further adjustment, the printed text is still legible but definitely not as refined at "Wonky Pins"...

This typeface was also based on 2 sets of dots this time: one randomized set for an even number of dots across a row (6 or 8), and the other set for an odd number of dots (7).  Sometimes, even dots and odd dots are used together on the same row in order to match the placement in the original design.  These blocks are present in the "À" position.  A slightly larger generic block in position "Á" is only present to prevent word processors from 'cutting off' dots nudged too far vertically up or down; initial test printings resulted in ½ dots being printed at those extremes.

Perhaps another "wonky" experiment will place the extreme ends at a lower chance of occurance (perhaps 10%) while the other three (–¼ / 0 / +¼) more at likely at 26.67% each.  Or perhaps an even higher chance that the dot is not even nudged at all, with lower likelihoods as you move outwards to the extremes.  This might alleviate the need for any manual adjustments, yet still get the point across that something... something has gone wonky with the printer...

A little experiment - squares with rounded corners.  The resulting design is a 5×7 dot matrix font with an (unintentional) art deco sensibility.

The font used on most 5x7 screens on the planet, with more than a thousand glyphs.

Licensed under CC NC-BY-SA 4.0 (GPLv3 compatible)