hello! my old laser engraver could only read filled shapes (which was VERY annoying haha) but my new one can actually read single strokes and lineart, etc. so for text, i basically bezier'd myself an alphabet, then copy + paste each letter into the file as needed, which is WILDLY annoying.
i have been googling ENDLESSLY and cannot seem to find an answer: is there really no way to create a single line font myself? i've created fonts with calligraphr (seems to be raster-based) and i downloaded fontforge, but it is super complicated, plus it seems to only work with totally filled outlines, not single strokes anyway.
a lot of the search results i've found just say to use a super skinny font which doubles up the lines, but with a laser, that would make those lines double burnt, which is no good, plus it still doubles the job time for each letter.
i know there's the like default hershey fonts and i even tried to centerline trace my own fonts, which went poorly, haha. i guess i'm wondering if someone could find SOME creative workaround?
i just want to have access to my own single-line characters without having to drag each one into place by hand every single time i want to write a new word, yknow?
i don't have any already; i'm trying to make one myself. i don't want to use or purchase a pre-made one because i want to make my own. i just can't figure out any way to do that!
Drawing the letters is the easy part; assembling and making a working OpenType- or TrueType-Font is the crux. I know Inkscape has templates and all kind of stuff for it - but I´m used to use 3rd party Font building tools. There are also online font builder for making fonts from your handwriting - but these will all result as outlined fonts and not single lined ones.
I have made some single line fonts using the Custom Stroke Font extension. Here is link to the fonts and here is one of the blog posts where I describe how I use the extension to quite easily go from the drawings to a useable font with. I have also written some extensions myself to automate the processes even more - all described on my blog.
Using Inkscape with Cutters/Plotters single line font workaround?
Inkscape.org
hello! my old laser engraver could only read filled shapes (which was VERY annoying haha) but my new one can actually read single strokes and lineart, etc. so for text, i basically bezier'd myself an alphabet, then copy + paste each letter into the file as needed, which is WILDLY annoying.
i have been googling ENDLESSLY and cannot seem to find an answer: is there really no way to create a single line font myself? i've created fonts with calligraphr (seems to be raster-based) and i downloaded fontforge, but it is super complicated, plus it seems to only work with totally filled outlines, not single strokes anyway.
a lot of the search results i've found just say to use a super skinny font which doubles up the lines, but with a laser, that would make those lines double burnt, which is no good, plus it still doubles the job time for each letter.
i know there's the like default hershey fonts and i even tried to centerline trace my own fonts, which went poorly, haha. i guess i'm wondering if someone could find SOME creative workaround?
i just want to have access to my own single-line characters without having to drag each one into place by hand every single time i want to write a new word, yknow?
Hi Arielle.
Have you been already Extensions->Text->Hershey Text?
yeah, i looked there, but it seems like they're all just defaults? is there any way to permanently edit them or add a font to them?
If you have single line fonts in your system Inkscape should find them.
i don't have any already; i'm trying to make one myself. i don't want to use or purchase a pre-made one because i want to make my own. i just can't figure out any way to do that!
Drawing the letters is the easy part; assembling and making a working OpenType- or TrueType-Font is the crux. I know Inkscape has templates and all kind of stuff for it - but I´m used to use 3rd party Font building tools. There are also online font builder for making fonts from your handwriting - but these will all result as outlined fonts and not single lined ones.
well yeah, i'm trying to see if anyone has figured out a creative solution or a way to get around fonts being outlines.
I have made some single line fonts using the Custom Stroke Font extension. Here is link to the fonts and here is one of the blog posts where I describe how I use the extension to quite easily go from the drawings to a useable font with. I have also written some extensions myself to automate the processes even more - all described on my blog.
oh cool thank you!!
The font editor built into Inkscape can be used to create single-stroke SVG fonts that can be read and used by Hershey Text.
ooooooo interesting! i will look into that!!