Single line font question

[parrotlady]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if anyone knew how, or knew of a font that cut out just as a line? Similar to what a pen on paper would look like? It's hard to explain, but I dont want big letters cut out for what I am doing. The only thing I could think of was tracing or redrawing a font and using each letter as a seperate object?

Thanks!

April

[SignTorch Vector Art]

Good question, I thought they'd be readily available, but apparently windows doesn't recognize fonts with single open strokes, there are some engraver fonts on the corel cd in the extras/fonts/truetype-engraver folder, they look like single lines but if you zoom in they are not. Apparently true engraving fonts only work in special engraving software (and they're really expensive). I could make some (in 3 months maybe)....

here's the only thing I found, but not sure it's possible if the above information is true

[parrotlady]

thanks Gary, I will look into that. I have no idea how to make a font, but I guess I will make up a bunch of single line letters and just use them as individual objects. I am going further investigate what you posted though.

April

[steelfx]

April,

does your CAD program have a text tool? Mine is in the drop-down selection under 'dimensions' and it has
single line fonts. very basic fonts, though. then you can select them, vectorize & export as DXF.

bw

[redneckgateart]

April,

If you're just wanting a "thin line", there are several free engraving fonts out there. But, like Gary said, they aren't single strokes. Letters in Truetype fonts, by definition, must be closed paths. They can contain multiple subpaths, but each subpath must be closed and they cannot cross.

Think of it in terms of your pencil example, with one exception...once you touch the pencil to the paper and start drawing, you can't pick up your pencil until you get back to the point where you started. In other words, draw the entire letter, without lifting your pencil...and, you have to finish at the same point you started from. Some font authors handle "complex letters" differently.....like a capital R. In some fonts, it's a single closed path R. In others, it's like a closed path P with a closed subpath "leg" attached to it.

Hopefully you're not too confused. If you look at one of these fonts, they appear to be a single line, but they are usually two lines on top of each other....one going one way and one going the opposite direction. Try it....get in Corel, enter some text in one of the engraver fonts and then convert it to curves. Then, with your Pick tool, start dragging the nodes slightly.....you'll see the "double" lines.

If you're wanting to cut a "skinny" letter, they will probably work fine but, without editting, your torch is going to cut the letter twice. The resulting kerf will be a little wider (and the dross might be a little harder to remove), but that may work for you.

Clear as mud? LOL.
Good Luck,
Clark

[SignTorch Vector Art]

here's some true single line fonts

http://featurecam.com/general/support/engrave_fonts.asp

but windows does not like fonts that are not closed curves

[parrotlady]

thanks guys,

Bill, I will check in my torchmate cad to see if I have that option (and I will be making an order very soon! So excited!)

Clark, thank you for your reply. What you said does makes sense and clarified a bunch of questions I had. I think for this particular project, I am going to have to draw some single line objects for letters. In this instance, I dont want the torch to go over the same line twice or anything. I do appreciate you taking the time to explain all of that, and I got alot out of it

Gary, I got all excited and downloaded all of those fonts, but now I cant find them anywhere in my computer? I did save the file and installed them, but they dont show up in my font list? Is that what you meant by windows not liking these fonts? (I am going out to the shop tomorrow to take pictures of the circles..)

Thanks again everyone! I will post whatever hokey creation I make

April

[redneckgateart]

April,

After installing the fonts, using the Control panel, make sure you get out of Corel (or whatever program you're using) and get back into it. The font list that a program uses is updated when it loads.

Clark

PS: The Serif and Gothic fonts that Gary found will probably work best, if you're wanting to do what I think you are. Don't be surprised if they "look funny" in CorelDraw, when you use them.....some pieces may appear to be missing. Just select the text, apply a hairline outline and no fill color...then they should "look" right. Because they aren't closed paths, you will have multiple pierce points on some letters. If you don't like where they are, you can convert to curves and then change the direction of the offending subpath. Good Luck.

[AnotherDano]

April,

After installing the fonts, using the Control panel, make sure you get out of Corel (or whatever program you're using) and get back into it. The font list that a program uses is updated when it loads.

Clark

Good tip, Clark.
And sometimes, a reboot/restart is needed to get the system to recognize the changes.

[pony]

I'm a Mac guy, but I believe Windows support OpenType Fonts. If that is the case then these fonts are exactly what you are looking for:
They are not copyrighted, and they went through a convoluted conversion process to get to OpenType format. They work exactly as you describe on the Mac in Illustrator. When I turn them in to outlines, they are just a single open path.

I suspect "Eng_VandLine Normal" is the one in the attached zip file that you are looking for.

I don't take the credit for these, someone else did the hard work so we don't have to

[SignTorch Vector Art]

This is interesting:

Either windows misinterprets these so-called single stroke fonts, or these fonts are not single strokes ( I suspect the opentype font is not)

font1.png

A) a normal truetype font, has all closed paths

B) a truetype stroke font with open paths, the paths are closed automatically

C) opentype stroke font (in wireframe view below), the strokes trace back over themselves to form a closed curve

font2.png

I think it requires special (engraving) software that knows how to read and display such fonts correctly to achieve true one-pass strokes.

[parrotlady]

Hey Pony, thanks for file.. The only problem is that my computer doesnt seem to be recognizing them? I right click to install them and it just asks if I want to save the file etc.., no link to install as with other fonts? Thanks for looking into it Gary.

I am half done some traced objects that I can use for this project, but it sure would be nice to have some "true" single line cut friendly fonts. Come on Gary, get on this project and make millions

[redneckgateart]

April,
How are you trying to install them? Assuming that you're using Windows, you need to : 1)Download the fonts and save them on your computer. 2) If the files are compressed (zip, tar etc.), then you need to extract them....remember where you put them! 3) Go to the Control Panel and choose Fonts....you should see a window that contains all of the fonts that you have installed. 4) Click on File and then Install New Font. 5) Browse and find the font files that you just extracted in step 2. Select the ones that you want to install and click Install.

Fire up Corel (or any other program) and they should be there.

If you're a Mac girl, I'll defer to Pony!

Good Luck,
Clark