FontCreator Home Edition 5.6 - User Guide and FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions - FontCreator Home Edition

1. Can I share and sell fonts that I create with FontCreator or are there licensing implications?
   Yes, if you have created a font yourself (without using anything from other fonts), it is your property.
   
   
2. Is it legal to modify a commercial font?
   Several font vendors do allow this, as long as the modified font is only used on machines for which you have licensed the original font. If you have questions about what can or can't be done with a font, you should contact the font's manufacturer.
   
   
3. How can I convert a font between Windows and a Mac?
   TrueType fonts can be used directly under OSX, but need to be converted for use by earlier Mac operating systems. CrossFont from Acute Systems (US $45.00) and TransType from pyrus (US $97.00) can do this.
   
   
4. Is FontCreator available for a Mac?
   No, the software runs on Windows only. However fonts created with FontCreator should also work on Windows 3.11 and Mac OSX.
   
   
5. How can I change the height of a font?
   To change the top and bottom of a font; select Settings from the Format menu to open the Font Settings window and select the Metrics page. Here you can change the Win Ascent (Top) and Win Descent (Bottom). You should also update the other ascender and descender values. To update all values at once, press the Calculate button.
   
   
6. I want to change the font name, but I don't know how. What is the solution?
   The font name is stored inside the font, so changing the file name won't work. The easiest way to change the font name is to use the AutoNaming wizard available from the Tools menu.
   
   
7. My font only looks good at large sizes, what can I do to improve the quality at small sizes?
   The quality has a lot to do with hinting. The hints are what make it look good at low resolutions. FontCreator does not fully support hinting. Screen fonts are incredibly complex to make well.
   
   If you want to hint your font then you could use Microsoft Visual TrueType to add hinting to your fonts. VTT is a professional-level tool for graphically instructing TrueType and OpenType fonts.
   
   Another solution is grayscale support. To enable it select Grayscale from the Format menu. Delete all entries. Now add a new entry and set "Grayscale rendering".