10 Free Tools To Create Your Own Fonts

Fonts give a powerful class to our content, and they can influence the style it'southward perceived and interpreted. Present, typography is especially important (and pop as a topic) in the context of responsive web pattern. There are so many wonderful, free fonts bachelor online, but what if you want to change them or brand your own font?

Here are ten nifty and free tools to create your ain fonts.

1. FontArk

FontArk is a browser-based font creator that lets you depict letters to make your ain font. The most applied feature is the Outline Generator which automatically creates an outline around your drawing. Y'all can later tweak it to change the thickness and roundness of letters. You can modify multiple characters at once to ensure consistency. For special font types, FontArk offers Logotype and Icon modes. Created fonts are exported as OTF files, and yous tin can run across what they look like in a real-fourth dimension preview.

FontArk has plenty of tutorials and video guides for beginners, explaining the bones steps to creating a font. Designers and experienced users will appreciate a whole set of advanced tools that FontArk too contains. Last simply non to the lowest degree, at that place are templates you can modify to create something entirely new.

Availability: Sign-up required but you can effort the demo without registration. Supports only Chrome and Safari.

2. PaintFont

PaintFont is a simple web-based tool that takes all the work off of your easily and gives you a finished font based on your handwriting. Only download the template (PDF or PNG file) and fill it out, either by manus or in an image editing software like Gimp, Photoshop, or even Pigment. Then upload information technology dorsum to PaintFont, preferably in grayscale, in ane of several supported formats (PDF, PNG, TIFF or JPG). Your uploaded file will be processed and y'all'll get a complimentary OTF or TTF font. With PaintFont you don't accept as much control over the creative process equally with other tools on this list, merely it's a handy solution if you just want a font really quickly.

Availability: All modern browsers.

3. BirdFont

BirdFont is non only free, just likewise open source, and it's a well-documented desktop tool for creating fonts. The interface is divided into tabs on elevation, primary area in the middle and a sidebar with tools which are grouped past functions and explained here.

To create fonts, yous can describe on the filigree, import SVG icons to brand an icon font, or draw letters by paw in another program (or even on paper), then import that image into BirdFont every bit a background and draw over it, tracing the letter shapes. BirdFont can import drawings from Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator, and consign finished projects as TTF, EOT and SVG fonts. Step-by-step tutorials can be institute on the official website.

Availability: Linux, Mac Bone X, BSD and Windows.

4. FontForge

FontForge is a free, open source, complete software solution for creating fonts. With and then many tools and options, it might seem overwhelming to a beginner. Luckily, at that place's a tutorial to assistance yous get started, along with a detailed FAQ that can teach you a lot about typography.

In FontForge, you depict messages using curves and change their shape and position. If you lot're used to cartoon in Photoshop or Gimp, this won't be too hard. The Spiro manner lets y'all perform detailed adjustments on curves. For improve control over your drawings, FontForge offers layers, and just like BirdFont, information technology tin can import SVG and EPS files from Illustrator and Inkscape. You tin can as well use it to excerpt fonts from PDF files. Earlier exporting your new font into one of many supported formats (OpenType, TrueType, AAT, SVG, PostScript, Multiple Chief, dfont, BDF…), yous can check for errors and inconsistencies with the Detect Problems pick and the Font Validation Tool.

Availability: Windows & Mac Os X, Ubuntu, other Linux distributions

5. FontStruct

FontStruct is a relatively simple tool in which you build fonts by combining geometrical shapes (called "Bricks"). New fonts can be made from scratch or based on other people's work, which you lot tin find in the Gallery. The bones interface is pretty straightforward, with only a few tools. However, this changes when you switch to Expert Mode. Here you go access to more options, like brick compositing and outlines. You lot can zoom in and out of the work surface area, switch to fullscreen mode and toggle unlike kinds of grids and guidelines.

Your new font is exported either every bit TTF or in a special .glyphs format that can be edited on Mac Bone Ten. FontStruct tin't import existing fonts or plow your handwriting into a font, simply it lets y'all browse and download dozens of beautiful fonts created by other users.

Availability: Sign-upwards required. Supports all modern browsers, but needs Flash to work properly.

6. Glyphr Studio

This beautiful, powerful and practical application comes in a portable form – in that location's no need to install it, it simply runs equally an HTML file. Y'all can import outlines from Inkscape and Illustrator, or even import unabridged SVG fonts and modify them. It'due south possible to conform kerning and ligatures, and create Linked Shapes which can be reused to describe similar letters. With Glyphr Studio, you go a alive preview of your font as you're making it with the Test Bulldoze option. Professional person designers will be delighted past the 2 Screen Manner, which lets you split Glyphr Studio across two monitors.

Availability: All modern browsers, merely works all-time in Chrome.

vii. MyScriptFont

Another tool based on the same principle as PaintFont. If you lot desire to turn your signature into a font, MyScriptFont makes it effortless – just download the template, fill it out with a dark bluish or black pen and scan it as a portrait grayscale image at 300 dpi. In one case yous upload the image, MyScriptFont volition give you a new font to download. You can choose betwixt TTF and OTF formats.

Availability: All modernistic browsers.

viii. Fontastic

You've probably heard of icon fonts – instead of letters, they contain small images and wait peculiarly good on websites. Fontastic is a tool for creating icon fonts, and it offers a short guide to show you how. Yous can upload existing icons every bit SVG files and convert them within Fontastic, build multiple fonts and font collections, and modify every character with CSS to add shadows and colour. Icons in your font will scale automatically depending on the device, and so you tin can be certain they'll look cracking everywhere.

Availability: Sign-up required. Works in all mod browsers.

9. Pentacom's BitFontMaker

Here's another tool for a special font type. BitFontMaker lets yous create pixel fonts, which you lot might call back from (old) video games. You can scan the gallery to encounter what others have made, upload TTF or OTF files and pigment over them, or bound directly into the editor, where y'all can depict each alphabetic character past selecting information technology in the table on the right and painting squares, i.e. pixels on the left. It's like shooting fish in a barrel and fun, and yous tin can share the last product with other users.

Availability: Supports IE 9+, Firefox 2+, Safari 5+ and Chrome.

10. TTFEdit

Every bit the final tool on this list, TTFEdit strikes the balance between complex tools like FontForge and simple ones that don't actually do much. With TTFEdit, you tin can modify existing TTF fonts or create new ones from templates. The interface is divided into tabs. Each tab lets y'all perform different actions on the selected character(s). You tin alter the shape of each character by moving and resizing curves in the Glyph Editor. This is a desktop tool, and so you'll have to download and install it.

Availability: Linux, Windows, Mac Os X.

SEE ALSO: 20 Best Fabric Design Apps and Websites For Inspiration

Here is how to create your own fonts with the help of these gratis tools. If y'all know whatever other free tools for creating fonts? Share your recommendations in the comments.

Source: https://beebom.com/free-tools-to-create-your-own-fonts/

Posted by: martinezturzartur.blogspot.com

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