Font feedback

Music notation symbols, fonts, font sources and font creation, SmuFL.
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OCTO
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Re: RE: Re: Font feedback

Post by OCTO »

John Ruggero wrote:I agree completely with tisimst. On the computer monitor, the heavier one looks too heavy, but in printing, the heavier one is best.
+++1.

Finally we all land at the same place!

That is why I had need to create enhanced Times, which resulted in Muzitex (another topic), which looks a bit unusual at the screen but in print looks much better than Times.
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Knut
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Re: Font feedback

Post by Knut »

Excellent! Thank you, OCTO.

Tisimst, do you usually hint your music fonts (manually or otherwise)?
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tisimst
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Font feedback

Post by tisimst »

Knut wrote:Tisimst, do you usually hint your music fonts (manually or otherwise)?
Yes, but they are almost always done automatically. I've done some manual hinting on text fonts, but that's usually only when I'm really not happy with the automated ones.
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OCTO
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Re: Font feedback

Post by OCTO »

What is hinting and why it is important?
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Knut
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Re: Font feedback

Post by Knut »

As I hinted at (pun intended) in the post above, hinting is the most technical part of digital font design, and involves making sure your outlines will fit well into the pixel grid of the screen (i.e., displays according to your intentions regardless of screen resolution). This is essentially done by setting up a series of boundaries in each glyph according to the extremum points.

Most font editors have automatic hinting features, but as indicated by the examples of this thread, they may not always do a satisfactory job.
Last edited by Knut on 11 Jun 2016, 13:17, edited 1 time in total.
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OCTO
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Re: Font feedback

Post by OCTO »

Knut, I finally opened your documents.
I agree, the bolder one is the better.
However, I would definitely omit using the same font for lyrics (italic). Now, this font takes to much power, but singers don't need it since they learn the text quite quick, and as well they use to keep in hands scores.

And yes, very very nice score. Do you have your own edition??
Knut
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Re: Font feedback

Post by Knut »

OCTO wrote:Knut, I finally opened your documents.
I agree, the bolder one is the better.
However, I would definitely omit using the same font for lyrics (italic). Now, this font takes to much power, but singers don't need it since they learn the text quite quick, and as well they use to keep in hands scores.

And yes, very very nice score. Do you have your own edition??
Thanks, OCTO.

Well, if the idea is for the score to leave an impression of balance, the same font should definitely work for both lyrics and text expressions. Otherwise the contrast should be even bigger, i.e., semibold for text expressions and regular for lyrics. I think minute differences in weight based on pragmatic assessments is unnecessary, and would compromise the aesthetics of the score. Wouldn't you agree?

If you are indeed advocating for two different font styles for translated lyrics and expressive text, then I'm afraid my font is neither fish nor fowl, and the design would have to be changed to fit one or the other.

Thank you, but I would credit the Durand engravers in this case. You can have a look at the original here: http://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ImagefromIndex/09168
If you're asking if I have my own publishing company, then no, I don't.
DatOrganistTho
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Re: Font feedback

Post by DatOrganistTho »

As a point of clarification, fonts are classified as "software" which has a EULA and thus is copyrighted, while the design of the glyphs on the printed page are not copyrighted.

From a point of law, AFAIU, you cannot copyright type design as it is printed, because letters are not capable of being copyrighted (it is a form of reductio ad absurdum), however the process of getting the letters on the page is a process you can protect under copyright law.
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tisimst
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Re: Font feedback

Post by tisimst »

This is exactly right, DatOrganistTho. Thank you for clarifying.
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Knut
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Re: Font feedback

Post by Knut »

I'm curious about people's opinions on an aspect discussed in this thread, viewtopic.php?f=4&t=187, as it relates to my own music font. The question is, how should the diagonal strokes of different sharp symbols be drawn?

A keeps the angle constant, which results in a variable vertical placement (in relation to the staff line), while the opposite is true for B.

Do you prefer A or B, or is it all the same to you?
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