Kara Fonts and Chisels are trademarks of Kara Computer Graphics.
The Kara Fonts CHISELS and KF-HeadSetter software described in this User Guide are furnished under a license agreement. The software may be used or backed up only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent product specifcation or commitment of the part of Kara Computer Graphics.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form without the expressed written permission of Kara Computer Graphics.
You must register this product in order to receive technical support. As a purchaser of a Kara Fonts product, you have one (1) support credit equivalent to 15 minutes. Additional credits can be purchased. For Technical Support, you must call (310) 578-9177, 9am to 12noon, 1pm to 5pm pacific standard time. Before calling, see ‘Trouble Shooting’ read file in Kara Fonts folder.
Table of Conternts
Introduction
Font Description
Using KF-HeadSetter
Starting KF-HeadSetter
Menu Items
File
Edit
Interface Items
Text
Alignment
Change Case To:
Font Style Preview
Font Name
Size
Tracking
Copy to Clipboard
Usage with Adobe Illustrator 5.0+
Usage Steps
Adjusting Kerning
Changing Color
Colorize Effects
Usage with Adobe Photoshop 3.0+
Usage Steps
Sizing
Changing Color
Applying Textures
Kerning Files
Editing Kerning Files
Introduction
The five Chisel fonts in this package are Adobe Illustrator 5.0/5.5 files. Each character of the 184 character font set is composed from four (4) gradients. All of the gradients are composed of one custom color - KFblack. This enables global color changing by merely altering this single color in Illustrator.
Use of the KF-HeadSetter utility will automatically assemble your text as typed in the text window with the correct case, alignment, size and tracking that you specify. All text is set ‘solid’ (110 pt size equals 110 points from baseline to baseline). The finished compilation will then be put onto the Adobe Clipboard in AICB format ready to be ‘pasted’ into Adobe Illustrator 5.0+ and/or Photoshop 3.0+.
Kara Fonts are designed to be display faces. However, as they can be set in KF-HeadSetter at very small sizes, care should be taken as to the readability of the chiseled faces of the fonts. This would be dependent upon the resolution of the screen and output.
In Illustrator, the font will appear in either ‘Artwork’ or ‘Preview’ mode depending upon the mode you are in at that time. Illustrator will allow additional resizing without loss of sharpness. (See ‘Usage with Adobe Illustrator 5.0+’ later in this User Guide.)
In Photoshop 3.0+, fonts are pasted in pixels at the size requested in KF-HeadSetter. Re-sizing up after pasting will result in more pixelization so it is recommended to make original size the same or larger than the finished size. (See ‘Usage with Adobe Photoshop 3.0+’ later in this User Guide.)
Font Description (COMMERCIAL PACKAGE)
Kara Fonts Chisels are Illustrator 5.0/5.5 files comprised of four Gradients: KFdark, KFfull, KFhilight, KFlight. These four gradients are made from one custom color: KFblack. Being that the custom color is black, the Chisel fonts will appear in gray scale. Directions to change colors or colorize will be found in the "Usage with Adobe Illustrator 5.0+" and "Usage with Adobe Photoshop 3.0+" sections of this User Guide.
Each Kara Font contains 181 keyboard characters consisting of:
Shifted (Caps, Special Characters & punctuation),
Unshifted (Lower Case, numerals & punc.) and
Option + keys.
Option Keys:
Row 1= top row on keyboard (not the function keys).
Noting that the Option + "`", "e", "u", and "i" keys allow the additional combination of a accent with the letter. (These accents will not appear alone) The accents supported are the following:
ÀÈÌÒÙàèìòù ÁÉÍÓÚáéíóú
ÄËÏÖÜŸäëïöüÿ ÂÊÎÔÛâêîôû Ññ
DEMO VERSION ONLY AVAILABLE CHARACTERS: C H I S E L & c h i s e l
Using KF-HeadSetter
Starting KF-HeadSetter:
To start KF-HeadSetter, locate the ‘Kara Fonts’ folder, open it and double-click on the KF-HeadSetter program icon or highlight it and press ‘Command + O’. The program will load and the KF-HeadSetter interface will appear on your screen.
Another way to load is to make an ‘Alias’ of the KF-HeadSetter program and put it in the ‘Apple Menu Items’ found in the ‘System’ folder. Then just select it from the ‘Apple Menu’.
KF-HeadSetter MENU ITEMS:
File...
Save As EPS... (Command + S)
This brings up a window to save Clipboard object as an EPS file. Note: No preview picture option is available.
Preferences (Command + P)
Options include:
Play sound after copying to Clipboard;
Show splash screen at startup;
Text display of 9 pt., 12 pt., Plain or Bold.
Quit (Command + Q)
Quit the program, taking it out of memory.
Edit...
Undo (Not implemented) (Command + Z)
This undoes the last action.
Cut Text (Command + X)
Cuts the highlighted text from Text window.
Copy Text (Command + C)
Copy the highlighted text from Text window.
Paste Text (Command + V)
Paste any text which was cut or copied from the text window or other programs that have copied or cut text to the Clipboard.
Clear Text
Clears highlighted text from Text window. It will NOT be available to be pasted.
Select All Text (Command + A)
Highlights all of the text in the text window
Copy To Clipboard (Command + K) also 'Enter' on numerical pad.
KF-HeadSetter assembles the characters and puts the object on the Adobe Clipboard.
Cancel (Command + .)
This will cancel the 'Copy To Clipboard' operation while it is in progress.
Tab key
Pressing the 'Tab' key will toggle between the 'Text', 'Size' and 'Tracking' boxes in a continous loop.
Shift + Tab will go in opposite direction.
KF-HeadSetter INTERFACE ITEMS:
Text:
When the cursor arrow is moved over the ‘Text’ window you will note that it changes to a text cursor. If the vertical text entry indicator is not actively flashing inside the ‘Text’ window, click the mouse Text cursor inside the window to activate it and type your text copy. Use the appropriate case treatment as you wish. Using the ‘Return’ key will break to the next line. Additional alterations of this text can be achieved using ‘Alignment’ and ‘Change Case To’ features. What you see in this window will be representational of the assembled Kara Fonts. Kara Fonts are set ‘solid’ with no line leading. An extra ‘Return’ will produce one line of space of the selected ‘Size’ between text. If you find that your copy is exceeding the limits of the window and breaking the line before you want it to, please go to the Preferences Menu item and select the smaller typeface (9 pt) which allows you to have 58 capital letters on a line compared to the 43 letters in 12 pt.. Switching from Bold to Plain text allows for personal preferences as to readability. You won't see any noticeable change in the total number of characters per line.
Using the ‘Edit ... Paste’ function in the Menu, you are able to paste in text from ‘Copied’ text in Illustrator, Photoshop or other programs that allow you to ‘copy’ text, thereby speeding up your text entry.
Alignment:
Clicking this box and HOLDING the mouse button DOWN reveals three ‘pop-up’ menus:
‘Left’ - Flushes text to left side of window.
‘Center’- Centers text in window.
‘Right’ - Flushes text to right side of window
Selecting any of these three options will change the alignment of the text in the ‘Text’ window and be applied to the assembled font that is put on the Clipboard.
Change Case To:
Each of the three ‘buttons’ will globally affect the text in the ‘Text’ window unless you 'highlight' selected text with the cursor. Any highlighted text will take priority over 'global' changes.
‘CAPS’ makes ALL the alphabet characters Capital/Upper case.
‘lower’ makes ALL the alphabet characters lower case.
‘Init Caps’ makes ALL the FIRST alphabet characters of EACH word a Capital and the balance of EACH word lower case.
Font Style Preview:
A ‘Pict’ representation of the cap ‘A’ and lower case ‘a’ of the font appearing in the ‘Font Name’ box will display in this window at the 110 pt. size only. However, ‘Tracking’ values WILL BE shown proportionately to the ‘Size’ and ‘Tracking’ values selected. For quick visual tracking adjustment, you can position the mouse curser in the 'Font Style Preview' window and click/drag sideways to the change the tracking automatically.
Font Name:
Clicking this box and HOLDING the mouse button DOWN brings up a ‘pop-up’ listing of available Kara Fonts. While holding the mouse button DOWN, move the ‘Cursor’ to the font you want, highlight it and release the mouse button. The font name you selected will now appear in the ‘Font Name’ box and an appropriate ‘Aa’ representation of the selected font will appear in the ‘Font Style Preview’ window.
Size:
The number in this box determines the size of the text object which is put on the Adobe Clipboard or saved as an EPS file.
To change size, you will note that when the cursor arrow is moved over the ‘Size’ box, it changes to a text cursor allowing you to insert, delete or highlight to replace existing values.
You will NOT see the actual size selected appear in the ‘Font Style Preview’ window so pre-determining is necessary. Since our fonts are based on standard or slightly altered typefaces, one way to determine size is to choose a corresponding typeface in Illustrator or Photoshop equal to that of a Kara Font and size it to fit your layout. Then, you can determine the size you need, including the tracking.
This is not critical when using Illustrator as any size you choose in KF-HeadSetter can be resized after it is pasted without loss of detail because it is an Illustrator object.
In Photoshop you will need to determine the size and tracking BEFORE setting it in KF-HeadSetter. Because Photoshop ‘rasterizes’ Kara Fonts, it’s safer to set larger and reduce.
Tracking:
The number in this box represents the amount of points added between characters.
To change Tracking, you will note that when the cursor arrow is moved over the ‘Tracking’ box, it changes to a text cursor allowing you to insert, delete or highlight to replace existing value. You will see the tracking you specify applied proportionately to the 110 point size of the selected font in the ‘Font Style Preview’ window. Note: If the user adjusts the ‘Size’ in KF-HeadSetter to output 55 point text, (one-half the default size of 110) the tracking would be adjusted to one-half automatically. For quick visual tracking adjustment, you can position the mouse curser in the 'Font Style Preview' window and click/drag sideways to the change the ‘a’ tracking position. Upon releasing, the tracking amount will show in the tracking window.
DEMO VERSION NOTE: Because the limitation of characters and deletion of the other characters, a 'limited bug' appeared when a new 'SIZE' and 'TRACKING' is selected. A warning box will appear when 'Copy To Clipboard' is selected telling you that certain characters are not available including the numerical data that is within the 'Size' and 'Tracking' boxes. This does NOT apply in the commercial version.
Copy to Clipboard:
Click on this button when you are ready to assemble your text in the specifications selected. The progress bar to the right of this button will show you the status of completion when the compiled object is pasted to the Adobe Clipboard, ready to be pasted into Illustrator or Photoshop.
Using Kara Fonts with Adobe Illustrator 5.0+
You should be comfortable with Illustrator 5.0/5.5 and familiar with all the tools. This section is intended to assist you in applying Kara Fonts in Illustrator 5.0+ using tools that are already covered in the Illustrator 5.0/5.5 User Guide. If any questions arise as to what we are referring to, please refer to your Illustrator 5.0/5.5 User Guide.
Usage Steps:
1. Open Illustrator 5.0/5.5, load your file that you want to paste Kara Fonts Chisels into or create a New file.
2. Open KF-HeadSetter. Type your text, choose font, etc. (See ‘Using KF-HeadSetter’.) Copy to Clipboard.
3. Activate Illustrator and paste object from clipboard (Command + V).
Adjusting Kerning:
Each Kara Font character is ‘grouped’ within the ‘pasted’ object. Use the ‘Selection’ tool (solid black arrow) to select the character to be moved, along with any other characters to the left or right, moving with the primary selected character. If this is an ongoing correction, you might consider altering the Kerning File of the Kara Font. (See ‘Kerning Files...Editing Kerning Files’ section of this User Guide.)
Changing Color:
Kara Fonts Chisels appear in black grey scale. To change color, highlight ‘Object... Custom Color’ from the menu. Select ‘KFblack’. Change CMYK values. Rename, keeping ‘KF’ for Kara Font color identity.
Colorize Effect:
The four gradients comprising the characters contain 10% - 80% gradient ranges, which in Black give good rendering and contrast on white or black backgrounds and also works well for colors on most dark backgrounds. However, for color fonts on white backgrounds, we have included an Illustrator file called ‘Colorize’, which will change the percentages of the gradients to 25% - 100% creating darker gradients and more contrast.
Changing gradients using Colorize: With an Illustrator file on your screen containing Kara Fonts, load the ‘Colorize’ file from the Kara Fonts folder. Then activate original file containing Kara Fonts. To affect a gradient change it is necessary to make the screen redraw. Do so by ‘Command + ]’, which will magnify the screen. After screen redraw, the original file will contain ‘Colorize’ file gradient ranges for making a color change.
IMPORTANT: To incorporate two different colored Kara Fonts on the same screen or have more than one screen active with two different colored Kara Fonts, you MUST rename the ‘KFblack’ custom color and the four KFgradients BEFORE loading or pasting a new Kara Font in Illustrator. To rename gradients, highlight ‘Object...Gradient’ from the menu. Locate KFdark, KFfull, KFhilight, KFlight and change the name by adding a suffix to each gradient name (ex: KFdark1 etc.). Otherwise the latest file you load that has Kara Fonts with the SAME names will be the colorset for all the objects or files. Also see 'Trouble Shooting'.
Using Kara Fonts with Adobe Photoshop 3.0+
You should be comfortable with Photoshop 3.0+, know all the tools, and know how to create layers, transparent or white backgrounds. This section is intended to assist you in applying Kara Fonts in Photoshop 3.0+. It will tell you specifically how to work with Kara Fonts using tools that are already covered in the Photoshop 3.0 User Guide. If any questions arise as to what we are referring to, please refer to your Photoshop 3.0 User Guide.
Usage Steps:
1. Open Photoshop 3.0 +, load the RGB or Grayscale file you want to paste Kara Fonts Chisels into, or create a New RGB or grayscale file. Note: It takes about twice as long to paste into RGB compared to Grayscale.
2. Open KF-HeadSetter. Type your text, choose font, etc. (See "Using KF-HeadSetter".) Copy to Clipboard.
3. Activate Photoshop 3.0+ and paste object from Clipboard (Command + V).
Paste Dialog box will appear. Make sure that "Paste As Pixels" is selected and "Anti-Alias" has an "X" . Click "OK" to paste Kara Fonts into your document.
The amount of time it takes for Photoshop to convert the Illustrator file to pixels is dependent on the size of the type and the resolution of the Photoshop file.
Sizing:
In Photoshop 3.0+, the font will be pasted in pixels at the size which has been determined in KF-HeadSetter. Re-sizing up after pasting will result in more pixelization so it is recommended to make original size same size or larger than finished size. In Photoshop you need to determine the size BEFORE specifying it in KF-HeadSetter. Since our fonts are based on common or slightly altered typefaces, one way to determine size is to choose a corresponding typeface in Photoshop equal to that of a Kara Font, and size it to fit your layout. Once you have selected the font, specified its size and tracking by using Photoshops' "Type Tool", highlight the text in the "Type Tool" text window and "Edit...Copy" the text to the Clipboard.
Activate the KF-HeadSetter interface window, clear the text window and paste the Photoshop text into the KF-HeadSetter Text window with "Command + V". Using the size and tracking information from your layout in Photoshop, enter the data into KF-HeadSetter "Size" and "Tracking". Copy to Clipboard, activate the Photoshop window and paste (Command + V).
Changing Color:
We are assuming that you have Kara Fonts Chisels in an RGB document, preferably on a transparent layer created exclusively for Kara Fonts. If you are in Grayscale mode, convert to RGB color from the ‘Mode’ menu. Use the Marquee tool to select Kara Fonts. From the Menu bar, highlight "Image... Adjust... Hue/ Saturation". Make sure that the "Colorize" box is selected in order to view "real time" color effects. You can also use the "Image... Adjust... Brightness/ Contrast" for additional effects.
To colorize with a PMS color, click on ‘foreground’ color in tool box. Click on ‘Custom’, select a PMS color, then ‘OK’. Using the ‘Paintbrush’ tool, select Options palette, choose ‘Multiply’ and ‘paint’ the characters.
Applying Textures:
Kara Fonts are very effective when you apply textures to them. In Photoshop 3.0, this can easily be done using "Clipping Groups" in conjunction with the "Calculations" pop up menu.
This can be achieved by doing the following:
1. Create a White Background layer.
2. Paste Kara Fonts into a second layer with transparent background.
3. Create a third layer to include a "medium" texture (not too dark, not too light) like marble, granite, etc.
4. Make a Clipping Group by holding the "Option" key down while clicking ON the LINE between the third layer (texture) and the second layer (Kara Fonts), thereby joining them in a "Clipping Group". You will then see the shapes of the letters filled with the texture.
5. Now to get the dimension back into the Kara Fonts, go the Layers palette, highlight the Calculations pop up menu and go down to "Hard Light" and select. This will mix the two layers and "wrap" the Kara Fonts with a texture. You can also adjust the "Opacity" for added effects.
Kerning Files - Editing
When KF-HeadSetter assembles the characters, it always scans the Kerning files first to see vertical and horizontal positioning values of the character and if there are any kerning pairs requiring special horizontal placement. The Kerning file is actually a TEXT file containing this information. All of the numbers in the Kerning file represent "point" sizes, based on a font default size of 110 points. The following is an example of what you will see when you load a Kerning file. The format is fairly simple.
6
35
A: 0 B -8
B: 0 A -4 J 6
C: -2
The first line indicates a default tracking (horizontal spacing) of 6 points meaning that characters are spaced 6 points apart from the right-most part of one character to the left-most part of the following character. This number is added to any horizontal kerning value.
The second line in a Kerning file contains a number representing the "space" bar character width. The example above is 35 points. In actuality, the total would be 41 points – 35 plus the default tracking of 6.
The remaining lines in the Kerning file display Character Positioning Commands for all the individual characters of the font.
Letters shown with a colon represent the second character in a Kerning Pair.
In the next line, the ‘A:’ has a vertical position of 0 points (it rests on the baseline). The kerning pair command of ‘B’ (the letter that ‘A’ follows) is -8, which means the ‘A’ following the 'B' is positioned -8 points towards the ‘B’.
In the ‘B:’ character, the vertical value of 0 positions it on the baseline. The kerning pair of ‘J’ is 6, which means that the ‘B’ following the ‘J’ has an additional 6 points between the ‘J’ and ‘B’.
Look at the first command ‘C:’. The vertical value is -2 meaning that the ‘C’ lowest-most part falls 2 points below the baseline.
Editing Kerning Files
A Kerning file may be edited with Apple's SimpleText or TeachText. (Note: You will not have the ‘bold’ face available in TeachText.) Load the appropriate ‘kerning’ file from the Kara Fonts/Chisels folder.
Character Positioning Commands consist of simple commands in the following format:
The first command set, {char}: {vert}, is for the character being described and is always followed by a ‘:’.and one space and then a numerical value, representing the vertical position of the lowest point of the font character in relationship to an imaginary baseline, which would be ‘0’. The number may be an integer or floating-point number, such as 0, -1, or 2.125, etc. Two spaces always separate command sets.
When editing kerning pair command sets, [{char} {offset}], input one space (space bar) between {char} and {offset}. Separate kerning pair command sets with two spaces.
When adjusting existing kerning pair commands, simply change positive or negative values of the characters.
When creating new kerning pairs, open Illustrator, set the pairs in words and adjust the spacing visually. Make sure your measurement preferences are in ‘points’. Measure from the right-most part (the ‘zero’ point) of the first character in the kerning pair to the left-most part of the second character (the one followed by a colon in the kerning file). For example, if the letters overlap and the measurement is -6 from the ‘zero’ point, and the default tracking is 6, the value of the kerning pair is -12. When starting with a default tracking of 6 (+6), in order to get to the ‘0’ point from a +6, you must have a -6 which added to the original measurement of -6 results in a -12. No plus sign is required for positive values. However, negative values require a minus sign. If no kerning pair is specified for a character, default tracking values apply.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
Letters shown with a colon represent the second character in a kerning pair.
Remember the fonts' default tracking value when adjusting kerning pair command sets.
Always use one space between commands within a set and two spaces between command sets.
DO NOT apply any ‘RETURNS’ as it represents the end of a series. The Kerning files already have ‘returns’ built in for all characters.
General Rule of Kerning: minus equals less space, and plus equals more space between characters.
