Creating composite fonts


    You can mix parts of different fonts and use them as one composite font. Normally this is used to mix parts of a roman font and a Japanese font. You can also add characters to a font. Composite fonts are displayed at the beginning of the font list.

To create a composite font:

  1. Choose Type > Composite Fonts.
  2. Click New, enter the name for the composite font, and click OK.
  3. If you've previously saved composite fonts, you can also chose a composite font on which to base the new composite font.

  4. Select a category of characters:
  5. Illustration of Categories of characters with these callouts: A. Kanji B. Kana C. Punctuation D. Symbols E. Roman F. Numerals
    Categories of characters A. Kanji B. Kana C. Punctuation D. Symbols E. Roman F. Numerals
    • Kanji to specify the base font of the composite font. The size and baseline for other characters are set according to the sizes and baselines specified here.
    • Kana to specify the font used for hiragana and katakana characters.
    • Punctuation to specify the font used for punctuation.
    • Symbols to specify the font used for symbols.
    • Roman to specify the font used for half-width roman characters.
    • Numbers to specify the font used for half-width numbers. This is normally a roman font.
  6. Choose an option from the Units pop-up menu to specify the unit used for font attributes: % or Q.
  7. Set font attributes for the selected category of characters. Some attributes are not available for certain categories:
  8. Illustration of Font attributes with these callouts: A. Font Family B. Font Style C. Size D. Baseline E. Vertical Scale F. Horizontal Scale G. Scale at Center
    Font attributes A. Font Family B. Font Style C. Size D. Baseline E. Vertical Scale F. Horizontal Scale G. Scale at Center
    • Font Family and Style to specify the font used for the characters.
    • Size to specify the size of the characters in relation to size of kanji characters. The size may differ for different fonts, even when the same font size is used.
    • Baseline to specify the position of the baseline in relation to the baseline for kanji characters.
    • Vertical and Horizontal Scale to specify how much the characters are scaled. You can only scale kana characters, half-width katakana characters, Gaiji characters, half-width roman characters, and numbers.
    • Scale at Center to determine how kana characters are scaled. When this option is selected, characters are scaled from the center. When this option is deselected, characters are scaled from the roman baseline.

    Tip iconTo specify the same transformation scale for all characters, specify a value for Size and fix the value for scale at 100%. To have a different character transformation scale for horizontal and vertical, fix Size at 100%, and set Scale.

  9. To view a sample of the composite font, click Show Sample.
  10. You can change the sample in the following ways:

    • Click the buttons on the right side of the sample to show or hide lines indicating the ICF Box ICF Box , Embox ICF Box , Embox , Baseline ICF Box , Embox , Baseline , Cap Height ICF Box , Embox , Baseline , Cap Height , Max Ascent/Descent ICF Box , Embox , Baseline , Cap Height , Max Ascent/Decent , Max Ascender ICF Box , Embox , Baseline , Cap Height , Max Ascent/Decent , Max Ascender , and x-height ICF Box , Embox , Baseline , Cap Height , Max Ascent/Decent , Max Ascender , and x-height .
    • Choose a magnification level from the Zoom pop-up menu.
  11. Click Save to save the settings for the composite font, and then click OK.

To customize characters in a composite font:

  1. Click Custom in the Composite Font dialog box.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • If you've previously saved custom character sets, select the set you want to edit.
    • To create a new custom set, click New, enter a name for the character set, and click OK. If there are existing custom sets, you can also choose a set on which to base the new set.
  3. Do any of the following:
    • To add a character directly, choose Direct Entry from the Character pop-up menu, enter the characters in the text box, and click Add.
    • To add a character using a code, choose an encoding type from the Character pop-up menu, enter the code or hyphenated code range (8169-8174), and click Add.

    Note: You cannot add 32-bit characters to a custom set.

    • To delete a character, select it in the list box, and click Delete.
  4. When you've finished customizing the character set, click Save, and then click OK.
  5. Note: When there are several custom characters in one composite font, the bottom set takes precedence over all the above sets.

To delete a composite font:

  1. Select the composite font you want to delete in the Composite Font dialog box.
  2. Click Delete Font, and then click Yes.

To export a composite font:

  1. Click Export in the Composite Font dialog box.
  2. Select a location for the file, enter a file name, and click Save.
  3. Note: Composite fonts exported from Illustrator can be imported into the Japanese version of Adobe InDesign 2 or later.