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t.font studio
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2022-08-26
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F O N T S T U D I O
Program and Text by Anthony Rose
I suppose it was inevitable that
I would one day write a program such
as this since whenever I have worked
with fonts in the past I would always
run into situations where I would
need features which just were not
available. So some months back I
decided to do something about it and
write my own font editor, the result
of which is FONT STUDIO -- the font
editor I have always wanted.
[So what does FONT STUDIO do?]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
FONT STUDIO has many features
which can make working with fonts
considerably easier than it has been
in the past. But rather than trying
to give an overview of them all I
think it might be better if we just
begin at the beginning and take
everything one step at a time. (This
article is gonna be long enough as it
is!)
[The Main Screen]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
When you first run FONT STUDIO
you will be greeted by a title
screen. Press any key and you will
be taken to the main screen. To the
right you will see your font laid out
in a 16x16 manner. This in and of
itself opens up a few more
possibilities. I don't know about
you, but I have never needed to do a
font graphic which was 32 characters
wide. On the other hand I [have]
wanted to do graphics which were
taller than 8 characters.
To the left of your font is the
test area. Here you will be able to
place characters in different colors
as needed. This is really a handy
feature which we will discuss later
in this article.
Above the test area is the
character grid with a enlarged
version of the current character
available for editing.
To the right of the character
grid are a few square sprites and a
pen sprite which I will explain in
greater detail when we discuss using
multicolor mode.
Finally, in the upper right of
the screen is a little fella holding
a sign which should be pretty much
self-explanatory.
[Let's Plink Some Pixels]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
You move a joystick in Port Two
in any direction to maneuver around
your font in a pixel by pixel
fashion. In hi-res mode (the mode
you are initially in) or extended
mode, pressing the fire-button will
toggle pixels either on or off. This
allows for continuous drawing from
one character to another. To move
around your font in a character by
character fashion you use the CRSR
keys.
Now while you actually draw using
a joystick in Port Two, you will
press keys for just about everything
else -- lots o' keys. So what say we
get to 'em.
[M - Multicolor Mode]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
Pressing the M key will toggle
multicolor mode. Drawing in this
mode is slightly different from
either hi-res or extended mode. For
one thing you will notice the 8x8
character grid will become a 4x8
grid. This is because in multicolor
mode the pixels in your font become
pixel pairs. While this does cut
back on horizontal resolution, the
payoff is that each pixel pair can
now be one of 4 different colors.
This is where the square and pen
sprites at the top of the screen come
in. From left to right they
represent the background, multi 1,
multi 2 and the foreground. In
multicolor mode instead of turning
pixels either on or off, you select
which color you draw in by pressing a
number key:
0 Pen = Background
1 Pen = Multicolor 1
2 Pen = Multicolor 2
3 Pen = Foreground
Now when you press the fire-button
the current pixel pair will become
whichever multicolor you have
selected, regardless of what it was
before.
[X - Extended Background Mode]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
Pressing X will toggle extended
background mode. Drawing in this
mode is the same as hi-res mode,
except that you are now limited to
using only screen codes 0-63. The
other characters in your font will be
the same except they will have a
different background color:
0-63 normal background
64-127 extended color 1
128-191 extended color 2
192-255 extended color 3
By the way, you can still edit codes
64-255 in extended mode, but you
won't see what you've done until you
exit extended mode. So unless you
like to draw in the dark, don't
bother.
[Color Commands]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
You have complete control over
all color aspects of your font and
main screen by using the F-keys:
F1 - Background
F2 - Border
F3 - Foreground
F4 - Character Grid
F5 - Multi/Extended Color 1
F6 - Multi/Extended Color 2
F7 - Extended color 3
F8 - Pointer & Pen Sprites
In hi-res or extended mode all 16
color choices are available. However,
when using multicolor mode you are
limited to colors 0-7 for the
character grid and foreground.
However, for your font to be in
multicolor mode you need to select
the foreground to color 8 or higher
even though the foreground will
actually be 8 less than that. (This
is just the way multicolor mode
works.)
[The Tools]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
Okay, now that I have you
completely confused (or is it me
that's confused), it might be a good
time to discuss some of the various
tools at your disposal.
[B - Buffer Save]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
Using this command will save your
font to memory. You should do this
often so you will always have a
backup of your font should you goof
something up.
[R - Recall]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
This will recall the font you
last saved to the buffer. While
basically an undo feature, Buffer
Save and Recall are also important
for comparison purposes when used in
tandem with the next two commands.
[C - Copy]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
This will copy a character or
group of characters to memory. Use
the CRSR keys to move to the first
character you want to copy and press
C, then move to the last character
and again press C.
This is the first command we have
discussed which involves pressing a
key twice. When using commands like
this keep in mind that when a
character is described as the first
character this means it must be a
screen code which is either equal to
or less than the last character. So
if you wanted to copy your letters
you would press C on A, then on Z.
Copying Z to A will not work.
[P - Put]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
Use the CRSR keys to move to
wherever you want to place the
characters you last copied and press
P and they will be put there as long
as there is room in your font. (Fer
instance, if you last copied 50
characters and you try to put them at
screen code 206 or higher...well,
it's just not going to happen.)
As Copy and Put are two of the more
useful commands, I think I should
explain them in even greater detail.
First of all it is important to know
that they are separate commands. By
this I mean that you don't have to
put your characters somewhere
immediately after copying them. This
allows you to not only move
characters around the font you are
working on, but also from one font to
another. Let me give an example:
[Example 1:] The best way to use
FONT STUDIO is to consider the font
that you create stuff on as your work
font. Let's say you are working on a
little 3x3 character graphic. Draw
the graphic in any 3x3 area you like,
and when you are finished use Copy
and Put to move the 9 characters so
that they are all in a row and then
copy them. Now load your program
font and put the 9 characters
wherever you want them. If you use
this method your font will go a lot
further and be better organized.
Another aspect of Copy & Put (yes,
there's more) is that it also serves
as another buffer area. This can be
quite useful when you want to compare
different versions of a graphic. Let
me give another example:
[Example 2:] When working on
graphics you will want to experiment.
However, experiments can often go
awry. So before beginning do a
Buffer Save of whatever it is you are
working on. Now you can go ahead and
conduct your experiment. When you
want to see how it is going, copy the
graphic or if you prefer, copy the
entire font...it's just as easy. Now
you can switch between the two
versions by pressing R and P. If you
like what you've done then that
version should be saved to the buffer
area so you can repeat this process
as often as you need. When creating
graphics, I will do this many, many
times as w