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GEMFED.TXT
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1987-10-24
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GEM Font Editor
Instructions
Included in the ARC file -
GEMFED.PRG Font editor program
GEMFED.RSC Resource file for font editor program
GEMFED.DOC This file of instructions
NONSER24.FNT Sample font created with GEMFED
NONSER48.FNT Another sample font for monochrome people
What the program does -
This program edits fonts that are recognized by the part of
the GEM operating system called GDOS. GDOS was not included in
the original ST TOS, but can be loaded in from a disk. Programs
which have and use GDOS, such as EasyDraw and Degas Elite, can use
GEM fonts. Degas does not use GDOS; fonts created with GEMFED cannot
be used (use Tom Hudson's font editor supplied on the Degas disk).
Additionally, if you are a programmer and have GDOS, you can create
your own fonts and use them in your programs. You don't need GDOS to
run GEMFED, but without it the fonts aren't very useful.
Some of the nice features of GEM fonts are the abilities to
create fonts of any size and proportionally spaced fonts. You can
also create fonts of any number of characters from 1 to 256 - this
is useful if memory is a concern.
With GEMFED you can create fonts up to a size of 64 by 64.
I've tested the fonts with Degas Elite, but you're on your own
with any other programs.
Use of the program -
Loading a font. Selecting the "Load font" menu option brings
up the standard file selection window. Be sure to select a GEM
font or the program will surely freak out.
Creating a new font. Selecting "New font" gives you an empty
8 by 8 font of the maximum 256 characters.
Once a font has been loaded, or a new font created, two
windows appear. The select window (titled "Select") is used to
select characters and see how they look at normal scale. The edit
window (titled with the character number and character currently
being edited) is used to change the appearance of a character.
You can move these windows around on the desktop.
There are two ways to move a character to the edit window.
You can click on the character in the Select window, or type the
character at the keyboard. For characters without keyboard
equivalents (character numbers higher than 127) you'll have to use
the select window.
Once the character you want is in the edit window, you can
"paint" it using the mouse just as in most other graphic programs.
The "paint" color is the opposite of the color under the mouse
when you press the button, and remains the same until the button
is released.
There are also several commands to shift a character, and add
and remove columns of pixels. The general scheme is: shift +
button to shift; alt + button to add; and control + button to
remove. All of these are done in the edit window. The complete
list is:
Shift + up scroll arrow Shift character up
Shift + down scroll arrow Shift character down
Shift + left scroll arrow Shift character to the left
Shift + right scroll arrow Shift character to the right
Alt + left scroll arrow Add one pixel column on left side
Alt + right scroll arrow Add one pixel column on right side
Control + left scroll arrow Remove one pixel column from
the left side
Control + right scroll arrow Remove one pixel column from
the right side
Alt + button in window Duplicate the column under the
mouse and widen the character
Control + button in window Remove the column under the mouse
Most of these commands will work only when you can fit the entire
character in the edit window (see the rescale command, below).
Some of these commands are also available as menu items under the
"Char" title. Also under "Char" are horizontal and vertical
flips, erase, and toggle.
You can copy one character to another by dragging it from
the select window. Press the button on a character in the select
window and wait for a rubberbox to appear around the character
and the mouse to change to the flat hand. Drag the mouse with
the rubberbox to the edit window, release the button, and the
character will be copied. If you hold down the shift key as you
release the mouse button, the two characters will be added
together (logical "or").
Several operations under the menu title "Global" change the
entire character set. You can remove a row of pixels from the
top or bottom of each character. One of the more powerful
features is the rescale command. Entering vertical and
horizontal factors of 2, for example, will give a font twice as
large both vertically and horizontally.
Also under "Global" (because I couldn't think of any better
place) are the "Display" and "Info" commands. Use the display
command to scale the edit window. If possible, try to scale it
so you can fit the entire character in the window. Many of the
button shift commands will work only on a full window.
The info command brings up a box showing information that is
placed in the font file along with the actual character set. The
ID number should be unique to the font (however you can give the
same font scaled to different heights the same ID number). For
Degas Elite fonts, be sure to use an ID number in the range of
50-99. The points is usually the vertical size of the font -
don't change this unless you know what you're doing. The name
can be anything descriptive. "Low" and "High" define the range
of characters in the font. For Degas-converted fonts, these will
be 0 and 127 - the normal ASCII range. "Ascent line", "Half
line", "Baseline", and "Descent line" control the position of the
guidelines in the edit window. The ascent line should be at the
top of the capital letters, the baseline at the bottom of all
character without descenders, the half line in between the ascent
and baselines, and the descent line at the bottom of descenders
(g,j,q, etc.). The Motorola/Intel box should always be set at
Intel (unless you enjoy looking at scrambled characters).
Well, that's about it. Play around with the included fonts
to get some practice before starting on your own fonts. One
useful technique to make symmetrical characters is to make one
piece, copy it to a work area (e.g. the space character), flip
it, and then shift-copy it back.
Please contact me with any complaints, suggestions, etc.
about GEMFED.
Brad Christie 76167,1461
Disclaimers -
GEM is a trademark of Digital Research, Inc.
Degas and Degas Elite are trademarks of Batteries Included.
GEMFED may be copied at will, but is not to be sold.