Free script font with glyphs update#
Free script font with glyphs code#

Therefore we call the conjunct pa_ra-deva. In the case of the text pa-deva halant-deva ra-deva we see a pa-deva with a Ra (the Ra has the form of a leg, but it is a Ra none the less). It’s important to note that the nomenclature of Ra conjuncts is slightly different from the other conjuncts. But pay attention because correct naming of these conjuncts is essential for Glyphs to construct the compounds and automatically generate the OpenType feature code. You can then generate the conjuncts from the sidebar, or with Glyph > Add Glyphs… (Cmd-Shift-G) and manually typing names. This way, they will show up as a combination with the half-forms as well as the full-forms. To have the rakar-deva.leg automatically connect to the consonants, we should place a leg anchor on all the half-consonants. Such a concept does not exactly exist in Devanagari, but by utilizing these new glyphs as components, we can dynamically create numerous custom looking conjuncts – without actually having to design every conceivable permutation individually. For that, we should also design ‘half-conjuncts’. This leg form of Ra can also appear in the middle of clusters.

Free script font with glyphs code#

Select Devanagari to see the OpenType code in action: Now look in the lower left corner of the Edit view, and click the Features button: The features and languages your typeface supports are now listed under their scripts. Try inserting a consonant, a halant, and another a consonant. If you haven’t noticed already, in the Edit view you can insert any character by pressing Cmd-F.

Free script font with glyphs update#

Now just press the Update button and Glyphs will write all the OpenType code needed to preview what you have so far. Fear not, Glyphs can generate it all automatically! Open File > Font Info > Features (Cmd-I). Generating OpenType featuresĪs alluded to earlier, Devanagari requires a lot of complicated OpenType code to get it to render correctly. There is no easy way around it, you will need to test all the combinations to see which look good by default and which should have custom linear conjuncts. In some cases you may need very few, other times you may need lots.

It will be up to the style and requirements of your design to decide which, or how many, linear conjuncts you will custom-design. Instead of designing all the thousands of possible combinations, Glyphs allows for the linear conjuncts to be automatically composed from the half-forms and full-forms we designed earlier. If you are looking to support modern Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Nepali, etc., the number of conjuncts required could be considerably less.

Hence, the function of the font will decide the character set. So if one were to support advanced Sanskrit, the number of akhand conjuncts to be designed could easily be a few thousand. But Hindi, Marathi and other modern languages use conjuncts less frequently. Sanskrit requires many conjuncts – and many of them are of the akhand variety.

If one considers any two, three, four or more consonant combinations, there can be thousands of combinations. You may need to move them horizontally depending on your design. With the shoulderHeight defined, you only need to run Glyph > Set Anchors (Cmd-U), and the anchors will be automatically added at the correct vertical height. Most vowel and intonation marks will align in the same place relative to the vertical stem, so we can simply add anchors to the aaMatra-deva and they will be automatically copied to any glyph using this as a component. It is never too early to start thinking about anchors. Don’t worry, if you change your mind later, it’s very easy to update everything at once. You can define a standard value here and it will apply to many glyphs later on as well. this will allow us to easily make sure our shirorekha always has the correct thickness.Ī note about spacing: Devanagari usually has a connecting headline, so you will probably want to extend the headline out slightly, so the sidebearings have negative values. In File > Font Info > Masters, we can also set an alignment zone for the entire headline thickness (with a negative value that goes down from the shoulder height).