Donkey

This is a very long tutorial.

Step 1
Download this template.
If you don't have Adobe Reader, download it here.
You need to print the template and then use a marker to draw the characters the way you normally write. Do not use ball point pens as the output will be too thin. Make sure you don't draw your characters outside the cells. The cells have three little openings on both left and right side, that represent the cap height (C), x-height (x) and the baseline (b). These can be used as guidelines. This image illustrates how to get the best results.

Put the original drawing as straight as possible on the scanner platen. Scan the completed template as high-resolution (300 or 600 dpi) bitmap. Scan in grayscale and if possible save the bitmap in BMP or GIF format; this preserves the edges of the letters while keeping the file size low.

Step 2
Download FontCreator
Now it's time to digitize your handwritten character set into a font. Start FontCreator and select New from the File menu, to start a new font. Type the name of the font in the Font family name field and leave the default settings for Character set, Font style and Predefined outlines. Press the OK button.

You will now see the Glyph Overview window, a grid with sample characters. Double-click on the cell with capital letter A to open the Glyph Edit window.

Step 3
To speed up the upcoming import process we adjust the default import settings. Select Import Image from the Tools menu and on the Image page set Smooth Filter to Super. In case you don't want sharp corners to be rounded, use Smooth.

On the Glyph page we adjust some more settings. Here we set Bounding to Image. Select the bottom middle radio button and enter 500 for the X position and -750 for the Y position. Next we set the Size Multiplier to a value. This value is set to 6 when the dpi value used during the scan process is 600. For a 300 dpi resolution image we set it to 12. Finally we tick the Default check box and press the Cancel button. Although the import operation is cancelled the settings are saved for future use.

Step 4
Start your image processing software (don't close FontCreator) and load the scanned image with your handwritten character set. Select character A as large as possible (however make sure the cell's borders aren't part of the selection) and copy it to the clipboard (CTRL-C).

(image scanned at 300 dpi)

Step 5
Now go back to FontCreator (use ALT-TAB to switch between programs) and paste the image into the Glyph Edit window (CTRL-V). Usually the import algorithm takes just a few seconds, however complex images do take longer.

The top of the outline should be near 1400 units and the bottom should be on the baseline (the red horizontal line). The left side should be close by the red vertical line. If necessary, adjust the size and placement of the contours, by selecting all contours (CTRL-A) and using the mouse or the arrow keys. When resizing, hold down the SHIFT key as you drag the corner handle to guarantee that it's resized proportionally. You can also use the Transformation toolbar to change the position and size of the contours.
The left and right side bearings (explained in the Glossary) can be changed by dragging the vertical dashed lines to their desired position. The glyph should be positioned between these lines, otherwise characters will overlap each other. In other words the left side bearing should be near the red vertical line and the right side bearing should be placed right after the outlines.
It is also possible to further improve the outline in the Glyph Edit window, adjusting points etc., but that is beyond the scope of this tutorial.
Close the Glyph Edit window (CTRL-F4) and save the font file. Select Save As in the File menu and choose the name and destination (for example C:\MyFonts\MyFirstFont.ttf). Do save the font every once in a while to prevent loss of work due to external factors like a power failure.

Step 6
Now you can repeat the same procedure for the rest of the characters. That will keep you busy for a while.
You are probably curious about the result while importing more and more characters. Well you could take your partly completed font for a test drive through the Test Font window. Just press the F5 key or select Test from the Font menu.

When all characters are imported and you don't intend to add more, you can remove all incomplete glyphs from the font. First select Select Incomplete from the Edit menu. Next select Delete from the Edit menu. Again save your font.
Now the font is ready. To make your font available to other applications select Install in the Font menu. The Font Installation wizard will guide you through the installation process. Now you will be able to select the font in any program that supports TrueType fonts.
You will most likely notice the font can be improved by moving or changing outlines. You could also rewrite a character on the template and import it again. I know some people are still slightly improving their fonts even after 5 years, so don't expect your font to be perfect with this first attempt.
The next page will describe some advanced features, that fortunately are pretty easy to accomplish.

Step 7
Insert Characters in conjunction with Complete Composites allows you to add a wide range of accented characters to an existing font within minutes.
Note: these advanced features are not available in the Home Edition of Font Creator.
To add the Latin character sets, essential diacritics, and general punctuation in one go, select Characters from the Insert menu and copy and paste the data below into the edit field located at the bottom of the Insert Characters window:
699, 700, 702, 710-717, 728-733, 759, 777, 783, 785, 795, 803-806, 813-818, 821-823, 161-255, 256-383, 416, 417, 431, 432, 398, 399, 407, 410, 437, 438, 461-566, 7680-7835, 7840-7929, 8194-8203, 8208-8231, 8240-8275
When you click the OK button, new glyphs with the mappings and postscript names for all of these new characters will be added at the end of your font. Select all of these new characters (or select all characters with CTRL-A), right-click, and select Complete Composites. If some composites are still empty or incomplete, check for empty or missing diacritics. If you later create these diacritics, any half completed composites will fill. The diacritics are intentionally listed first so that they will be composed before they are needed.

Written by MyFirstFont.com and edited/put together by Donkey.
Original tutorial is at My First Font - How to make your own font

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Logic

nice tut, ill try this out sometime.

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Bandaiddd

wow thank you that looks awsome

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_-カリスマ ٩๏̯͡๏)۶-_

Krono

I'm gonna try this out later. Nice Donkey

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he's like ghandi. but better.