Noob Q: Can kerning without classes not be saved...?

[jennasue]

Disclaimer: I am completely new to this, just got the program a few days ago so please bear with me.

Yes I have read the manual, watched tutorials, googled until I could google no more and I still can't figure it out.

With that said, this should be an easy one for you guys.

I've made my font, set my sidebearings, and now I am refining the kerning. I am NOT using kerning classes, because a) this is a handwritten font and each character is unique, and b) it would take me longer to figure out that process than to just manually kern in the metrics window.

Here is what I did... step by step

Opened the Preview/metrics window
Switched to kerning mode
Typed different combinations of letter pairs together--when I was done kerning each pair I would simply backspace and type in a new pair and re-kern. This would add a new pair to the list on the right so I assumed it was saving them. When I retyped those letters again it remembered my kerning.

But then when I generate the font, the kerning is not saved. When I preview in metrics mode, the kerning is not saved. It is only "saved" when I'm typing in the kerning mode. Example:




When I click kerning assistance it is empty, with no classes (I assumed as much since I didn't make any classes, but I read in the manual that you had to press update [kern] feature to save your kerning... which won't work for me since I have no kerning in that list to be saved)

Please, pretty please, someone explain to me how to save my kerning pairs in five-year-old terms. I just want to finish this font! 

Thank you.

[Alex Petrov (FontLab)]

Hi!

You are doing everything correctly. Kerning pairs are added and remembered. They are not shown in the Metrics mode just because this is a metrics mode. Kerning is not shown in the Kerning Assistance because you do not add pairs there and just because "this is a handwritten font and each character is unique". So everything is OK and you should only export your work as a font with plain 'kern' table. You must have the corresponding options switched on in the Options > Generating OpenType & TrueType > Kerning:

[jennasue]

Thank you for the reply!

Unfortunately my options were already set to that, and it still does not work.

Am I supposed to write some sort of code somewhere? 

[Alex Petrov (FontLab)]

Unfortunately my options were already set to that, and it still does not work.

Doesn't work where? How do you know?

[jennasue]

When I generate the font, the kerning is still not saved.

[jennasue]

Any ideas... anyone?

[Alex Petrov (FontLab)]

Any ideas... anyone?

No ideas without any additional info. I suspect that kerning is saved but doesn't work in the app you are trying to use.
If you want you may send me your final font file (ttf or otf) for inspection to apetrov at fontlab dot com.

[jennasue]

Thank you so much! I just emailed you the font.

[Alex Petrov (FontLab)]

Your kerning is there in the TTF file, both old-style kerning table and modern OpenType 'kern' feature. 800 kerning pairs. So tell us now

Doesn't work where? How do you know?

What applications you were trying it in?

[jennasue]

Your kerning is there in the TTF file, both old-style kerning table and modern OpenType 'kern' feature. 800 kerning pairs. So tell us now

Doesn't work where? How do you know?

What applications you were trying it in?

The kerning is saved inside the file, but it is not applied to the font when it is generated. If you double click on the ttf file, in the preview window you will see that the kerning has not been applied. So the kerning is not present when I use the font in any program (illustrator, photoshop, microsoft word, etc).

[Alex Petrov (FontLab)]

It works in Illustrator and InDesign CS4 for me and I think it will work in Photoshop as well. When we deal with kerning it is very important to use proper versions of applications. Kerning may fail in CS2 or CS3. Same with MS Word. Kerning may work in one version but fail in the other. And it should be switched on in the Format->Font dialog as it is off by default.

[jennasue]

It works in Illustrator and InDesign CS4 for me and I think it will work in Photoshop as well. When we deal with kerning it is very important to use proper versions of applications. Kerning may fail in CS2 or CS3. Same with MS Word. Kerning may work in one version but fail in the other. And it should be switched on in the Format->Font dialog as it is off by default.

Hmm... that is interesting, because I just installed the font on my computer here at work and opened it up in Illustrator CS5 and the kerning is saved. I had to restart the computer to see the changes, so maybe my home computer needs to be restarted for my programs to see the kerning (they are also CS5). I still need to work on the kerning more so when it is ready to go I'll generate the font again to make sure the new kerning is saved.

One more question for you, my % glyph is not working. I made the glyph for it just like all the others but for some reason it goes to a default font when I type it in, do you know what is causing this?

Thanks!

[Alex Petrov (FontLab)]

Your "percent" glyph has no any Unicode index and that's why it has its caption marked red. Just assign 0025 as Unicode in the Properties panel and it will take its place in the chart.

[jennasue]

Thank you so much for everything Alex... I'm all set (for now) with this font! It still for some reason does not show the kerning in the preview (when you open up the .ttf) but it works fine in programs so I guess that's all that matters.

I'm sure I'll be back for help with my next font

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