Altering Baseline

[adrianomeara]

Hi, I want to alter the baseline so that the whole font is spaced lower in the text box.  (i.e. if I drag the letter U down in the Metrics section)
I can do it on one character at a time, but how do I make it to apply to all characters.  I have used the Auto, apply to all bu that doesn't seem to move it, and only retains the original one moved.

I have to do this so that it sits low in a text box say in Photoshop, as we use some scripty fonts that normally go over the outside.  Lowering the baseline of the font allows this to be kept within the boundaries.

Please help - my brain hurts!

[Alex Petrov]

Haven't you tried Tools>Action>Shift with negative vertical value?

[adrianomeara]

yeah, that was the first thing I tried.  It does shift the characters down, but alters the black space above.

I've now managed to find how to lower the black space but now need the baseline to sit lower.  (unfortunately, the above just shifts everything back).

If I alter the baseline, with control-click to bring up the properties that gives me the required results.  However this seems to be only available in individual glyphs, and I have 47 fonts to change to start with, and that's an awful lot of individual changes.

there must be some way to shift the baseline for the whole font?

[solfeggio]

Maybe I'm missing something fundamental here. You say you want the baselines of two (or more) distinctly different types of fonts to align better in Photoshop. Fine, that. Why don't you simply apply baseline shift as needed in Photoshop, using that application's typographic tools, instead of mucking about with the internals of these fonts? If done right, a 47-font repair job is not at all trivial, whereas adjusting the baselines of your entered text in Photoshop is a matter of a few mouse clicks. Call me lazy if you like, but I'd follow the easier path.

[adrianomeara]

Yeah, you'd think Baseline shift would sort it, that's the original route I went down, but unfortunately when it is then take from Photoshop into Flash, Flash doesn't recognise the baseline shift.  Flash seems to complete fonts in a completely different way than any other application.

The actual product will be user editable text on a Flash-built website.  (They can remove the text and put in anything they like but still using the fonts.)  Some of the fonts we use have very high ascenders and descenders, and once they get into Flash, it moves the type around - which completely messes up the layout.

I'll try and explain:  I have a font that has a capital M, with a big 'swoosh' coming off the top of the glyph.  The actual ascender height is 1985 and descender of -1970.  I then need to change the ascender measurement to around a 1000, which moves the highlight area when you select text  in Photoshop down enough so that it sits inside the actual text box, however the glyphs ascender's still stick out above the text box.  When I then try and move the glyphs down back in Fontlab to roughly the right place, all that seems to happen is the highlight area jumps back out of the text box again.

I know it's very confusing and perhaps something that not many people have come across.  I wouldn't normally do text in Photoshop (but the problem comes in Illustrator etc. too), but we are forced to use it as we are supplying to a third-party.  We have been in touch with Adobe but are still no further.

The ideas so far you have given have been great, but unfortunately got me no further, so please if you can think of any more let me know, I'm willing to try any to get this to work.  Cheers.