# Fonts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonts/85328 "2001-10-04T03:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Civil\_Defense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Civil\_Defense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Defense)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonts/85328/1 "2001-10-04T03:56:03Z")
Is there a way to convert BMP images to a font? I know that a lot of TTFs are done in vector and contours and such, but let’s say for example I’d like to put my handwriting into a font format. What’s the easiest way to go about doing this? What about for the Macintosh platform? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonts/85328/2 "2001-10-04T04:05:55Z")
Handwriting recognition is an open research problem in AI (a friend of mine did some work on it over the summer). So I don’t think you’ll find anything out there just yet. ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonts/85328/3 "2001-10-04T04:09:43Z")
Yup. There are lots of utilities on the market. [ScanFont](http://www.pyrus.com/html/scanfont.html) from [FontLab](http://www.pyrus.com) comes to mind. This is not a product plug, but FontLab is a leader in commercial font products. ScanFont fits the bill and will run you about $99. Yes, there’s a Mac version. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonts/85328/4 "2001-10-04T04:32:31Z")
I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonts/85328/5 "2001-10-04T05:17:11Z")
Fontographer has been pretty widely used, it’s a Mac app but I think there’s a PeeCee version too. The only problem with converting BMPs is that they’re low rez, and you are unlikely to get good results without serious tweaking. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonts/85328/6 "2001-10-04T06:04:48Z")
Not a problem at all… HiLogic’s [Font Creator](http://www.high-logic.com/fcp.html) is damn easy to use (dunno about Mac versions, though), and relatively cheap at around 50 bucks. Essentially, you just scan in your images and convert them to two color b&w images, run em through the progam, and you got yourself a ttf file. It took me all of an hour to get the hang of. Chas: BMPs can be any number of colors or resolutions… in fact, when working with font files, you want _only_ two colors. Antialiasing should take care of smoothing out any rough edges. I’m something of a dillettante, though, so maybe somebody with more experience should pick up the ball… ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonts/85328/7 "2001-10-04T11:10:52Z")
- - - HiLogic’s Font Creator is easy to use, and it’s uncrippled shareware so you can try it before paying- everything it’s supposed to do works. The one problem you can run into is that it doesn’t have any method at all for hinting, so when viewed on-screen in smaller sizes (depending on your particular screen resolution settings) any fonts you made or modified look like crap. They _print_ perfectly though, and they look fine on-screen at larger sizes. - MC ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Defense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Civil\_Defense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Defense)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonts/85328/8 "2001-10-04T12:39:59Z")
Thanks, guys! I’ll check out these programs ASAP!