I would like to include my handwritten signature in various documents that I prepare (typically in Word) for electronic transmission (either as a docx file or pdf file).
According to the Internet, the very best way to do this is to get a vector graphic of your signature (or better, components of your signature—your first name, your last name, your initials, so that you can pick and choose precisely how you will sign a document) and create a font from that. This would allow you to scale the size of your signature without distorting it the way a bitmap image would suffer as well as change the color of your signature (so if you wanted a “blue ink” signature, you could do so).
There are some services that will do this for about $30-$40, but could I do it myself for free? With say a trial version of some font generation software or whatevs? I have an SVG of my signature, so that’s a thing.
I’m sure this will be regarded as terribly Luddite, and I admit I am a simple soul, but personally I just took a scan of a nice clear signature and insert it as a picture wherever I need it - re-sized or re-coloured as required.
This sounds like overkill. As someone who has created several fonts based on his handwriting, and deals with graphics for print all day long, I can say that you don’t need a font.
You say you have an SVG of your signature… is it REAL vector art, or simply a bitmap saved in SVG format? Because if it’s a vector, then that’s all you need. Want different signature styles? (“Kimberly Gibbler,” “K. Gibbler,” “Kimmy Gibbler,” “K-Gibb,” etc.) Simply scan additional versions of your signature and make those into vector art.
To do that, there IS a freeware app you can use: Inkscape, which is an open-source version of Illustrator. It has a Trace Bitmap tool that will convert your scan into real vector art. That art can then be freely resized, re-colored, etc.
Seconded. I scan at a bit higher resolution (300-600 ppi, although 300 is probably enough) and size is never a problem. Even then I can’t think of a situation where I would have to scale a signature up enough to make it distort or appear pixelated.
I Vector Magicked it. It purports to convert bitmaps into real-deal vector graphics. It looks pretty slick and it came out of Stanford, so I’m inclined to believe it.
But! You only get to do it twice, and while I have ways of getting around that, it’s a tiny bit of a hassle. Also, you can’t drop vector graphics in Word apparently.
Well, you can, as long as it’s an .eps, but the preview will be funny looking, and you won’t be able to generate a nice looking .pdf out of it (AFAIK). It should print just fine, though.
Well, suppose I am committed to this font idea. How would I make a font from these vector graphics so that I could type “S” and get Kimmy Gibbler* or type “I” and get KG and so on and so forth?
*Hopefully, you have Edwardian Script ITC installed on your computer, otherwise this will probably just look dumb.
Use a font editor program like Fontographer, FontForge, FontCreator, etc. Most of them are commercial applications, but there might be a free one out there (FontForge, if I’m not mistaken?). I used to use Fontographer alot, but haven’t done any font creation in a long time, so if you’re curious, Google “font editor” and you should come up with something.
Edit: The Edwardian Script showed up fine on my machine.
This. anything else is overkill. If you try to make a font out of your signature you won’t be able to use it for anything else . . . unless you redraw every character to begin and end in alignment. Then it will no longer be your signature, and you might as well have used an actual connecting script font.
It may or may not be overkill, but so what if you can’t use it for anything else? When I used to use Fontographer, I recall sometimes generating fonts that contained only a few characters. It was handy for when I needed a custom symbol to be inline and moveable with other text, but could not find it in any existing font. There’s no rule that says a font has to contain alphabetical symbols. Think of all the pictorial type fonts like Dingbats and Wingdings and the like. You could create a font that maps to a couple of keys which produce, for example, each word of your name, and perhaps a middle initial, when pressed.
However, if the OP wants to send a Word file electronically, they would have to include the font files with each transmission to a new recipient, so you’d have to generate a font format that works on multiple platforms. The only way around this would be to print or save as a .pdf file with the font embedded. Depending on the user, it might be easier to grab your signature font from a drop-down menu, then make a .pdf, than it would be to search for your signature .tifs or whatever everytime you want to include them in a document. YMMV.
Still, I would opt for bitmap images, because I don’t want to go through the hassle of finding the right font editor, perhaps even having to pay for it, then learning to use it, when I can prepare my sig in a couple of minutes with a scanner and Photoshop (or equivalent).
If you just want a signature, it really is probably easier to just scan your actual signature, save it as a graphic, and insert it in a document where needed. You can resize it, or save scans of your signature in various sizes or colors. That’s what I do.
A few years back, there was a fad or converting a persons handwriting into a personal font, that could be used to print anything. The main use seemed to be political or charity begging letters, where they thought that appearing like a hand-written letter would make the recipient more likely to respond. That didn’t last long; most people were smart enough to soon recognize that this was not a hand written personal letter, but a laser-printed mass mailing. So it lost it’s effectiveness as a begging pitch.
Back in the mid-1990s, Hewlett-Packard had a service where they would scan a signature and turn it into a font. They would then send you the font file and escape sequence that would produce the signature. When our customers used our business-letter software, the font and escape sequence would be downloaded to the HP LaserJet printer and the signature would look nice and crisp.
This might be slightly off topic, though, but there is a website that actually allows you to send a “handwritten email”. The demo video looks intriguing, but I have to admit that I haven’t tried it yet. Apparently, you print a template page and fill in the letters with your handwriting, then hold the page up to your webcam. The website accepts the image and creates a font for you, allowing you to send a “handwritten email”. Enjoy: Private Site