Drawing and Spacing Glyphs

A glyph’s shape and the space around it develop together. This chapter takes you into the Glyph window, establishes the coordinate and measurement framework, and introduces contours: the paths that describe an outline. You can create them with geometric tools, draw them point by point or freehand, or trace source artwork.

Once a drawing exists, the work becomes more selective. You reshape its points and curves, inspect its structure and smoothness, and use guides, measurements, and reference drawings to judge changes. Spacing completes that process by placing the glyph among its neighbors. The aim is a form whose outline and surrounding space work together in text.

The Glyph Window

Enter the individual-glyph workspace and use its tools, views, and text context.

Font Window and Glyph Window

Open individual glyphs or text sequences for editing and understand how multiple views share the same font data.

Glyph Window Anatomy

Locate the editing canvas, bars, sidebar, rulers, metrics table, and contextual widgets.

Glyph Window Modes

Choose the working mode for drawing, spacing, kerning, text, master matching, or TrueType hinting.

Text in the Glyph Window

Enter text and glyph references, edit among neighboring glyphs, and distinguish shaped text from a reversed display.

Navigating the Glyph Window

Zoom, pan, and move between glyphs without confusing canvas magnification with the font’s stored dimensions.

Setting Up the Drawing Space

Establish coordinate scale, precision, vertical dimensions, and the drawing framework for upright or slanted designs.

The Em and the Coordinate System

Understand units per em, glyph coordinates, and drawing bounds, and choose whether a UPM change also scales the design.

Coordinate Precision

Choose integer or fractional coordinates, understand rounding, and establish a precision strategy for the working source.

Font Metrics and Glyph Metrics

Set the font’s vertical framework and understand its relationship to glyph measurements and line spacing.

On-Canvas Visualization of Metrics

Display font dimension lines, spacing controls, and the unit grid while distinguishing visibility from snapping and locking.

Preparing for Italics

Set italic angle and slope, then understand slanted sidebearings and the caret offset used for leaning designs.

Creating Contours

Understand the contour model and create drawings with shape tools, point placement, freehand gestures, or traced artwork.

Contours, Nodes, and Handles

Read contours, nodes, and handles, including node types, open paths, closed paths, and start points.

Curves, Direction, and Fill

Distinguish cubic and quadratic curves and understand how contour direction affects filled regions and counters.

Drawing Geometric Primitives

Draw ellipses, rectangles, polygons, and stars by gesture or exact dimensions, including reversed contours for counters.

The Pen Tool

Build straight and curved segments with the Pen tool, adjust handles, and continue or join contours.

Pen Alternatives: Rapid and Pencil

Draw with Rapid’s point-and-tension method or Pencil’s freehand gestures, smoothing, and shape recognition.

Tracing a Source Image

Place source artwork, tune an autotrace, inspect the resulting contours, and convert supported SVG content for editing.

Editing Contours

Reshape existing contours through point editing, transformations, cutting, and operations on overlapping regions.

Selecting and the Contour Tool

Select points, segments, and contours, store point selections, and display coordinates and measurements while editing.

Basic Node and Handle Operations

Move and align points, add or remove nodes and handles, change node types, and break or join paths.

Editing Modes and Modifiers

Use constrained and assisted editing modes to control how neighboring nodes and handles respond to a drag.

Segments and Curve Types

Reshape curves between nodes, work with Tunni lines, and convert between lines and curve types.

Contour Transformations

Rotate, scale, slant, and freely transform contour selections around a deliberate reference point.

Cutting, Slicing, and Erasing

Use Knife, Scissors, and erasing tools to split paths, make cuts, and remove drawing regions.

Overlaps and Boolean Operations

Resolve or introduce overlaps and combine selected shapes through subtraction, intersection, and exclusion.

Contour Effects

Create parallel or expanded contours and apply batch effects while checking the resulting geometry and spacing.

The Stem Tool

Select and edit detected strokes through movement, thickness changes, and rotation, with numeric controls, keyboard operations, spacing options, and junction reconstruction.

Contour Quality

Judge the structure and smoothness of an outline, then refine it without losing its intended form.

Structural Soundness

Assess extrema, handles, coincident points, and node economy, then simplify or round coordinates with the design in view.

Curve Continuity and the Curvature Comb

Read the curvature comb and distinguish continuity of position, direction, curvature, and curvature change.

Harmonizing Curves and Smart Nodes

Harmonize nodes and handles, use Genius and Spike nodes, and judge when a join should retain its existing shape.

Design Aids

Use guides, expressions, grids, measurements, checks, and references to make drawing decisions more precise.

Rulers, Guides, and Power Guides

Create and manage guides, measure along them, and link nodes to power guides for coordinated changes.

Expressions and Parameters

Position guides and other references with expressions, define named parameters, and diagnose unresolved values.

The Design Grid

Configure a design grid, use it for snapping, and inspect the coordinates produced by upright or slanted settings.

Snapping and Suggestions

Choose snapping targets and use geometric suggestions to align edits, preserve relationships, and resolve unexpected snapping.

Live Measurement

Measure distances and thickness with the Guides tool, Quick Measurement, and AutoMeter, and compare readings with defined stems.

Font Audit

Inspect FontAudit findings, choose relevant tests, and review individual or batch repairs.

Design References and Comparing

Compare drawings with masks, use shared references, and explore earlier or intermediate editing states through History and Rewind.

View Sets and the View Panel

Control drawing aids through the View panel and configure basic and alternative views for different working modes.

Spacing

Design the space around glyphs, test their fit in text, and coordinate related spacing values.