Introducing FontArk - advanced browser-based font creation tool

[Garp]

Hi

I'd like to introduce you to FontArk is a new browser-based font editor, featuring a unique multiple-glyph-editing abilities
It is in beta mode and still being developed but already can save a lot of type design work, and is very fun.

With FontArk you can draw fonts the "normal" way, by drawing the outlines of the characters but that's not what FontArk is for,
Instead of directly drawing the outline FontArk suggest you start with the center-line (the Skeleton) of the characters, much faster and easier, connect the Skeleton's nodes to the SmartX Matrix, this enables the connectivity and synchronization of your character set in real time and gives the ability to:

- Change your font's global and inner proportions in a mouse drag.
- Change your font's outline width (weight) with a slider control.
- Change details in one character and the other similar parts in other glyphs will be changed as well (no need to clip shapes, copy paste and merge anymore, these actions belong to the "scissors&paper" days)
- Edit a single glyph, a group or the entire glyphs set
and much more.

After creating your basic font layout, (starting right away with a ready made template is also an option) you can move on to the outline layer and edit the outlines of your font, giving it any subtle detail you desire.
Preview your design as live text at any time, generate the font and download it in OTF format.

The easiness of use and simplicity of FontArk is unparalleled, pure joy.

The character set is limited at the moment to Basic-latin only (will be extended soon) but you must you can always add the other languages characters in regular font editors.

FontArk is free, and work in the browser so you can test it right away.

Watch this video before you start, to get the idea of the new workflow and design method/tools

And you can dive deeper in with the tutorials and other materials on the site.

www.fontark.net

Would love to know your opinion hear about your experience with it and answer questions

Garp

[angelize]

Hi Garp, Welcome to Talkgraphics.
Your post went into auto moderation because we don't normally allow links in first posts. However I am going to make an exception as I think that what you have to offer here may be of interest to our members, and it is on topic for this forum.

I do want to make note that I edited your post to embed the video here on the forums. And it should also be noted that while the application is currently free to use it may not stay that way according to what I read on your site.

I hope you will be back to answer any questions our members may have.

[Garp]

Thanks a lot angelize!

This is not regular advertising post, Fontark is a new tool under development, very unique and one of it's kind
It's main purpose is to make type design much easier and faster and by that allowing more designers learn and practice typography and create fonts
The new methods and tools presented by Fontark should compress weeks of technical work into hours, and it's most important for us to get feedback in order to fit the tool to the common graphic designer's needs.

I'm here to answer any question and hear any opinion

[Boy]

Looks pretty impressive.

[Garp]

Thanks. We put a lot of love into this tool...

[angelize]

I had a quick play with it and I see some interesting possibilities. On your site I read that more features are planned are these features going to be free for a while as well? And after the beta is over and your pricing goes into effect will there still be a free version?

And a few thoughts:

The undo/redo buttons are hard to find and not clearly defined as undo/redo.
The videos are helpful but they need clear audio. The one I saw that does have audio had a computer generated voice that was hard to understand.
while playing around with it one thing I couldn't find was a way to reset a template after I'd messed with a few glyphs. I just started a new font.

[Garp]

FontArk is free for the time being, we will notice quite a while before any payment will be required, and until then all new features and updates will be free and fully accessible.
The planned payment method will be in the form of credit points that will be reduced only when a font is being downloaded (just like the system works now with the Free-beta-credits), that means that working and saving with Fontark will be free always. We also consider several options for free use after the the payed version launch... one option is a free "light" version, other is full version free with downloads per week limitation, and others. In any case it'll take some time, we'll let everyone know at least a month in advance and we won't let our Beta users loose their work because any change of policy.

Thanks for the input about the Undo/Redo, and audio for the videos...will put some thought about that.

True there's no Reset template option at the moment, but with the coming next update we'll release a "Compare Matrix" button, which will enable selecting two or more glyphs and compare their Matrix (Make it similar) so if a glyph is messed up you could recover it by comparing it to a not messed up glyph, it's very useful for such cases.
It's also helpful to work with a Grid at the background, the Matrix lines can snap to the Grid lines. I love to work with 20x20 grid for general Matrix positioning and 10x10 grid for Nodes positioning and fine tuning.



Everything is very handy and in reach.

It's very important at this stage to save your work often in important milestones and make versions for a fast recovery. It's also recommended to start with a simple design to learn the basic functionality.