zxfr / strokefont_cyrillic

Single stroke font tools for Inkscape/Hershey Text

Single stroke font converter for Inkscape/Hershey Text

hershey.py, hersheydata.py, hershey.inx - updated Inkscape/Hershey Text plugin. Adds to the original plugin some new features: text block formatting, input of Cyrillic text in cp1251 encoding instead of archaic koi7, combining of Latin and Cyrillic in a text.

font_converter/converter.py - converts SFEdit2.exe output to single stroke font in Inkscape/Hershey Text plugin font format

font_converter/prepare_font.py - prepares OTF/TTF font for SFEdit2.exe: converts OTF to TTF, optionally moves cyrillic cp1251 glyphs to positions, editable with SFEdit2.exe

Prerequisites

Get Roland Single Line Font Editor 2 (SFEdit2) Software v1.02 from Software Updates section of the official site

Inkscape - recent versions include original Hershey Text plugin by default

The scripts depend on Python modules cu2qu and fontTools

How to use

1. Find a TTF or OTF font you'd like to convert to single stroke. For better results try to find the lightest (single stroke looking like) version of the desired font.

2. If the font is OTF or if you need to convert Cyrillic glyphs, run

python prepare_font.py your_font.otf
or 
python prepare_font.py -c your_font.otf

Flag -c forces Cyrillic glyphs to be copied to editable positions.

The script should output a TTF font with a name derived from the original font name.

3. Open the font with the default font viewer application and install it to the system.

4. Run SFEdit2.exe and start a new font, selecting the just installed TTF as an input.

5. Review and, if needed, manually refine auto-generated glyphs.

6. Save the font. It should appear in C:\ProgramData\Roland DG Corporation\SFEdit2\Rsf2 with .sf2 extension

7. Copy the font to your working dir and run

python converter.py your_font.sf2 your_font.ttf
or 
python converter.py -c your_font.sf2 your_font.ttf

Flag -c forces to additionally output a Cyrillic version of the font

The script generates preview image your_font.svg and your_font.py Python code snippet.

8. For a better Cyrillic text support and for some new features I would recommend to backup and to overwrite default Inkscape/Hershey Text plugin files with the supplied ones (hershey.py, hersheydata.py, hershey.inx, located as a rule in C:\Program Files\Inkscape\share\extensions)

9. Copy-paste font data from your_font.py to suitable positions in hersheydata.py and hershey.inx

10. Run Inkscape and open the plugin via Extensions->Render->Hershey Text... menu item.

Hint: To render a text section with forced line breaks copy-paste preformatted text (i.e. from a text editor) to Text field of the plugin dialog window.