FontCreator is a shareware application that helps you create your own custom fonts with a variety of tools, including the ability to insert your own handwriting into a font. A trial version of the application for evaluation purposes lasts 30 days.
Installation & Requirements
The setup is very fast and the installer should create a desktop shortcut. The supported operating systems are Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7 and 8.
Interface
Starting the application for the first time will bring up a number of different windows. The first one you will encounter is the Welcome window, informing you about the guide and the FAQ. The user manual really is quite comprehensive and as the application can be intimidating to new users it is highly recommended to at least give it a quick read. The forums and the FAQ also provide additional information and they can be easily accessed from the Help menu or the Welcome window.
Moving on to the main interface you will notice a lot of smaller windows. These are toolbars that you can enable and disable at any point from the View menu. Simply select anything from there and it will be added to the interface so do not worry about closing them. The icon toolbars at the top of the interface are also fully customizable. You can enable or disable all of them at any point as well as set up various hotkeys so that you can run the program easier.
The whole interface and the various utilities make the font creation easier and quite pleasant. To start a new project, simply choose the option from the File menu. You will be asked to set a name and some first details for the font like whether or not you want it to be bold or italic. This will create some default listings while all the other characters of your font will be blank and up to you to create. Font Creator lists quite a lot of characters, both normal and special, but you can create as many or as few as you want.
To create a new character, simply double click on it so that you bring up the glyph index. Then you can either choose one of the options the Insert menu offers or choose to import a font from an image file. If you use the last way you can even insert your own handwriting if you have scanned it with a third party application. Otherwise you can simply draw the characters with your mouse or use the Contour creation utility and draw them with the application. You can edit everything related to the font by right clicking on it, choosing any option from the icon toolbars or navigating through the various Font and Glyph menus.
Pros
-Fast installation
-A ton of options
-Clean interface even though there are a lot of windows
-Multiple font creation modules
Cons
-Can be intimidating to inexperienced users
Conclusion
FontCreator is a fantastic application that truly deserves your time if you are actively into font creation. The abundance of options and variety of tools at your disposal should not be missed.
