The basic concept of FontMaker is to copy some parts of the existing words and put these parts together to form a new word, then save the new word in the font file. Using the input method provided by UnionWay system can access this new word.

 Installing FontMaker

Before installing the FontMaker, please make sure that there is enough space in your hard drive. UnionWay system do not have to be running during the installation.

In Windows95/98:

The default directory for FontMaker is C:\UWFMAKER, you may change it to other hard drive or directory as needed. Click OK button to begin installation under the specified directory. After the installation, README and UW-FontMaker icon will be added into the UnionWay group.

In Windows 3.x:

Start Windows 3.x, insert FontMaker program disk into floppy drive A: (or B:). From Program Manager, click File menu, select Run, type A:INSTALL (or B:INSTALL) at the command line. Press Enter or click OK button, and the first installation screen appears as shown above. The default directory for FontMaker is C:\UWFMAKER, you may change it to other hard drive or directory as needed. Click OK button to begin installation under the specified directory. After the installation, README and UW-FontMaker icon will be added into the UnionWay group.

Starting FontMaker

In Windows95/98:

Start Windows95, click Start button, select Programs item, select UnionWay group, then select UW-FontMaker icon to run the FontMaker program and the FontMaker window appears as shown:

In Windows 3.x:

Start Windows 3.x, double click UW-FontMaker icon that is in the UnionWay group, and the FontMaker window appears as shown above.

Exiting FontMaker

There are two ways to exit the FontMaker program. Click the or the button, and FontMaker program will be ended upon confirmation.

Creating the new word

Following is an example of creating the Undefined Word under the Big5 code system in the font, and defining its pronunciation is or BEN.

The creation process begins by running UnionWay system and set it to trace code page, then run FontMaker (refer to the previous section for detail of how to run FontMaker).

Click the button, select font, click OK button, and the Reference Font window appears on the right half of the FontMaker window. Click the button, select font again, click OK button, and the Target Font window appears on the left half of FontMaker windows, as shown:

Now you need to find a room for saving new word in the Target font. If this is a Missing Word ( not showing in the particular font, but already defined in the Big5 code system) then you can put the "new" word in its pre-defined place. If this is an Undefined Word in the Big5 code system, then you will need to find a new, blank room for it. There are two sections of the Big5 code font that are reserved for new word (or symbol) extension, one is from C6A1 to C8FE, total of 408 rooms, and the other is from FA40 to FEFE, total of 785 rooms (GB code system only defined one section of blank space for extension starting from F8A1 to FEFE).   font is the only one that have some blank rooms is already occupied, holding more words and symbols than other fonts. Following is an example of putting ¡u ÈÔ ¡v into the room C8D4.

While UnionWay system is in the Internal Code input method, click the   button that is directly below the Target Word window (on the left), and the following dialog box appears. Then type C8D4, one blank character ( because this room is reserved by Big5 code system for extension) appears in this box :

Click OK button and FontMaker will bring you to the target room C8D4. If you are just creating a defined but missing word, you could use any of the Chinese input method provided by UnionWay system to get to the target room.

We see that the title bar for the Target Font window (left side), is showing blank space indicating this is a blank room, and on the current word detail title bar we can see that the font name and the room number is C8D4. Next step we need to find one or more words that have some parts can be used to form the new word. In order to preserve the style and structure of the new word, it is important to find reference words in the same font. For our example, the words and have similar style, structure, and have enough parts to form exactly the new word ¡u ÈÔ ¡v.

Click the button that is directly below the Reference Font window (right side), and the following dialog box appears, you could use any one of Chinese input method to enter the input code (ZhuYin:  ¡A or PinYin: Jun ) for as shown:

Clicking OK button will bring us to the word displaying in the Reference Font window. Now we need to copy the left portion of this reference word. Hold down the left mouse button on the top left of the Reference Font window, drag to the center bottom of the Reference Font window (you will see a dotted rectangular frame forming with the movement of the mouse encasing the left part), release the left mouse button and the left part is selected. The color of the selected part changes, and the selection square dots appears on the four corners of the part, indicating the selection is successful, as shown:

Pressing the button will bring the selected part to the Target Font window (on the left) and remain selected. Click away from the selection in the Target Font window will release the selection, indicated by the color change and the disappearance of the four square dots as shown:

Next we need to get to the reference word . Similarly, click the button from the Reference Font window (right), and the Goto dialog box appears, you could use any one of Chinese input methods to enter the input code (ZhuYin: or PinYin: BEN) for word . Hold down the left mouse button on the bottom right of the Reference Font window, drag to the center top of the Reference Font window (you will see a dotted rectangular frame forming with the movement of the mouse, encasing the right part), release the left mouse button and the right part   is selected. The color of the selected part changes, and four square dots appear on the corners of the part indicating the selection is successful, as shown:

Pressing the button will bring the selected part to the Target Font window (on the left) and remain selected. For better proportion and balance of the parts, it seems that this new part needs to be made narrower. Move the mouse pointer toward the square dot on the top left until the pointer becomes a four directional pointer , then hold down the left mouse button and drag the dotted rectangular frame slightly toward the right. Keep adjusting until the proportion is right, then release the left mouse button. Now to narrow the gap between the two parts, we need to move the whole right part closer to the left. Move the mouse pointer towards one of the selected stroke until the pointer turns into a hand's finger, then hold down the left mouse button and drag the selection slightly toward the left. Keep moving the part until the whole word achieve perfect balance, then release the left mouse button. Click the button to save the newly created word, and answer YES to the next three prompt questions. From now on, the font in your computer already has the new word.

After the creation, you can see the new word ¡u ÈÔ ¡v displayed on the Target Font window as well as on the title bar of the Target Font window, this indicate that the system bitmap font also holds this new word. This new word is just available in the font at this time, if you want other fonts to have this word too, please go through the above steps for each of the font which you want them to carry this new word.

Click the button on the left side of the FontMaker window to end the FontMaker program.

Accessing the new word

For input the new word, first we need setting the font to

in the application program, then switch Chinese input method to the Internal Code , type C8D4 as the input code, and the new word will be sent into the application program. If you find remembering the internal code is very inconvenient, you could use the ZhuYin or PinYin to input this new word by expanding this word and its input code or BEN into the dictionary of ZhuYin or PinYin (since ZhuYin and PinYin are using the same dictionary, you just need to add the new word into one dictionary).

Using ZhuYin dictionary expansion as an example, first begin by setting the Chinese input method to ZhuYin, then type the input code , since the new word  is not in the dictionary yet, it would not show up for selection. Press the Enter key, a yellow zone appears under the bottom left of the UnionWay tool bar, please make sure that the input code in this yellow zone is correct (you could make them changes if necessary). Press the Enter key again, and the red zone appears to the right of the yellow zone as shown:

In this red zone, we need to enter the new word by switching to Internal Code input method, and typing C8D4:

Press the Enter key again, the word is sent into the application program, and also its input code is added into ZhuYin dictionary at same time.

Reference Font

Before creating a new word, first you need to decide which font would be the reference font from where the words are picked up, then copy their parts to the Target Font window and put them together forming the new word.

Start UnionWay system, then start the FontMaker program. Please make sure that the default code page is same as the one of the font which reference words are picked up from (e.g., Big5 code). Click the button, and the Font dialog box appears as shown:

All system fonts is in the list, select the font including referent font (e.g., Chinese , click OK button and the Reference Font window appears on the right side of FontMaker window as shown:

The Reference Font window are made of two parts and one set of function buttons.

The bigger window is Reference Word window, displaying the current word of the reference font. On its title bar shows the word by the default bitmap font. Please note that displaying the word on the title bar is using the default bitmap font, and not the reference font. There are two situations for the Reference Word window to show an empty space: first, this position is already defined a word by corresponding language system, but missing this word glyph data in the reference font; second, this position is undefined a word by corresponding language system.

For faster displaying, the default display setting of FontMaker is in the draft mode (poly-line). For a preview of the actual design of a word (curve line), you could go to the Proof mode by clicking the right mouse button while in the Reference Word window, or click Display menu on the FontMaker window and select the Proof item.

The smaller window is the Text window. On its title bar displaying two information, one is the name of the reference font, consist of the Double Byte name then followed by the English name; another one is the internal code of the current word, represented by four hexadecimal digits. Right below the title bar is the current word (or symbol) page, and the current word in this page is indicated by marked. The horizontal scrolling bar on the very bottom enables you to turn to the neighboring words (or symbols) or pages.

These are the function buttons for the Reference Font window, and their individual functions are as follow:

Goto the Reference word. Before creating a new word, we need to select a few existing word to form the new word. Click this button and the Goto dialog box appears as shown:

You could use any input method provided by UnionWay system to input the reference word (just one word) into this box by typing the input code, click OK button, and the reference word appears in the Reference Word window.

Select the whole word. Clicking this button will copy the whole word from the Reference Word window into the Target Word window.

Copy selection. Clicking this button will copy the selected part(s) from the Reference Word window to the Target Word window.

Character to Meta (Windows Graphics) Format. Clicking this button FontMaker will convert the current reference word into the Meta format and put it into the Clip Board. Other graphics application can use the Paste command to directly import this word (in Meta format) from the Clip Board. As the default display mode of FontMaker is set to Draft mode (strokes are represented in poly-line) for faster displaying, please remember that you need to switch the display to the Proof mode (strokes are represented in curve line) before pressing the type order to capture the word in its original design.

The outline word of reference word is also available by first hold down the Shift key then select the key, FontMaker will convert the word into the Outline Meta format then put it into the Clip Board.

The meta conversion can also be done to a string of words simultaneously by first holding down the Alt key, then select the key, the dialog box comes out as shown:

You could use any input method provided by UnionWay system to input all the words that you want them to be converted into this dialog box, pressing OK button, FontMaker will convert all the words into Meta format and put them into the Clip Board.

Please refer to the Advanced Skills section for detail.

• Selecting the whole word

Move the mouse cursor "+" to one corner (top left) of the Reference Word window, hold down the left mouse button and drag it across to the diagonal corner (bottom right), a dotted rectangular frame appears while you are dragging the mouse, when the whole word is encased by the dotted rectangular frame, release the mouse button, and the whole encased area changes color, indicating that it is being selected.

• Selecting one stroke or a part of the word

Place the mouse cursor "+" next to the corner of a stroke or part of the word, hold down the left mouse button and drag out a dotted rectangular frame to encase this stroke or part, when releasing the mouse button, the stroke or part changes color, indicating that it is being selected. If the stroke that you are selecting overlaps with another, all the overlapping strokes will be selected as well.

• Selecting multi strokes

If the dotted rectangular frame can not encase the desired strokes in one selection, after finishing the first selection, you could hold down the Shift key, then dragging the mouse to select another stroke or part. Holding down the Shift key can cause the first selection to remain selected while making the second, or third selection.

• Releasing the selected stroke or part

Any one of the following action will release the selection:

1. Click the left mouse button on any part of the Reference Word window will release the selection.
1. While you begin to select another stroke or part, the original selection will be released.

• Zoom In

If you want to zoom in a portion of the word for closer examination, hold down the Alt key and the left mouse button, drag the mouse to encase this portion with the dotted rectangular frame, then selected area will be enlarged to 1024*1024 pixel. Double click the left mouse button on any part of the Reference Word window will resume this portion to its original size. Please note that the encasing dotted rectangle must be larger than 256*256 pixel (the size of the Reference Word window is 1024*1024 pixel).

Target Font

Editing any word in the UnionWay true type fonts just can be done in Target Font window of FontMaker.

Target font is the font that you want to add a new word in it.

Click the button , and the Font dialog box appears as shown:

All the system fonts is in the list, select the target font (e.g., that is the Big5 Code Chinese font), click OK button and the Target Font window appears on the left side of the FontMaker window:

The Target Font window is made of two parts and one set of function buttons.

The bigger window is Target Word window, displaying the current word of selected target font. On its title bar shows the word by the default system bitmap font. Please note that displaying the word on the title bar is using the default system bitmap font, and not the target font. There are two situations for the Target Word window to show an empty space: first, this position is already defined a word by default code page, but missing this word glyph data in the target font; second, this position is undefined a word by the default code page.

For faster displaying, the default display setting of FontMaker is in the draft mode (poly-line). For a preview of the actual design of a word (curve line), you could go to the Proof mode by clicking the right mouse button while in the Target Word window, or click Display menu on the FontMaker window and select the Proof item.

The smaller window is the Text window. On its title bar displaying two information, one is the name of the target font, consist of the Double Byte language name then followed by the English name; another one is the internal code of the current word, represented by four hexadecimal digits. Right below the title bar is the current word (or symbol) page, and the current word in this page is indicated by marked. The horizontal scrolling bar on the very bottom enables you to turn to the neighboring words (or symbols) or pages.

These are the function buttons for the Target Word window, and their individual functions are as follow:

Goto the Target word. Before creating a new word, we need to find an empty room for this word in the target font. If this is a word of missing glyph data, you could place the "new" word in its pre-defined position. If this is an undefined word in corresponding language system, then you need to find a new empty room for it. Click this button, the Goto dialog box appears as shown:

You could use any input method provided by UnionWay system to input the target word (just one word) into this box by typing the input code, if the target word is an undefined word in corresponding language system, this box will show a blank word, click OK button, and the target word appears in the Target Word window.

Clear the whole word. Clicking this button will clear the whole glyph data in the Target Word window.

Clear Selection. Clicking this button will clear the selected strokes in the Target Word window.

Character to Meta (Windows Graphics) Format. Please refer to Reference Word section for details. The function and description are similar, except it is used in the Target Word window.

Please refer to the Advanced Skills section for detail.

Basic Operating in Target Word Window

Please take extra precaution while operating in the Target Word window not to damage the original font data.

• Selecting the whole word

Move the mouse cursor "+" to one corner (top left) of the Target Word window, hold down the left mouse button and drag it across to the diagonal corner (bottom right), a dotted rectangular frame appears while you are dragging the mouse, when the whole word is encased by the dotted rectangular frame, release the mouse button, and the whole encased area changes color, indicating that it is being selected.

• Selecting one stroke or a part of the word

Place the mouse cursor "+" next to the corner of a stroke or part of the word, hold down the left mouse button and drag out a dotted rectangular frame to encase this stroke or part, when releasing the mouse button, the stroke or part changes color, indicating that it is being selected. If the stroke that you are selecting overlaps with another, all the overlapping strokes will be selected as well.

• Selecting multi strokes

If the dotted rectangular frame can not encase the desired strokes in one selection, after finishing the first selection, you could hold down the Shift key, then dragging the mouse to select another stroke or part. Holding down the Shift key can cause the first selection to remain selected while making the second, or third selection.

• Releasing the selected stroke or part

Any one of the following action will release the selection:

1. Move the mouse until the pointer becomes the cross pointer, "+", then click the left mouse button will release the selection.
1. While you begin to select another stroke or part, the original selection will be released.

• Moving the stroke or part

Select the stroke or part that you want to move, place the mouse pointer on the selected stroke until the pointer turns into a hand's finger, hold down the left mouse button and drag to move the selection to the desired position, then release the left mouse button.

• Scaling the stroke or part

Select the stroke or part that you want to scale (enlarge or reduce in size), place the mouse pointer on the one of four square dots of the selected stroke until the pointer becomes a four directional pointer , then hold down the left mouse button and slightly moving, toward different direction will make the size of selection to enlarge or reduce.

• Zoom In

If you want to zoom in a portion of the word for closer examination, hold down the Alt key and the left mouse button, drag the mouse to encase this portion with the dotted rectangular frame, then selected area will be enlarged to 1024*1024 pixel. Double click the left mouse button on any part of the Target Word window will resume this portion to its original size. Please note that the encasing dotted rectangle must be larger than 256*256 pixel (the size of the Target Word window is 1024*1024 pixel).

• Deletion

The button will clear every thing that is in the Target Word window, and the button (or Del key) will delete the selected part.

Saving New Word

After editing the target word, you must save the word into the target font for future access.

Click the button, FontMaker will have four prompt dialog boxes:

1. Click Yes button to save all changes (click No button for ignore the changes).

1. Click Yes button to save the character in the original data format, it is the Curve line (click No button will save the character in the Poly-line).

   

1. Click Yes button to update the default system bitmap font at this time, you will see the new word in the input prompt line.

   

1. Click OK button to end saving operation.

Note: Please take extra precaution not to damage the original font data while saving for the target font.

Creating New Font

Since each CJK word is made of two bytes (Double Byte), and some of the English application program (e.g., Pixar, etc.) can only accept single byte character. With FontMaker, you could create the single byte CJK true type fonts that can be used in these programs, each word in this single byte font looks exactly like a double byte CJK word. According to the previous mention, we already know using UnionWay system tool button could create the single byte CJK true type fonts too.

Click the button, the dialog box appears as shown:

Type the name of the new font in the Font Name column, then type the Font File name (the file name must be English). The option indicates the new font will be the single byte true type font. Each of the new font can hold 94 single byte CJK word, using the internal code from 21 to 7E. For example, we input into the Font Name column, input "ABC" into the Font File column, click OK button, the FontMaker creates a new, empty single byte true type font, and adding it into the Windows system.

Now we could add the new words into this font. First select the reference font by using the button, then go to the reference word and press to copy the reference word into the Target Word window, then finally press the button to save the word into the target font.

For Example, we want to add the words from the Chinese font into the new single byte true type font. Click the button, select to be reference font, and the Reference Word window appears on the right side of the FontMaker window. Click under the Reference Word window, and use any one of the Chinese input method provided by UnionWay system to type , click OK button and is displayed in the Reference Word window. Press the button, and is duplicated in to the Target Word window, its internal code is 21, finally click the button to save this word into the target font, and answering Yes to the next three prompting dialog box. The word is now in the new single byte font as shown:

To add next word , we need to find a empty room for it. Click the right scrolling arrow below the Target Word window will move the current word to 22 (or click the left mouse button on the space next to the current word in the Text window), and the Target Word window will show a blank space, indicating that it is an available room. Follow the routine of adding the word , then click the button, and you already have the second single byte word. If you want the next reference word to come from another font like , click the button again, and select to be the reference font, follow the above procedure to add the new word.

Adding a string of new words also can be done after finding a series of continuous empty rooms, and let the first blank word become the current word in the Target Word window, hold down the Alt key, and press the button, the dialog box comes out as shown:

You could use any input method provided by UnionWay system to type all the words into this box, pressing OK button, FontMaker will send all words which you input into the single byte font.

You could create as many of CJK Single Byte true type fonts as you want.

Display Mode

For faster displaying, the default display mode is setting in the draft mode (poly-line). For a preview of the actual design of the word (curve line), you could go to the Proof mode by clicking the right mouse button while in the current word window, or selecting Display | Proof item.

Advanced Skills

The follow functions are added in FontMaker professional version.

Editing Node

In the professional version, Mode menu has two items, the Scale or Move and Node Edit. We already have mentioned the function of Scale or Move item in the previous section, scaling or moving the word in the Target Word window. The Node Edit option is an addition for the professional version, allowing detailed editing of the word. The operating details are as followed:

• Getting into the Edit Node Mode:

1. Select the stroke (part) or the whole word.
1. Click Mode menu and select Node Edit item, you will see "editing dots" appearing all over the word. These dots are referred to as the Nodes.
1. Place the cross "+" mouse pointer on the node that you want to edit until the pointer becomes an arrow pointer ? then hold down the left mouse button and drag that node toward the direction desired then release the mouse, the stroke which that node is on is changed by moving the node.

• Removing a Node

To removing a node from the stroke, place the cross "+" mouse pointer on the node that you want to remove until the pointer becomes an arrow pointer ? double click with the left mouse button and the node is removed.

• Adding a Node

To adding a node point, place the cross "+" mouse pointer on the border of a stroke of the word until the pointer becomes a hand¡¯s finger, double click with the left mouse button and a new node is added on.

Please remember that in order to editing the detail curve line of the word, the Display mode must be in the Proof option. For more detail of the nodes, you could Zoom in the stroke, then editing the nodes. After the nodes editing, you should return to the Scale or Move mode to prevent accidental nodes editing for the word.

Graphic to word

It is possible to convert a graphic into a word and place it into one of the font to be used later. It could be a signature scanned into a graphic program or a small logo designed in Paint, saved as the *.bmp format. Click the button, select a Target font, find an empty word room for the new word. Click the button or click File and select the item Trace BMP File as shown:

Enter the file name where you have the graphic or logo design. Click OK button, and the conversion is initiated placing the converted graphic into the currently selected word room. Further editing may be made using the Scale or Move or Node Edit to enhance the converted graphic or logo design. This new graphic or logo design can then be accessed by selecting the Target font.

Outline Word

The function in the professional version of FontMaker can convert "WIFE" font (as a Source font) to single / double byte Chinese true type font (Target font). The words in the "WIFE" font will not show in the Reference window, it will only show on the current word page detail window. However, clicking the button will enable the display of current word in the Reference Word window. In this version, only single word conversion is provided.