hello.
i’m not a pro but i need to create a font in .chr format. is this possible with this software ?
many thanks
Robert
Not yet. I found a format for the Borland graphics interface? Is that what you need? What do you need the fonts for?
hello and thanks for your reply.
i’m using a software for my engraving machine called GRAVOGRAPH (to engrave on metal, wood, etc) and the font format for this machine is .chr
so i need to convert my font that i created on glyphs to this format.
i found a software online but it is not compatible with windows 10 (efontw31)
can you help ?
many thanks
When looking up the format I saw one online converter. Or get a virtual machine (Microsoft provides them for free: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/) and try to run the tool there.
How widely used are those machines? Actually implementing the format takes a week or so I don’t have that spare time right now. But maybe you like to try (I can help if needed).
this machine is widely used by jewel makers to engrave on their metal pieces. As i do.
you mentioned a format for Borland graphic interface. that might work. can you tell me about this ?
how can i implement (with your help) the format on Glyphs ?
thanks again.
Glyphs is build around plugins. In this case we would need to build a file format plugin. That can be written in Python or ObjectiveC (and a few other languages). general information about this: https://github.com/schriftgestalt/GlyphsSDK
And the file format of the chr format: http://www.fileformat.info/format/borland-chr/corion.htm
One thing that would be handy is anything that displays the fonts so we know we did it right.
I started to work on that. Very early code but if you like to have a look:
Hello and thanks again. but i think you are over estimating my coding capacity, which is close to zero :-))
I’ll take a look once I’m in Berlin. I was also starting down the path to put something together for reading/writing the Borland CHR files. (Also, connects slightly to my past; I worked with very early Borland products back in the 1980s.)
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hello guys
any progress on the matter ?
many thanks
Both Georg and I were at a conference the past week that was fairly nonstop for me. I’m also traveling a little longer due to strikes.
I sketched out code that seems to process the .chr font files properly, just to understand the format. I should be able to get back to turning that into a file format plugin next week while I catch up from the travel.
I may have other questions for you once the basic code is starting to work. Also, do you have a sample font and image that it produces? I do have some old fonts from Borland, but would want to verify against something that works for you.
I finally had a little time to work on this after my unexpectedly extended trip. I now have some ugly proof of concept code that reads the CHR font format and imports it into Glyphs. Later this week, I’ll work on some cleaner code, validation checks, and flesh out exporting. fyi.
Do you have any sample fonts to use for testing? Is the .chr font format the only one that Gravograph software uses?
Hello !
yes Gravograph only uses .chr format.
how can i send you the font file i need to have in .chr ???
thanks A LOT for your help !!!
In addition, I did see mention of Gravograph software supporting TrueType fonts (though that would likely engrave an outline or attempt some kind of fill pattern engraving, I suspect). It looks like they must use the CHR font format for the single line fonts. Looking at their font catalog, it’s possible they store things a little differently than the original font format, though maybe only in encoding and more glyphs than originally stored (though the format may handle that. Font samples will help in validation.
I’ll send you a private message with contact info.
After more research, as I mentioned to Robert privately, it seems that the Gravograph uses their own proprietary font format with the .CHR extension. If we’re able to obtain documentation of the font file format, then I’ll get back to building a FileFormat plugin.
For the different and limited 30 year old Borland CHR format, I have proof of concept code that imports and exports the format. A couple of the limitations: coordinate system -64 to 63 for x, y and only move & line operations. There’s also a scan op, but its use is unclear. I’ll eventually clean that code up. If it turns out there’s interest before, I can prioritize it for sooner.
I had a customer request for a custom engraving font for Gravograph machines, and tried to find out more about the font format they use, but the Gravotech support made very clear that they won’t publish/share their format specifications 