I am trying to make an SVG font that has transparency. I have the most recent full version of glyphs. Im not sure if I am completely grasping the concepts in this tutorial https://glyphsapp.com/tutorials/creating-an-apple-color-font
and I am hoping someone can clear things up for me.
First of all if I want to create an SVG font with bitmap images, I save the file in photoshop as a .TIFF and then place it in glyphs but there is a giant box of empty space around the glyph that I am worried is going to mess up the font. Is that ok or is there someway to fix that?
Next question is how will a font with bitmap images look at different sizes? its going to be extremely pixelated at larger sizes right? What is the best size to make the font in the beginning to avoid that. I know that this tutorial talks about having multiple files on different layers all at different pixels is that necessary to get the font to work or will it create a slow font by having so many files placed in it? And also the amount of time to do that seems impracticable.
Also what is the difference between a vector svg and a bitmap svg? how do I make a vector svg?
The multiple sizes only apply to sbix, not SVG fonts. That is why you have to specify the size in the SVG parameter. This is explained in the SVG tutorial.
Bitmap images are bitmap images. If you blow them up, they will look pixelated or blurry, depending on what the renderer does.
SVG data can contain both pixels and vectors. If you have only vectors, we refer to it as a vector SVG, if it has only bitmaps in it, we call it a bitmap SVG. The trick is that you can have sbix info reduplicated in a bitmap SVG, and CPAL/COLR information reduplicated in a vector SVG. That way, you can increase compatibility.
Im not sure if I am completely understanding the difference between an SVG and an sbix font.
Also I’m a bit lost on how to save an SVG file in illustrator so that I can use it in glyphs app? without losing the brush strokes and transparency that is in the letters I have drawn, once the file is placed in glyphs.
And how to save the image in photoshop to use it in glyphs app?
the only images I can get to keep the transparency and brushstrokes once they are put into glyphs are bitmap images. But using bitmaps is a problem if the font is to be blown up, how do I work around that?
how big would I need to make the original bitmap in order for the font to work without looking pixelated and how big is to big for my font to work without any problems?
when I drag a .svg file from illustrator into glyphs nothing happens. I get the green + when I hover over glyphs with the file but when I drop it, nothing appears. Why is this happening?
You will need to test. Create a few sizes and see which ones work best for your intentions.
Or if the letters are just black and white, you could still try to convert to outlines, and make a regular font with ‘complex outlines’ (see the tutorial).