Typeface at 1200 upm?

A question has been on my mind for some time: Does changing the UPM (ideally from 1000upm to 1200upm) have an impact on the exportation of the character and its compatibility with software afterwards? I’ve read several things here but would still like to be sure.

I’m just starting to create a typeface and, in the interests of proportionality in terms of height and width, 1200 seems to be a more suitable number.
I need to determine this before I get too far ahead of myself.

Thank you so much!

The whole typeface will appear a bit smaller. There are no technical issues. Some old apps start having troubles at 4000 and beyond.

Why stop at 1200? why not 1600 or 2048?

Because I’m creating a typeface that requires each of its dimensions to be proportional to the em value. So I am looking for a number that can be easily divided and multiplied. I tried with 12 and it seems me good.

Alright thank you mekkablue!
Do I have to use the parameter Scale to UPM before the exportation?

Depends on what you want to do.

But I’d try without first to avoid rounding errors.

2 Likes

In my experience, there is no problem using non-traditional UPMs. I’ve made tons of 8 pixel fonts in 800 rpm which all worked fine in Adobe CC, Mac apps, browsers, etc. I’ve never seen them fail due to UPM. Also DJR’s Input typeface (a popular coding app) was designed in 1100 UPM.

2 Likes

Why not factors of 8 or 16?

it will be used mainly for display and will operate autonomously. I was just afraid that some characters would be cut or that line spacing and interpolation bugs would appear… I’m having trouble thinking ahead and don’t want to be surprised later. Thank you for your clarifications!

Thanks a lot for your reply!

yes why not! I’ll test it but in any case my question remains the same about the distance from the reference number 1000 upm :)). This subject stayed “blurred” for me. thanks for your reply!

Yes, do not scale. :slight_smile:

Merely changing the UPM number (without scaling) from 1000 to 1200 will make the font look a bit smaller at the same point size. But from what I gather, that is not an issue in this case.

Perfect! Thanks again for your prompt answers, it’s really appreciated!
Have a great day :sparkles: