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Old 19-03-17, 06:19   #4
Niveus
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CUTTING UP THE FONT MAP IN LEIKKURI
  • 3.1 Open Leikkuri, and click the “Load BMP” button at the bottom of the window pane.

  • 3.2 Open our previously exported .bmp file. You should have something similar to this:


    Fig.40

    If you wonder why my background is green: see 2.29. This .bmp we exported is a reference file: it is a visual guide only, in order for us to edit the co-ordinates of the characters in Leikkuri.

  • 3.3 Leikkuri is simple to use. It comes with its own user manual, but I will summarise things here. I'm going to start by going through the lower case charatcers, from 'a' to 'z', since they are the first in my image. On the left we have the character list, so scroll down to lower case 'a'.


    Fig.41

  • 3.4 Then, click the magnifying glass in the top right corner of your map. This opens a small window which shows a magnified version of the map for easier editing.


    Fig.42

    For now, drag the maginifier away from the original map so you can see the whole thing again.


    Fig.43

  • 3.5 Now let's get to editing the co-ordinates of the first character. If you hover over the original map while holding Shift, you will see how this moves the magnifier's view. Move it over lower case 'a'. Now in the character list, double click 'a'.

  • 3.6 Then, using the left mouse button, click and drag across the 'a', from top left to bottom right. Leikkuri will only let you drag in this direction. A cross-hatch square will appear over the letter. We want its border to align directly with the character, like so:


    Fig.44

    It takes a few tries to get used to. That's fine. Just keep going until you have it properly aligned.

  • 3.7 If you like, you can turn on axes that will follow your cursor: this makes it easier to see what you're doing. Its colour can also be customised if it blends in too much with your custom background colour.


    Fig.45

    Once you are happy with your selection, right click on either the main map or the magnifier's map, and Leikkuri will let you know that it has saved the current co-ordinates.

  • 3.8 Next, we need to align the charatcer. The baseline used in TR4 skims along the top of standard height characters, and that includes the black border. If you are comfortable with this step, and don't want an explanation how to discover where the baseline lies for each character, then skip to 3.9.

    • 3.8.1 To better explain this point, think of a long piece of string. Now imagine we want to hang an assortment of different types of beads along the string to create a necklace. Of course, we need to drill through the beads to make a hole the string can go through. But if you don't think about where you are drilling the hole, you will end up with a string of beads that looks messy.

      The same is true for a string of characters. If they are not aligned along some “baseline”, they will end up looking jumbled and like a 5 year old has arranged them with glue.

    • 3.8.2 So, let's take a word as an example: Septuagenerian (someone who is seventy years old). Most of the letters are the same height and alignment. However, the p and the g have descenders, which means part of the character descends below the standard character height. The t has an ascender, which means it ascends above the standard character height. S is a capital letter, which means it extends above the height of an ascender in most fonts. Numbers count as capital letters, as do nearly all symbols (the upside down question mark and exclamation point are exceptions, see 3.8.6). Punctuation is a bit more complicated, but we will get to it later.

    • 3.8.3 The best thing to do here is go back to GIMP. Remember the guides we used before? We'll use them again to mark out the “baseline” of the letters. Remember: the baseline used in TR4 skims along the top of standard height characters. So let's pull a vertical guide from the top ruler, so that it goes along the top of the 'a', a standard height character. It helps to zoom in a bit here (CTRL + scroll wheel) (if you're having trouble moving the guides, refer to 1.20).


      Fig.46

      Now, for non-standard characters, like b, d, f, and h, we now have a reference point for where the “baseline” intersects with the character. Do this for the next row of text, etc.


      Fig.47

    • 3.8.4 Some letters don't have easy recognisable reference points like b or d. So, it's easier to visually count how many pixels the capital letters (and finicky letters like lowercase L) are above the baseline. My lower case L is six pixels above the baseline, my capital A is also six pixels above, and the rest of my capitals are seven pixels.

    • 3.8.5 For my punctuation line, I have my c cedilla. I know that the top of the c is the baseline, from looking at my first line of characters, so I can drop a guide there.


      Fig.48

      I can then count out visually how many pixels underneath some of my punctuaion marks are.

    • 3.8.6 The upside down question marks and exclamation marks always will have their tops touching the baseline like normal lower case characters. They are intended to dip below the baseline in normal text.

    • 3.8.7 If you have any lines where you have no idea where the baseline might be, you can work it out through deduction. If you look at my dollar sign, you can see it's basically a capital S, which I know to be seven pixels above the baseline. It's got an extra row of pixels due to the middle stem sticking out, so I know the dollar sign lies eight pixels above the baseline. Then I can drop a guide eight pixels below the top of the dollar sign, which shows me how far above the baseline the other characters are.


      Fig.49

    • 3.8.8 I now have guides on all my lines of text so I can refer to it if I am unsure where the baseline is.


      Fig.50


      You can see I added an extra guide underneath my full stop. This was to make sure my punctuation was definitely in line with the bottom of my standard height characters.

  • 3.9 Now, we want to align our 'a' character. Head to the Alignment window.


    Fig.51

    We want to align our 'a' like such: so that the baseline strokes directly the top of the black border of the character. Use single left click and drag to align how you need.

    It doesn't matter how you align the character horizontally. It doesn't affect the alignment in game.

  • 3.10 Next, right click in the alignment window to save the alignment. All done! Move on to b, and do the same.

  • 3.11 Now, with your guides open in gimp, refer back and forth as you need to cut out and align the characters in Leikkuri. Once you get into the swing, it is a simple process.

  • 3.12 Here is some finicky characters: lower case L and F, forward slash, the full stop/period, and the up and down arrows, to give you a general idea of the alignment you want to achieve.


    Fig.52

    Remember, your values may be different, so don't copy those in the picture.

  • 3.13 For reference, see 5.1 for a character list and a breakdown of what character these actually pertain to, if you are unsure.

    Once you are done, you can paste your tomb4 in the same directory as Leikkuri, and then use the patch button.
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