Additional Information
Free font editor for Mac which lets you create vector graphics
| Latest Version | BirdFont 6.11.1 |
| Requirements |
macOS 10.15 Catalina or later |
| Updated | October 25, 2024 |
| Author | Johan Mattsson |
| Category | Imaging and Digital Photo |
| License | Freeware |
| Language | English |
| Download | 566 |
Overview
Birdfont for Mac is a free font editor which lets you create vector graphics and export TTF, EOT and SVG fonts. This is a free app, but donations of $10 USD or more on the developer page are encouraged and allow you to download the commercial version of BirdFont, which allows you to create proprietary fonts.
Birdfont for macOS enables you to easily start working on your own font as soon as you launch the program without complicating things with hard to follow tools. The interface is mapped out in a very functional way providing you with easy access to all the features needed to start the creative process.
Features and Highlights
Color Fonts with Embedded SVG files
OpenType-SVG color fonts is a rather new format and some applications does not support it. Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge has support color fonts in their browsers but Chrome lags behind at this point. Creating monochrome fallback glyphs can take a long time if your glyphs contains many small parts (hundreds or even thousands). In addition will glyphs with too many details hardly fit on the TTF grid. You can get around this problem by creating an empty fallback glyph and importing a monochrome version with less details of your colored letters.
Stylistic Alternates
Alternates provide a way to put several glyphs on the same Unicode character and selecting which glyph that should be displayed when the font is used. The HTML preview file contains examples of how you select which alternate that should be displayed when the font is used on the web. (Ctrl+P or Command+P)
Line Spacing
You can change the line height by adjusting the top and bottom margin guides. The margin guides are red.
Edit the Path
Adjust the position of all control points and handles. You can add the points to the path by double clicking in the path. Delete points with the delete or backspace keys (break the path with shift + delete). Click on a handle and hold down the shift key if you want to keep the angle of a handle while you are changing the length of the handle. Press w to toggle between smooth node and corner node. Hold down the space key and click to move the canvas. Click on a point and press shift to move the point independent of its handle.
Create a Font in Illustrator
The fastest way to get your drawings from Illustrator or Inkscape into BirdFont is the copy and paste commands but you can also save your work as SVG files and import them into the app. It is recommended that you convert your path to simple outlines, without strokes before you import them to the app.
Differences Between SVG and TTF
There is a mathematical difference between quadratic and cubic Beziér curves. Most SVG editors uses the cubic form but TrueType outlines can only contain quadratic control points. The app will convert your cubic splines to quadratic paths but the conversion is not lossless and the converted paths will contain more points than the original path. You can get around this problem by creating your glyphs directly in the app using only quadratic control points. Another limitation of the TTF format is the fixed number of units per em. Most TTF fonts uses 1000 units per em, this might lead to distortions if your font contains small details. By default will Bird Font store control point position in floating point format but you can change this in the settings tab.
Note: You need a commercial license if you want to create proprietary fonts.
Birdfont for macOS enables you to easily start working on your own font as soon as you launch the program without complicating things with hard to follow tools. The interface is mapped out in a very functional way providing you with easy access to all the features needed to start the creative process.
Features and Highlights
Color Fonts with Embedded SVG files
OpenType-SVG color fonts is a rather new format and some applications does not support it. Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge has support color fonts in their browsers but Chrome lags behind at this point. Creating monochrome fallback glyphs can take a long time if your glyphs contains many small parts (hundreds or even thousands). In addition will glyphs with too many details hardly fit on the TTF grid. You can get around this problem by creating an empty fallback glyph and importing a monochrome version with less details of your colored letters.
Stylistic Alternates
Alternates provide a way to put several glyphs on the same Unicode character and selecting which glyph that should be displayed when the font is used. The HTML preview file contains examples of how you select which alternate that should be displayed when the font is used on the web. (Ctrl+P or Command+P)
Line Spacing
You can change the line height by adjusting the top and bottom margin guides. The margin guides are red.
Edit the Path
Adjust the position of all control points and handles. You can add the points to the path by double clicking in the path. Delete points with the delete or backspace keys (break the path with shift + delete). Click on a handle and hold down the shift key if you want to keep the angle of a handle while you are changing the length of the handle. Press w to toggle between smooth node and corner node. Hold down the space key and click to move the canvas. Click on a point and press shift to move the point independent of its handle.
Create a Font in Illustrator
The fastest way to get your drawings from Illustrator or Inkscape into BirdFont is the copy and paste commands but you can also save your work as SVG files and import them into the app. It is recommended that you convert your path to simple outlines, without strokes before you import them to the app.
Differences Between SVG and TTF
There is a mathematical difference between quadratic and cubic Beziér curves. Most SVG editors uses the cubic form but TrueType outlines can only contain quadratic control points. The app will convert your cubic splines to quadratic paths but the conversion is not lossless and the converted paths will contain more points than the original path. You can get around this problem by creating your glyphs directly in the app using only quadratic control points. Another limitation of the TTF format is the fixed number of units per em. Most TTF fonts uses 1000 units per em, this might lead to distortions if your font contains small details. By default will Bird Font store control point position in floating point format but you can change this in the settings tab.
Note: You need a commercial license if you want to create proprietary fonts.
