Imported fonts don't draw nicely like the fonts that are included with videoscribe. Is there a way to use a font of my choice and make it draw well?
ANSWER: (this topic was written for version 1.3.26 of videoscribe, but it may work in other versions as well. Version 2 now includes the ability to import fonts from your computer and they may draw better than they did in version 1 without the extra work of making them into an SVG. However if you can't get the results you want by simply typing the text into videoscribe, the following process should work very well.)
In version 1, there is not a built-in way to make imported fonts work the same as videoscribe fonts.. BUT...
with some extra effort, you can make an SVG that will draw your font well. requires a little knowledge of inkscape or illustrator or a little self-teaching and google searching)
1) type your text in illustrator or inkscape. or copy and paste it
in. write a word or a sentence or a paragraph in a font of your choice.
2) convert the text to outlines with color fills (black or whatever
color you want your text to be) and no strokes. This step prevents the
videoscribe hand from trying to draw the outline of each letter.
3) on a new layer, use the pencil tool with a stroke big enough that you can manually
trace (quickly and simply without too much precision) over each of the
letters and they will be covered by the stroke. you don't have to be
precise. You are basically just adding a path for the hand to follow
that APPROXIMATES the motion of writing the letters. it can be one
continuous curvy/squiggly line. try to cover each letter before moving
to the next.
5) set the opacity of the new stroke to zero so it is transparent.
6) export the finished image as an SVG and play it in videoscribe.
It will be more work than just typing in the text into videoscribe, but you can make pretty much any font draw well. The faster the words draw in videoscribe, the less accurate your transparent stroke needs to be, and the less noticeable any inaccuracies will be.
This method should work with Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, mathematical equations, and any other written languages regardless of the direction in which you would like them to be written or read.
-Mike (videoscribe user)
1 person has this question
M
Mike Metcalf
On Thu, 7 Apr, 2016 at 8:23 PM
Hi,
Looks like your transparent stroke is only about 1 or 2 pixels wide. The transparent stroke needs to be a lot wider (at least as wide as the paintbrush stroke) to reveal the paintbrush stroke underneath.
That's just a guess since you didn't attach the SVG.
-Mike (videoscribe user)
Y
Yifan Zhang
On Wed, 24 May, 2017 at 6:53 AM
Mike is right, by increasing the stroke width, it worked for me. I'm using the latest version of both videoscribe and inkscape
Mike Metcalf
QUESTION:
Imported fonts don't draw nicely like the fonts that are included with videoscribe. Is there a way to use a font of my choice and make it draw well?
ANSWER: (this topic was written for version 1.3.26 of videoscribe, but it may work in other versions as well. Version 2 now includes the ability to import fonts from your computer and they may draw better than they did in version 1 without the extra work of making them into an SVG. However if you can't get the results you want by simply typing the text into videoscribe, the following process should work very well.)
In version 1, there is not a built-in way to make imported fonts work the same as videoscribe fonts.. BUT...
with some extra effort, you can make an SVG that will draw your font well. requires a little knowledge of inkscape or illustrator or a little self-teaching and google searching)
1) type your text in illustrator or inkscape. or copy and paste it in. write a word or a sentence or a paragraph in a font of your choice.
2) convert the text to outlines with color fills (black or whatever color you want your text to be) and no strokes. This step prevents the videoscribe hand from trying to draw the outline of each letter.
3) on a new layer, use the pencil tool with a stroke big enough that you can manually trace (quickly and simply without too much precision) over each of the letters and they will be covered by the stroke. you don't have to be precise. You are basically just adding a path for the hand to follow that APPROXIMATES the motion of writing the letters. it can be one continuous curvy/squiggly line. try to cover each letter before moving to the next.
5) set the opacity of the new stroke to zero so it is transparent.
6) export the finished image as an SVG and play it in videoscribe.
It will be more work than just typing in the text into videoscribe, but you can make pretty much any font draw well. The faster the words draw in videoscribe, the less accurate your transparent stroke needs to be, and the less noticeable any inaccuracies will be.
This method should work with Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, mathematical equations, and any other written languages regardless of the direction in which you would like them to be written or read.
-Mike (videoscribe user)
1 person has this question