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A Method for Extending Monotonic Greek Fonts to the Polytonic SystemPrerequisitesYou will need FontLab Studio v5 or higher (MacOS X or Windows). Step 1: Creating the initial slotsOpen the script make-accents0.py in the Macro window of FontLab (Window>Panels>Edit Macro). Run the script. New green slots will appear in the window: ![]() As well as another green slot and a bunch of red slots at the bottom of the window: ![]() The color codes we will use are as follows:
Step 2: Drawing the necessary glyphsDraw glyphs for accents, breathings and special characters and paste them in the corresponding slots:
The diacritics must be drawn at the height appropriate for lowercase letters. If they are higher than those used in front of uppercase letters they will be lowered in their stand-alone spacing slots, as well in the combining slots, as when combined with them in precomposed character slots. See below for advices on drawing the numerals and archaic letters. Step 3: Placing anchors on glyphsBe sure the values of font italic angle and underline thickness are correct in the dialog obtained by File>Font Info>Key dimensions. ![]() We will need to place 3 anchors in all fonts:
![]() ![]() ![]() And the following 6 anchors in italic fonts only:
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 4: Another script to runOpen the script make-accents1.py in the Macro window of FontLab (Window>Panels>Edit Macro). Run the script. New glyphs should appear inside the window, colored in green as follows: ![]() Now fetch the following file: GreekDiaUvo.TXT and place it into /Library/Application Support/FontLab/Studio 5/Kerning (the path to this directory may be different: see your FontLab documentation about "Application default data/Kerning folder"). Normally that folder already contains files called K1.TXT, K2.TXT and K3.TXT. Now open the Metrics Window of FontLab (Window>New Metrics Window) go to the pop-up menu Tools on the bottom bar of the window and select Auto.... You will see the following window: ![]() If you don't see the entry "Diacritics and Uppercase Vowels" in the Pairs list pop-up menu then the file GreekDiaUvo.TXT has not been copied in the adequate directory. Find that directory, place the file into it and open the window again. Choose that entry. Very important: Check the box Allow for positive kerning. Set the pop-up meny "How much white space..." to the value Many. Click on OK. Once the operation is finished go to the metrics window and paste the following very long string into the text field on the bottom bar: /uni1FBD/Alpha.fake /uni1FCD/Alpha.fake /uni1FCE/Alpha.fake /uni1FCF/Alpha.fake /uni1FDD/Alpha.fake /uni1FDE/Alpha.fake /uni1FDF/Alpha.fake /uni1FEF/Alpha.fake /uni1FFD/Alpha.fake /uni1FFE/Alpha.fake /uni1FBD/Epsilon.fake /uni1FCD/Epsilon.fake /uni1FCE/Epsilon.fake /uni1FCF/Epsilon.fake /uni1FDD/Epsilon.fake /uni1FDE/Epsilon.fake /uni1FDF/Epsilon.fake /uni1FEF/Epsilon.fake /uni1FFD/Epsilon.fake /uni1FFE/Epsilon.fake /uni1FBD/Eta.fake /uni1FCD/Eta.fake /uni1FCE/Eta.fake /uni1FCF/Eta.fake /uni1FDD/Eta.fake /uni1FDE/Eta.fake /uni1FDF/Eta.fake /uni1FEF/Eta.fake /uni1FFD/Eta.fake /uni1FFE/Eta.fake /uni1FBD/Iota.fake /uni1FCD/Iota.fake /uni1FCE/Iota.fake /uni1FCF/Iota.fake /uni1FDD/Iota.fake /uni1FDE/Iota.fake /uni1FDF/Iota.fake /uni1FEF/Iota.fake /uni1FFD/Iota.fake /uni1FFE/Iota.fake /uni1FBD/Omicron.fake /uni1FCD/Omicron.fake /uni1FCE/Omicron.fake /uni1FCF/Omicron.fake /uni1FDD/Omicron.fake /uni1FDE/Omicron.fake /uni1FDF/Omicron.fake /uni1FEF/Omicron.fake /uni1FFD/Omicron.fake /uni1FFE/Omicron.fake /uni1FFE/Rho.fake /uni1FBD/Upsilon.fake /uni1FCD/Upsilon.fake /uni1FCE/Upsilon.fake /uni1FCF/Upsilon.fake /uni1FDD/Upsilon.fake /uni1FDE/Upsilon.fake /uni1FDF/Upsilon.fake /uni1FEF/Upsilon.fake /uni1FFD/Upsilon.fake /uni1FFE/Upsilon.fake /uni1FBD/Omega.fake /uni1FCD/Omega.fake /uni1FCE/Omega.fake /uni1FCF/Omega.fake /uni1FDD/Omega.fake /uni1FDE/Omega.fake /uni1FDF/Omega.fake /uni1FEF/Omega.fake /uni1FFD/Omega.fake /uni1FFE/Omega.fakeYou should see the following picture: ![]() If you are satisfied with the distances (those on the figures above are quite good PLEASE DO NOT PLACE THE DIACRITICS TOO CLOSE TO LETTERS!), then calculate kerning pairs again with some other value. Otherwise you can restart the auto-kerning procedure by choosing a different parameter, or you can change the kerning pairs manually on this window. Save the font! Step 5: Generate glyphs for accented lettersCalculate the value of axehypo again, since the previous script may have changed the sidebearings of that glyph. Open the script make-accents2.py in the Macro window of FontLab (Window>Panels>Edit Macro). Run the script. Many new glyphs should appear in the window, colored in green as follows: ![]() New glyphs colored in blue should also appear: ![]() Step 6: Add kerning classesFetch file greek-kerning-classes.flc. Open Windows>Panels>Classes, a window will appear, click on the first button on the left of its top bar and choose Open Classes.... Choose the file you have just fetched. Step 7: Add new OpenType featuresFetch file kipepos.fea. Open Windows>Panels>OpenType, a window will appear, click on the first button on the left of its top bar and choose Open Features.... Choose the file you have just fetched. This will add features init (for uppercase vowels with breathings at paragraph or verse begin), and ccmp (to obtain precomposed glyphs out of Unicode combining character sequences). Step 8: Adding "Extended Greek" table supportGo to File>Font Info... and check the box Extended Greek as shown in the figure below: ![]() Step 9: Deleting unnecessary glyphsDelete the temporary glyphs (marked in red) we have created on step 3. Step 10: Enjoying the fontYour font is ready! Use it and don't forget: never write Greek without accents and breathings!! Drawing numerals and special lettersA sans-serif example (Verdana)![]()
A serif example (Georgia)![]()
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