Using FontLab Pad with Cricut Design Space

(you just need the free download)

In 2022, Design Space added what they call "kerned fonts".  This does not mean that the app reads font kerning - but it means that spacing issues with system fonts  are fixed, for the most part.  Occasionally you'll still have a font that does not display the way the designer intended.

And if a font has ligatures, Design Space will not be able to read them.
Fontlab Pad allows you to save your text as an svg

TIP - I keep a folder called "Names".  In it are the names of most of our family members, in a variety of fonts.  Every time I customize something for them, I save the svg of their name in that folder.  Now frequently , I can just use something from my collection, without choosing another font.

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Fontlab Pad can open fonts from zip files - no need to unzip nor install them.
Or it can use installed fonts.
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And Fontlab Pad can read ligatures, and font kerning.  So your fonts will always look the way designers intended.

Ligatures are different than glyphs.  Ligatures are based on letter combinations, and appear naturally without you doing anything extra.  Examples:


Gt Herina is one of my favorite fonts.  Here's how it looks in Design Space:
And here's how it looks when typed in pretty much any other program, including Fontlab Pad
Those ligatures occur naturally - just by typing.  They not glyphs.
Download the Herina font for free here:


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OLD SPACING ISSUE
Mostly Fixed in Design Space in 2022
But still happens occasionally with some system fonts
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This is all old information - but occasionally, it may still be useful.

Find All My Quick Tip Cards Here:
https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2019/01/quick-tip-cards-for-cricut-newbies.html


One of the many limitations of design space is it's inability to properly space some fonts - as the designers wished for them to space.  This is how the buttercup font looks when used in design space:

On some fonts you can just change the letter spacing. But on many, like this one, some letters would overlap and some would still not touch.  You can ungroup, and manually move each letter... but fontlabpad is much faster.

Open fontlabpad, choose File/Open Installed:

Type in the name of the font you want to use:
Type your text - 

Then choose file/Save As - and save as an svg.
Open design space, upload the image.  See how the background is checked?  That's because this is an svg - no need to clean it up at all.
This is how it imports in design space.  If you are cutting, be sure to select all and weld so that it cuts as one word and not each individual letter.

It seems like a lot - but it's so fast and easy - much faster and easier than ungrouping and moving each letter to fix the spacing!



=============
Where To Find Free Fonts By Style, By Type, And By Holiday
The Crafting With Fields Of Heather Font Index
And Tips & Tricks For Properly Spacing, Adding Glyphs, Organizing, Making Shadow Text, and more!

35 comments:

  1. I do not see where to download this Fontlab pad on this site. Is it not available for computer use?

    Please help
    Rosa

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    Replies
    1. It's definitely for computers. Near the bottom, it says "Download Fontlab Pad for free" and has options for windows and mac . :-)

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  2. ALL OF YOUR INFO IS ...GREAT! Thanks so much!

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  3. This is amazing and so quick and easy! Thank you for sharing this little gem!

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  4. Thank you so much. this was very helpful.

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  5. Where have you been my whole Design-Space life???? I'm thinking of all those hours I could have been exercising instead of moving individual letters for Dance Company locker names! (exercising instead....yeah, I don't think so...let's be realistic)

    Thank you sooooo much for sharing this!!

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  6. Can this be downloaded to iPads?

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  7. OMGosh thanks, I knew their had to be a better way then manipulating the words/letters! You've changed my crafty life. Thx

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  8. Can you mix fonts? I haven't been able to do this example Life is Beautiful and having Life and Beautiful the same with IS being a different font
    thanks

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    1. Not in fontlab pad - you have to do one font at a time. So type Life and save that in your first font, then type is and save it as a second font, etc. Upload all 3 words separately, place them the way you want them, weld the ones that are script, then select all and attach.

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  9. Hi Heather....I've been playing around with Fontlab Pad. I'm understanding it quite well and it's working well as far as uploading into DS. However, when I go to attach it, I get this error message "Cricut is not responding due to long running script". Any suggestions?? This is the answer to my problems...hope I can get it to work. Thanks, Cathy

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    Replies
    1. That is a new one to me! Are you trying to attach the text to something in particular, maybe something quite large? When you upload the text from fontlab pad, it is already "attached" - so the only reason to use the attach button at that point is to attach the text to the rest of the design. However, it is NOT welded.. so if it is script, you will want to select the text you uploaded and choose weld. You may already know all of that - I'm just at a loss as to what caused that error for you. Other than to say, Design Space is fickle. :-(

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  10. Ugh this has been such a lifesaver for me! Two questions:
    1. Is there a way to make the font bold in fontlab pad or once it is made into an SVG?
    2. I love Buttercup font! Do you know where I can purchase a commercial license for it? I tried contacting the creator and never received a response, and read some comments that said they spoke with him and he said it was free, but I wanted to confirm from the source!
    :) Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Re: Buttercup - "Any commercial use of this font should need a commercial license. [Commercial license and Commercial font is not yet available. I will update you soon.]
      If you have questions, reactions and comments please email me at francisstudio14@gmail.com
      And I will gladly reply to it as soon as possible."
      That's the designers note on dafont. :-(

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    2. RE: BOLD - Not really, no. :-( The best option is if the font comes with a bold version. Often when you unzip a font, you will see 4 or 5 versions of the font, and one will be FontNameBOLD. Since you do not have to install fonts to use them in fontlab pad, you can just browse to the downloaded zip file and use the bold version from there, IF the font includes a bold version.

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  11. So I finally got fontlab pad downloaded on my computer. (I had to use a different browser) My question is... can you use DS fonts? Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. I never use Cricut fonts (because I am cheap, and I have 6 gazillion gorgeous free fonts) but I'm thinking the answer to this is no. I don't think the cricut fonts download to your computer at all, I think you can only use them in Design Space? (Which is another reason to buy fonts from designers outside of cricut - then you own the font and can use it any program...) BUT - there's really no need to use cricut fonts in fontlab pad, if you are only using them for cricut projects. Cricut fonts are made for their software, they should all space correctly without using another program. :-)

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  12. Good deal, thank you! I have some free with commercial use fonts saved to my computer but I am so indecisive therefore, I try to keep my font selection to a minimum lol! Fonts are defiantly the most time consuming part of my design.
    I appreciate your response and help. I have been looking through your blog for several days now reading over your useful tips and tricks

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  13. I'm exploring font lab....but some of the fonts I do have installed aren't showing up. Do you have a suggestion abt why that might be happening?

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    1. I do not have an answer - I am having the same issue! For me, since I have all of my fonts backed up in dropbox, I've just been browsing to the folder where my back ups are stored rather than using them from the system fonts selection. You can probably just browse to the system fonts folder on your computer and use them that way too? I don't know why it is doing this currently, and I don't know if an update will address the issue - but that's the work around I've been using. :-)

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    2. Are you able to use all the fonts you have installed/saed on your PC in FontLab by locating the file directly? I have had the issue of only being able to use a few fonts since I installed it and didn't know there was a work around, so have been very limited on what I can do.

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    3. I know this is an old post but I've heard that I need to choose "Install for all users" instead of just "install" but I'm not sure.

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  14. Heather, When using FontLab for DS...do I have to do all my editing in FontLab BEFORE moving it over to DS?. Say if I want to write:
    Have a
    Wonderful
    Day
    but I want Day to be on the same line as Wonderful. Can I edit that once in DS?
    Thanks in Advance,
    Debbie :)

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  15. Heather, Where have you been my whole cricutting life? <3

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  16. Hi, Thanks for helping us out here. I've downloaded as described, but as described, when I choose "File", "Save Font As", there is no SVG option. In the save file as box on the .vfj is available. What am I doing wrong?? Thanks in advance! Ken

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  17. I've never seen a vjf option.. my options are jpg, png and svg. (I can't even figure out what vjf would be!) Does the program, fontlab pad, look like the screenshots in the post here?

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  18. Is this useful if your words are just straight? What if you wanted to make curved words?

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    1. Unfortunately, no. Curving script text is tricky. I think most people (who are not using design software like adobe, etc) create it in a program like phonto (on phones) or even in Word - and then screen shot it and clean it up in Design Space.

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  19. I honestly do not know how I found your site, but I am so glad I did. Thank you for all of the shared information. I know it takes a lot of effort and I really appreciate it!

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  20. Hi! I love all the info you have! Is there an alternative to Fontlab Pad? It won't download on my Mac...says the program is damaged. Thanks!

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  21. This is the best thing ever!!! Thank you so much!

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  22. why are some of my downloaded fonts not an option to open?

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  23. I made my svg in fontlab, and uploaded it, but how do I write it? It is an image, and doesn't give me the write option, only cut or print.

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  24. I get confused when you are able to locate the font key to know what symbol or combination of symbols are used to add certain glyphs. I followed your narnia example but I don't see on the bll where the $ symbol gives you a flourish at the end of an N. Thanks for your help, I love reading your tips and tricks!

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