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From: karl AT aspodata DOT se
To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: [geda-user] A workflow for gEDA PCB font symbol/glyph creation
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Comments: In-reply-to "Erich Heinzle (a1039181 AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]" <geda-user AT delorie DOT com>
   message dated "Tue, 13 Dec 2016 23:57:32 +1030."
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Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2016 14:59:52 +0100 (CET)
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Erich Heinzle:
> I have had some success in converting graphical depictions of
> lettering, i.e. from a simple picture, into gEDA PCB compatible font
> glyphs with the following technique.
...
> A .ppm format image with the glyphs/characters to be converted into a
> stroked font compatible with gEDA PCB needs to be found, and its
> dimensions in pixels, X, Y, noted
> 
> PCB is then loaded, with the .ppm image selected for background display
> 
> ./pcb-rnd --bg-image my_desired_symbols.ppm &
> 
> the board width and height must then be made a multiple of X and Y, to
> provide the correct aspect ratio for the exported symbols.
> 
> For simple sans serif fonts, the centreline of the glyph can be
> traced, to create a stroked, or centreline defined version of the
> font. Once a set of silk lines has been generated for a glyph, they
> can be selected, and copied into the paste buffer, being careful to
> have the cursor suitably positioned at the lower left hand corner of
> the glyph consistently for all glyphs processed, to ensure the
> vertical alignment of glyphs is properly preserved in the resulting
> font.
...

Instead of traceing by hand, have you tried:

 http://potrace.sourceforge.net/

Regards,
/Karl Hammar

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