TypeFacet Autokern

Get started with the Autokern Manual

What is TypeFacet Autokern?

The objective of TypeFacet Autokern is to create a free and open source tool that lets type designers automate as much of the spacing and kerning process as possible.

Autokern can perform auto-spacing (side bearing generation), auto-kerning (generation of kerning values for each pair of glyphs) or both.

We want feedback

TypeFacet Autokern is very much a work in process. The most useful contribution you can make at the moment is to review the examples (League Gothic and Linden Hill) and let us know what's wrong with them.

Sans-Serif Example: League Gothic

The League of Moveable Type's typeface League Gothic.

The output logs
The Autokern'd .ufo
The sample texts log is the best place to start.

Serif Example: Linden Hill

The League of Moveable Type's typeface Linden Hill.

The output logs
The Autokern'd .ufo
The sample texts log is the best place to start.

Requirements

Ability to use the command line.
Autokern is written in Python, but no knowledge of Python is required to use it.
No compilation is required. To install, simply download the project and its dependencies. See the Installation Guide for details.

License

TypeFacet is distributed under the liberal Apache Software License 2.0.

Design Philosophy

There is no one right way to kern a font. Fonts styles vary as do font designers.
Therefore, leave the designer in charge. Make Autokern agnostic and configurable as possible.
Kerning a font involves making tens of thousands of decisions. Automating this process is only workable if the designer always knows what's happening and why.
Therefore, keep Autokern's process transparent. Make it justify and illustrate every one of its decisions in its logs.
Kerning is an iterative process. Even when using automation, the designer's workflow is: try a configuration, review the outcome, make an adjustment, repeat.
Therefore, make it easy to try a configuration and give the designer a variety of ways to review the results. Highlight changes.

Project Status

TypeFacet Autokern is an active project. It currently has a number of limitations, including:

It does not yet support glyph components.
It does not yet support italic or oblique fonts.
It does not yet support kerning classes.

The project's roadmap is to work towards acceptable kerning results first and to address these shortcomings second.

Getting started

Get started with the Autokern Manual