Creating Single-Line Fonts for Cutting and CNC with FontCreator

Single-line fonts are essential for cutting, engraving, and CNC applications. Programs like Make The Cut, Sure Cuts a Lot, Rhino, Silhouette Studio, and Cricut Design Space support the use of fonts for cutting designs on a variety of materials. Even though OpenType fonts are generally based on closed contours, making true single-line OpenType fonts nonexistent. However, FontCreator provides tools that allow you to design open contours, enabling the creation of fonts that can work for these tasks.

Getting Started with Open Contours

To create a single-line font, you’ll need to enable FontCreator's Open Contour feature. Here's how:

Enable Single Stroke Mode:
Go to the Font Export Settings dialog and set Open Contours to either Single Stroke or Double Stroke. Single Stroke is more efficient, but Double Stroke may work better with some engraving software. Test both to see what works best for your setup.

Once enabled, contours will no longer be filled but displayed as strokes, which helps when designing single-line fonts.

Step-by-Step Guide to Designing a Single-Line Font

1. Create a New Font:
   Start by creating a new font in FontCreator. In the glyph editor, select a glyph and use the Draw Tool to design open contours. Not all contours need to be open—glyphs like 'O' may still require closed contours.

2. Inserting and Editing Contours:
   Add new contours using the Insert Contour feature from the Insert menu. For straight lines, hold the Shift key while adding points. Curves can be created by dragging the mouse. To open an existing closed contour, right-click on the contour and select Toggle Open Contour.

After completing your font, export it as a .ttf file. Test both the Single Stroke and Double Stroke export options to determine which works best for your project.

Demo Font for Download

You can download the single-line font project and font files from here:

SingleLine.fcp

SingleStroke.ttf

DoubleStroke.ttf

You can open the font project in FontCreator to see if it meets your requirements. The exported fonts can be used with your engraving software; so let us know your results!

Important Tips

• Text Display: Keep in mind that true single-line OpenType fonts don’t exist, as OpenType is based on closed contours. Single line fonts are specifically designed for CNC and engraving software, not for typical text display.
• Contour Compatibility: Some features like Optimize Contours may not work well with open contours, so it’s best to manually adjust the first point when needed.
• OpenType SVG Support: If you're designing a font for use in software that supports OpenType SVG fonts, you can colorize your glyphs and export them with SVG outlines, as SVG does support open contours. As far as we know there are no CNC tools that support fonts with SVG, so let us know if you know one!
• Font Project Files: Save your work within font project files, as they preserve open contour settings and export configurations.