Documentation

First of all you need the application. You can download it here

Getting started

Opening UFO's

Open the application and creat a new UFOstretch document. From the file menu you choose "Add Master". You can select multiple UFO's. Or click the "Add Master" toolbar icon.

All imported UFO's will be listed into the masters list.

Clicking the Delete Master icon in the toolbar will remove the selected masters from the master list.

All UFO masters must be interpolateble (use Prepolator for creating interpolatable UFO's).

Selecting Masters

You have to tell UFOstretch which UFO is the first master and which one is the second. The first master is the main master, the one to compare to. Normally the output of UFOstretch should fit the first master. The first master will also be displayed in to the drawing view of the app. The second master will just be used for making the interpolation work.

Stretch set

The stretch set is a collection of glyphs where UFOstretch will to apply the parameters on. You can use the default sets or make new one. If you want to save your set take a look the preferences.

The "Change Set" button opens a sheet where you can change the used set. You can choose from the default sets. Or adjust the current. A set is always a comma separated list of glyph names.

There is also an indication if the glyph is interpolatable or not. Green means that the glyph from the first master and the glyph from the second master has the same amounts of points and contours. If the dot is red the glyph is not interpolatable. Double clicking that glyphs opens a sheet with an error log helping you to adjust the glyphs to get them interpolatable.

You can easily add an appendix to the stretch set. This can be handy when the glyphs if you want to add ".sc" or ".superior" to the whole list.

UFOstretch is written with the idea of stretching sub sets. If you are planning to interpolate whole characterset Suporpolator is a better tool.

Parameters

All these parameters will only be applied to the stretch set.

Shift

You can move/translate the stretch set. Very usefull for inferiors and superiors.

Skew

Skewing or slanting the set. This feature is embedded especially for italics. If a glyph is scaled down none proportional the the italic angle isn't the same anymore. Be aware that the output doesn't have node at the extrems anymore. You have to adjust them!

Tracking

Tracking means adding spacing to the left and right side of the glyph. Can be handy for building small caps, most of the time they need a little bit of extra spacing.

Scale

Scale down the glyph. Disable the 'x=y' button for none proportional scaling.

Interpolation

Interpolate between the selected masters. To get the weight right. Disable the 'x=y' button for none proportional interpolation.

Set Extrems

Clicking the 'Set Extrems' toolbarbutton allows you to extrapolate more, to make the output more extreme. Be aware that extreme extrapolation can cause very distorted output glyphs.

Measurement tools

Beams

Beams are similar to light rays. They hightlight the spot where an outline is hit. There is a 'Beam-X' for the horizontals and 'Beam Y' for the verticals. Vertical beams can be slanted, usefull for measure italics!

Related points

An indication which points share the same y-values with the generated glyphs.

Guides

Extra visual tools to get the right position of stretchiness.

Preferences

All settings are saved into a preference file. If you reinstall your system or you move the application to an other computer you have to set these values again.

Character set

Here you can save your character sets. You can add and delete character sets.

All character sets are comma separated list of glyph names.

License

If you bought a license you can drag and drop it here to get a full version of the UFOstretch. Other ways to activate the license are by double clicking the UFOstretch license or drag it on the application icon.

The only difference with a none-licensed version is the ability to export/generate UFO's

Colors

Setting colors of the drawing view for the background, the master glyphs and the streched glyphs.

Changes will only apply to new UFOstretch documents.

Back to the mainsite.

Screen cast

Screenshots