For more up to date info on this topic click here
Samantha by Laura Worthington on sale right now at Mighty Deals!
There’s an exciting development in the type design world and that is that a few designers are starting to fully map their OTF fonts to Unicode so that they are more accessible to those without Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, and expensive design software that has been required in the past.
Laura Worthington is not only one of our favorite type designers as diecutters, but she has taken the lead on this. Her information on accessing all the special characters in her fonts with Windows is here. I took this a step further with a video on how to use her fonts in Silhouette Studio for Windows.
Update: I already made this video twice, but I keep finding mistakes and things I should have added as I explore this topic more and answer your questions. Please note the following
The prerequisites (shown and discussed at the beginning and end of the video) should be:
-Any Windows version of Silhouette Studio (even V2 standard, contrary to what I say in the video)
-Fonts coded for Character Map (or fully mapped to Unicode)
-Desktop font purchased, OTF version installed
Update: For those of you having trouble seeing the characters in Windows Character Map, the free utility Nexus Font also has a Character Map that makes viewing easier. Written tutorial from Paper Moon Snippets here.
On the Mac side, some of my earlier techniques are no longer working because the necessary web app has been discontinued. The method Laura recommends does work with Silhouette Studio but, like mine referenced above, is also quite contorted. My research has led me to believe that the best solution for MacOS 10.8 (or 10.9 with Silh Studio basic) is a $9.95 app called Ultra Character Map, but since it only runs on Mac OS 10.8 or better, I haven’t been able to test it myself yet.
If you run MacOS 10.9, I’ve just discovered a new free solution.
Another Mac option is Inkscape. In Inkscape you can enter Unicode values into a text cox directly by typing Cntr-U first then the code. So you would use Font Book Repertoire view and hover over the character you want to determine the Unicode value, then type it into Inkscape. When you are done, convert text to path (Path>Object to Path) and then save as SVG for import into SSDE or as DXF for import into SS basic edition.
UPDATE: Gioviale by Laura Worthington is on sale right now at Mighty Deals.
Funkydori by Laura Worthington is also on sale right now at Mighty Deals.
So far the only other fonts I have found that are fully mapped are from Yellow Design Studio. You may know them from the beautiful Melany Lane font. (They also designed Thirsty Script but as far as I know it is not fully mapped). Here’s a freebie of theirs you can try out: Gist Upright
Update: Fonts by Debi Sementelli are also fully mapped. Debi is the designer of the fabulous Cantoni font!
Be sure to thank these designers for mapping their fonts and tell them that CleverSomeday sent you.
I don’t know how I would learn so much about Silhouette without you Kay! You are sooo awesome! Thanks for sharing with us computer program challenged people! Thanks a million for sharing your knowledge on these programs!!!
I have a mac and it hurts to see that the web app has been discontinued because it was so easy to use, plus it was free!
What a blessing to have found your blog and Youtube channel, I had to subscribe to both right a way. Thank you for sharing your passion and knowledge.
hi Kay, I as always appreciate all the hard work you do for our community! So, frustrated as many I decided to download the Ultra Character map for Mac, I already like it as it gives me a much better overview on what characters there are in a font, and especially for dingbats, doodles etc. I was trying get the Samantha Pro font from Laura Worthington to my silhouette, it works fine with the characters, but as soon as you get to the glyphs there is an issue, as you can only copy as picture and not as text. It won’t paste into Silhouette 🙁 I will keep experimenting to see if I can make it work
I think I fixed my problem, I had the ttf instead of the otf installed on my computer, now way I can copy as text and paste into Silhouette
Thanks so much for letting me know your results. I was hopeful this would be a good solution. UCM pastes a pic instead of text when using characters not mapped to Unicode which is why I prefer it to PopChar (which doesn’t support unmapped characters at all) but of course to use this (helpful for fancy OTFs other than Laura’s) you will need DE. Please let [email protected] know that you would like to see them return graphics paste capability to the basic edition.
Kay…once again…thank you for sharing your knowledge in a clear concise way! Every time I watch one of your videos I come away feeling more empowered to make full use of the tools on my computer. I’d like to ask a questio if I could. I just purchased Laura Worthington’s font Gioviale. It has some beautiful characters. I am determined to learn how to use all do them. I installed the tt fonts. In your blog you say it should be the OTF. The TT seem to be working….but should I install the OTF? I don’t know what I don’t know! 🙂 I’m using Windows 7. Would appreciate any guidance you can offer.
Thanks for your kind comments. If you are able to get all the characters with the TTF version then I would leave well enough alone.
Ok great thanks!
What is the difference between Desktop fonts + Web fonts & which set should I buy to get these results on my Silhouette. Samantha font is currently on sale: http://www.mightydeals.com/deal/samantha-script-font.html
As noted in the post, you want the Desktop fonts. Web fonts are for web design.
I have the Samantha font family. The Gioviale font looks really nice too, and it is on sale for $15 at Mighty Deals. Do you know if it is similar to the Samantha font, or is it different enough that it’s worth buying it at that price. Thanks!
Thanks for this information Kay. I have downloaded Ultra Character Map for Mac. I am unclear of how I can get the fonts into Silhouette Studio DE for use?
Wendy, install the fonts on your Mac, then close and reopen Silh Studio and they will be available. To install fonts on a Mac, open and click the install button.
Hi Kay,
I worded that incorrect. I have all of my fonts I installed but I am unclear on how to use Ultra Character Map to benefit my fonts with Studio. I thought I could make the font characters into PDF’s but I can’t seem to figure that out.
Ultra Character Map would be used to paste the characters directly into Silhouette Studio. UCM’s developer’s website would be the best place for information on how to use it as I am not able to run it on my OS.
Hi Kay,
Thank you for doing this tutorial. I was just about to purchase an upgrade to CorelDraw X7 (I have X5) so I could access all the features of the OTF fonts. Now I can use Character Map instead.
Great info thanks for all the tips.Have a blessed day
DIANA L.
I can’t seem to make the Samantha font work and I’m so frustrated! I downloaded the Ultra Character app but for anything other than the regular letters it tell me it’s for private use and won’t copy at all. What am I missing?
Forgot to mention I have a Mac.
Most common mistake is forgetting to activate the text cursor and/or forgetting to select the appropriate font in Silh Studio once you have pasted.
Kay, I purchased Gioviale today from Mighty Deals and am using SIL DE Version 3 and the character map on Windows. The method works great, except for some of the characters that I select and paste into my program aren’t the ones that actually paste in (for example, I am selecting several “M” characters and when I paste, they are actually “L” characters. I had this problem on several letters. Am I doing something wrong?
Hi Marie,
Silh Studio seems to have a bug that sometimes(?) misses by one character. The best thing to do is compensate in the opposite direction. It might also work to paste into another program first, like MSWord, then copy from there and paste into Silh Studio.
Hi Kay, as always…thanks for all your expertise and knowledge that you share. I have bought two of L Worthington’s fonts and they work great using the method you explain here. You also mention that Yellow Design is doing the same thing with there fonts. Their font Skitch has come up for sale on Mighty Deals and I’d like to get it. But the information with it says I would need another program to get all the “goodies”. Do you know if Skitch is fully mapped so that I could use the process you shared in this post? Appreciate any help you can give.
Anita,
I have been in touch with the designer and learned that Skitch is not fully mapped at this time.
Anita,
I have been in touch with the designer and learned that Skitch is not fully mapped at this time.
If I use Adobe illustrator, how do I get it from there to sil? I saved as svg and opened in sil, but it just shows the regular Gioviale font and not the swirly one I created.
Choose the option “save text as outlines” from the pulldown when saving as SVG.
Kay ~ Is there a video showing how to change a letter in a word. I am able to get the letters over to the Silhouette however I am unable to figure out how to change one letter in a word. I’m new to Silhouette. Thanks!
In V3, double click to enter the text edit mode, backspace over the letter you want to replace and insert the new letter. In V2 you would need to either start over or pull the shapes apart and insert the letter that way as you can not insert into a text box.
Thank you for your video, so helpful. I purchased samantha on mighty deals in june, i bought the italic pro version. When i tried to follow your instructions( i have windows 8 & version 3) the map comes up but with out all the extra glyphs. Do i need to have the upright pro for this to work? Thanks again!
Angela my guess is that you don’t have the updated version with the correct coding. Email Laura Worthington with a copy of your receipt and she will be happy to send it out to you. Her web site it LauraWorthingtonType.com
thank you so much
Any chance you would happen to know how to do this same thing with Cricut Design Space? For some reason in Design Space you cant do the copy and paste feature!!!
Thank goodness I stumbled over this YouTube video. I followed all the steps but under private use characters it doesn’t show any of the Samantha font but they are download on my computer. I’m running windows .Can you assist me thanks in advance
If no characters are showing under Private Use then you need to email Laura Worthington with a copy of your receipt and ask for the updated version of Samantha that is specially coded. Her web site is http://www.LauraWorthingtonType.com and she has contact info there.
Can this font software be saved to a Jump Drive? My Mac is 7 years old and on it’s last gasp . I will be buying a new computer in a few weeks and would love to take advantage to the special pricing on this font. I have an external back up HD using Time Machine but I am not confident it backs up everything .
Kay I Don’t know what we would do without you sharing your knowledge with us !
Thanks!
Barbara
Yes, you could download the font package to a jump drive.
YOU ARE AWESOME! I want to thank you for showing illustrations and explaining perfectly how to do ALL THAT YOU DO! So very generous of you to do these tutorials! For taking time to do this for strangers shows what a truly amazing person you are and it is so appreciated!!
Lorie
Yesterday I watched your video on how to use the Samantha flourishes,Ect.I actually loaded a few,not exactly like you said but it worked.Now today I am doing the very same thing as yesterday and i cant paste them from the Character box to Silhouette.I have Windows and Studio 3.What could I be doing wrong.I do not have Illustrator
Becky,
Not knowing the steps you are using, I can’t tell what might be wrong. I suggest you go back to the video and follow the steps exactly, since we know that works.
Hi Kay,
I downloaded the Samantha font to my Mac which is running 10.9 but when I go into my FontBook I can’t select Repertoire as it’s still ‘greyed’ out. Any ideas as to how I can overcome this?TIA
Yes, as shown in the video at around the 1 minute mark, you have to click the triangle next to the name Samantha and choose one of the individual fonts before you can see the Repertoire view.
i cant figure out how to weld the letters, when i try to weld, part of the letters dissapears. Is there a special way to weld this font?
Don’t release compound path before welding. Type and weld, or if you need to move letters, ungroup, reposition then weld.
I have an old samantha font and would like to use it with my silhouette with the character map. Can you help me. I can not see all characters.
You will need to email Laura Worthington with a copy of your receipt and she will send you a copy of the newly coded version. Her web site is LauraWorthingtonType.com