moparmanheat1 1 Posted April 3, 2013 Hello All, I was wondering what font package everyone is using? is there a free bundle to download or do you use what comes with your software? Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xpaperman 719 Posted April 3, 2013 I mostly use what I have on my computer. I have micro$oft office and print master on my computer so I have a lot of fonts to start with. You can also get a lot of what you need at dafont.com. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TimnAng 56 Posted April 3, 2013 I have downloaded quite a few fonts, and will do a search if I'm in need for anything specific for a project. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OWJones 1,981 Posted April 3, 2013 There are several sites with free fonts available - not all of them are for commercial use, though, so you need to pay attention when you're downloading - if you want to make a decal for your own car, most fonts are OK - if you want to make decals to sell, well... you had better make sure it's not a violation of the licensing restrictions on that font unless you like lawyers and courtrooms... Other things to keep in mind when browsing through fonts: Will this font be easily cuttable/weedable? Real skinny script fonts are beautiful, but will be tough unless you're cutting them really large - otherwise you end up with curves that are so thin that there is barely enough surface area for any adhesive to work. Grunge type fonts with jagged edges and lots of inclusions will also be a pain to weed with any regularity. Fancy Dingbat fonts that are made up of clipart images are not usually worth your time - when they convert the images into fonts they lose a LOT of their nodes and by the time you blow it up to be a useful size you'll see that it looks more like a blob than whatever it was supposed to be. "Brand" fonts - there are many fonts that are made to look like the font used in copyrighted/trademarked logo designs - they often times contain dingbat symbols of the brand logo they are mimicking and using that can leave you open for copyright/trademark lawsuits as well. Here's some sites to get you started: http://www.dafont.com/ http://www.fontco.com/ http://www.fonts2u.com/index.html http://www.urbanfonts.com/ http://www.fontspace.com/ http://www.ufonts.com/ http://www.chank.com/freefonts.php <-- I really like this guy's fonts. His art hangs in the Smithsonian and he used to sell his daily alphabet sketches on ebay (he had a goal to draw a different alphabet themed design every day for years and then he sold them) and I have a couple of his small pieces of art on my desk for inspiration. I recommend staying away from http://www.fonts101.com/ as all of their downloadable fonts come down as .exe files that require you to opt out of various crapware offerings every time you try and install one of their fonts. Chances are very good that whatever font you found there you can find on one of the sites I listed and not have to worry about having your browser hijacked. For a font catalog and display program I use Printer's Apprentice. It's regular price is $24.99 but it goes on sale regularly for $9.99 and it is definitely worth that. It will let you type in sample text and display a list of all of your fonts using that text and let you quickly find a font that matches what you're working on. It also displays the entire character set for each font as well as what symbol corresponds with what key on the keyboard. It will also allow you to display fonts that are on your computer but aren't currently installed, install them or uninstall them. The font catalog feature will also let you pick and choose which fonts end up in your catalog, so if you have fonts you only want to use for print work you can exclude them from the catalog you show your cutting customers. They have a new program called Virtual Font Folder for $15.00 that lets you place a folder on your network, fill it with fonts and then all of your PCs will synchronize their installed fonts against that folder and keep the same fonts across all of your machines. That's useful if do your designing on one machine and cutting on another and you want to make sure your designs will load and use the fonts you originally selected... I'm going to have to buy that one, too... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hummer 21 Posted April 3, 2013 Great information OWJones. Thank you... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TT57 135 Posted April 3, 2013 wow OWJones- THANK YOU. Great info. glad to read that about fonts101- I always delete when asked to download the installer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moparmanheat1 1 Posted April 3, 2013 Thanks to All!! Very Helpful Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
odokie 8 Posted April 5, 2013 Thanks for sharing this great info! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
