Handwrite - Type in your Handwriting!

Ever had those long-winded assignments, that the teacher always wants handwritten? Is your written work messy, cos you think faster than you can write? Now, you can finish them with the ease of typing in your own font!

Handwrite makes typing written assignments efficient, convenient and authentic.

Handwrite generates a custom font based on your handwriting sample, which can easily be used in text editors and word processors like Microsoft Word & Libre Office Word!

Handwrite is also helpful for those with dysgraphia.

Installing

1. Install fontforge

2. Install Potrace

3. Install handwrite:

   pip install handwrite
   

Usage

Creating your Handwritten Sample

1. Take a printout of the sample form.

2. Fill the form using the image below as a reference.

3. Scan the filled form using a scanner, or Adobe Scan in your phone.

4. Save the .jpg image in your system.

Your form should look like this:

Creating your font

1. Make sure you have installed handwrite, potrace & fontforge.

2. In a terminal type handwrite [PATH TO IMAGE or DIRECTORY WITH IMAGES] [OUTPUT DIRECTORY]. (You can also type handwrite -h, to see all the arguments you can use).

3. (Optional) Config file containing custom options for your font can also be passed using the --config [CONFIG FILE] or --config [DIRECTORY WITH CONFIG FILES] argument.

   Note:

   • If passing a directory, make sure to rename the config files to the corresponding sheet names.
   • If a single config file is passed for multiple inputs, that config will be used for all the inputs.
   • If no config file is provided for an input then the default config file is used.

4. Your font will be created as OUTPUT DIRECTORY/OUTPUT FONT NAME.ttf. Install the font in your system.

5. Select your font in your word processor and get to work!

Here's the end result!

Development

Linux

1. Install Potrace using apt

   sudo apt-get install potrace
   

2. Install fontforge

   sudo apt-get install fontforge
   

   Since the PPA for fontforge is no longer maintained, apt might not work for some users. The preferred way to install is using the AppImage from: https://fontforge.org/en-US/downloads/

3. Clone the repository or your fork

   git clone https://github.com/cod-ed/handwrite
   

4. (Optional) Make a virtual environment and activate it

   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate
   

5. In the project directory run:

   pip install -e .[dev]
   

6. Make sure the tests run:

   python setup.py test
   

7. Install pre-commit hooks before contributing:

   pre-commit install
   

You are ready to go!

Windows

1. Install Potrace and make sure it's in your PATH.

2. Install fontforge and make sure scripting is enabled.

3. Clone the repository or your fork

   git clone https://github.com/cod-ed/handwrite
   

4. (Optional) Make a virtual environment and activate it

   python -m venv .venv
   .venv\Scripts\activate
   

5. In the project directory run:

   pip install -e .[dev]
   

6. Make sure the tests run:

   python setup.py test
   

7. Install pre-commit hooks before contributing:

   pre-commit install
   

You are ready to go!

Credits and Reference

1. Potrace algorithm and package has been immensely helpful.

2. Fontforge for packaging and adjusting font parameters.

3. Sacha Chua's project proved to be a great reference for fontforge python.

4. All credit for svgtottf converter goes to this project by pteromys. We made a quite a lot of modifications of our own, but the base script idea was derived from here.