Vector drawing¶

Paths, strokes, and the drawing vocabulary the Vexy products share.

Use the entry for the relevant application. Draft terms require confirmation before publication.

Appearance panel¶

Applies to: vexy-linestra, vexy-vextra. Translatable: yes.

The Appearance panel is Illustrator's list of what is applied to the selected object: its fills, its strokes, and its live effects, in the order they stack. You send a reader there to confirm that a Vexy effect is present, to reorder it against a stroke, or to remove it. It belongs to Illustrator rather than to our products, so its name keeps Illustrator's capitalization and never takes a short form of our making.

Write: You check the Appearance panel to confirm the effect is applied.

Not: The appearance panel shows what got applied to the object.

See also: Live Effect, Adobe Illustrator, stroke, Fills

autotrace¶

Applies to: vexy-lines, vexy-vextra, vexy-playlines. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: bitmap to outline conversion.

Autotrace converts a bitmap into vector paths by finding the edges in the image and fitting curves to them. The result depends on what you feed it: a clean, high contrast source traces well, and a soft or noisy one produces nodes nobody wants to edit. You prepare the image first, trace, then simplify. Tracing to outlines gives closed shapes with two edges, and tracing to centerlines gives single paths with a stroke.

Write: You raise the contrast of the source, then autotrace it.

Not: Autotrace will clean up your image and vectorize it.

See also: centerline, tonal map, contour, Remove Overlap

centerline¶

Applies to: vexy-lines, vexy-linestra, vexy-vextra. Translatable: yes.

A centerline runs down the middle of a stroke rather than around its edge, so the result is a single path with a stroke weight instead of a closed outline. Tracing to centerlines suits line art, engravings, and anything that was drawn as strokes in the first place. You choose it over outline tracing when the artwork will be scaled or restroked later, since a centerline keeps one editable path where an outline gives you two edges to maintain.

Write: You trace to a centerline so the artwork keeps one editable path.

Not: Centerlines are traced so that editing will be easier.

See also: contour, stroke, autotrace, tonal map

clipping mask¶

Applies to: fontlab, vexy-lines. Translatable: yes.

A clipping mask is a shape that limits what is visible of the elements below it. Name the application: in FontLab it is an element property; a FontLab Mask layer is something else.

Write: Use a clipping mask to trim the pattern to the letter.

Not: A Mask layer is a clipping mask.

See also: Masks, element, Fills

control point¶

Also written: off-curve control point. Applies to: fontlab, fontographer, vexy-lines. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: control handle point.

A control point is an off-curve point that pulls a Bézier segment toward itself without lying on the outline. You drag it to change the curvature between two nodes. FontLab shows control points as handles attached to their nodes, so in interface text the handle is what you drag and the control point is what the file stores.

Write: Drag the control point to steepen the curve.

Not: Manipulate the control point to alter the geometry of the segment.

See also: node, handle, off-curve point, on-curve point

Fill Grid¶

Applies to: vexy-linestra. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: grid of fill lines.

The Fill Grid is the area of the Linestra panel where you choose a fill mode from a grid of previews. Below it sit the parameter rows, which hold Thickness, Spacing, Angle, Organic, Brightness, Contrast, and Source Levels. You pick in the grid first, because the parameter rows change with the mode you choose. Both words are capitalized: it is a named part of the interface rather than a description of a grid.

Write: You choose the mode in the Fill Grid, then set the parameter rows.

Not: Choose a fill in the grid and parameters can then be set.

See also: fill mode, Vexy Linestra, panel, Fills

fill mode¶

Applies to: vexy-lines, vexy-linestra, vexy-playlines. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: line fill style.

A fill mode is one of the named techniques that turn a source image into line work: Linear, Wave, Circular, Spiral, Halftone, Stipple, Hex, Contour, Low-Poly, Dither, Wireframe, Fractal, String Art, and ASCII among them. Each reads the brightness of the source and lays down geometry accordingly. You pick a mode, then tune its parameters. Write the mode name with its own capitalization and the words fill mode in lowercase after it.

Write: You pick the Halftone fill mode and set its spacing.

Not: Pick a fill and then the parameters can be tuned.

See also: Fills, Fill Grid, tonal map, centerline

G2 continuity¶

Applies to: vexy-vextra. Translatable: yes.

G2 continuity means two segments meet with matching curvature, not merely with matching direction. G1 keeps the tangent continuous and can still show a break in the reflection where the curvature jumps. G2 removes that break. Vextra marks G2 nodes and can enforce the condition as you edit. You reach for it on long, shallow curves and on shapes that will be seen large, where the eye finds a curvature break that it would miss at text size.

Write: You set the node to G2 and the curvature match holds through the join.

Not: G2 continuity will be maintained for you by the tool.

See also: node, handle, Tunni line, segment

Live Effect¶

Applies to: vexy-linestra, vexy-vextra. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: editable effect.

A Live Effect is an Illustrator effect that stays editable on the object it is applied to, listed in the Appearance panel and recalculated whenever the artwork beneath it changes. Vexy Linestra runs as one, so its fills follow the source artwork rather than freezing into it. You apply it from the Effect menu, under Vexy, and you expand it only when you need the result as plain paths. Expanding ends the link.

Write: You apply Vexy Linestra as a Live Effect, and the fill follows the artwork.

Not: Live Effects are applied so artwork can be changed later.

off-curve point¶

Applies to: fontlab, fontographer. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: point off the curve.

An off-curve point sits beside the outline and shapes a curve without touching it. A cubic segment has two, a quadratic segment one or more. FontLab shows them as handles. Use the term when the file structure is the subject; use handle when the reader drags something.

Write: A quadratic segment can hold several off-curve points.

Not: Off-curve points are utilized to define the curvature.

See also: control point, on-curve point, handle

on-curve point¶

Applies to: fontlab, fontographer. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: point on the curve.

An on-curve point lies on the outline itself and is where two segments meet. In FontLab it is a node; the term is used when the contrast with off-curve points matters, for example when a TrueType outline stores both kinds in one list. You place on-curve points at extremes so hinting and interpolation have stable anchors.

Write: Put an on-curve point at each extreme.

Not: Position on-curve points at the extremities of the shape.

See also: node, off-curve point, control point

outline¶

Applies to: fontlab, fontographer, transtype. Translatable: yes.

An outline is the set of contours that describes a glyph's shape. Say outline for the whole drawing of a glyph and contour for one closed path inside it. Some languages have one word for both; French uses contour for each.

Write: The outline has three contours.

Not: The glyph's outline geometry consists of three separate contour paths.

See also: contour, glyph, node

stroke¶

Applies to: vexy-lines, vexy-linestra, vexy-vextra. Translatable: yes.

A stroke is the line drawn along a path, with a weight, a colour, and an alignment that puts it inside, outside, or centred on the path. It is not the fill, which covers the area the path encloses. In type design the same word means a main part of a letter. The localized vector term does not automatically apply to letter anatomy: PANOSE contrast and stem thickness describe letter strokes, not an outline effect. Use the established anatomical term in those contexts (for example Polish kreska or Ukrainian штрих).

Write: You set the stroke weight, and the fill stays as it was.

Not: Strokes and fills get set by the user in the panel.

See also: centerline, Fills, contour, Live Effect

stroke cap¶

Also written: cap, line cap. Applies to: fontlab, vexy-lines, vexy-vextra. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: stroke end cap.

A stroke cap is the shape at the open end of a stroked path: flat, square or round. Start and end caps can differ, and a cap can be linked so both ends match.

Write: Choose a round cap for the terminals.

Not: The cap is the top of the letter.

See also: stroke, stroke join, terminal

stroke join¶

Also written: join, corner join. Applies to: fontlab, vexy-lines, vexy-vextra. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: stroke corner shape.

A stroke join is the shape where two stroked segments meet at a corner: miter, round or bevel. It decides whether an outside corner is sharp, rounded or cut.

Write: Use a miter join for sharp corners.

Not: The join is where two glyphs touch.

See also: stroke cap, stroke, Smart Corner

tangent node¶

Also written: tangent point. Applies to: fontlab, vexy-vextra. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: straight-to-curve node.

A tangent node joins a straight segment to a curve so the curve leaves along the line. Its one handle stays on the line's extension.

Write: Place a tangent node where the stem meets the bowl.

Not: A tangent node has two free handles.

See also: node, handle, segment

tonal map¶

Also written: tonal value. Applies to: vexy-lines, vexy-linestra, vexy-playlines. Translatable: yes. Fallback original term: darkness map.

A tonal map is the reading of brightness across a source image that a fill uses to decide where to put geometry. Dark areas widen a strip or crowd a pattern; light areas narrow or thin it. You control the mapping with the Brightness, Contrast, and Source Levels rows, which change what counts as dark before any geometry is drawn. Adjust the map rather than the fill when the result is uniformly too heavy or too sparse.

Write: Dark areas widen the strip and light areas narrow it.

Not: The tonal map is used by the fill for the placing of geometry.

See also: fill mode, centerline, autotrace, Fills

Tunni line¶

Also written: Tunni control, pill. Applies to: vexy-vextra. Translatable: yes.

A Tunni line joins the two handles of a curve segment, with a control on it that Vextra draws as a pill. Drag the control and both handles move in proportion, so the depth of the curve changes without its balance changing. You use it when a curve is the right shape but the wrong fullness, which is the correction that is slowest to make one handle at a time. Named after Eduardo Tunni, so keep the capital T.

Write: You drag the Tunni control and both handles move together.

Not: The tunni line can be dragged for the adjusting of curves.

See also: handle, node, G2 continuity, segment