this is portable

I think its’ fun to combine the real world and the digital world. Printing a design that started as a processing sketch by hand does exactly that. This is a quick rundown of the process for anyone looking to try it out. I’m not covering the processing or silk screen part, but I highly recommend trying them out.

This process is pretty simple and could work for other styles of printing as well. For example, if you reverse your art at the last step, you can use it to burn plates for letterpress printing instead.

So, here’s how to get a Processing sketch ready to silk screen:

Recording the sketch to PDF

The best part here is that your sketch doesn’t need to be static. Even if it’s going to end up on paper, it doesn’t have to look like paper to start out. You can have it animate, or randomize shape and size each time you click. I like to randomize on click. It’s an easy way to get a whole lot of variations.

Processing’s PDF library is included with processing and the PDF library page on processing.org has multiple code examples. Seriously, they’re very good example. Just copy and paste a few lines of examples code into your file and you’re good to go. Recording when you click lets you grab multiple variations of a sketch to PDF files.

Generally, I make my sketch pretty small, maybe 400 or 600 pixels wide. Since this is all vector, it’s easy to scale things up as needed. Your sketch doesn’t have to be 1:1 with what you’re planning to print.

Editing Processing’s output

Processing output with the outline

Processing will automatically save the generated PDF(s) to the same folder your sketch is in. You can open these up directly in Illustrator to start editing.

Initially, all elements of your sketch will be in one big grouping with an outline of your sketch’s dimensions. Use the Direct Selection or Group Selection tool (keyboard shortcut “A”, or the “white arrow”) to remove the outline. Add, move or remove elements from your sketch to get it to look how you want it to. I tend to do a lot of this clean up and moving around in outlines mode. There’s almost always some extra shapes or strokes in the PDF output.

Play around. Remove elements, Add elements… whatever works.

Change the dimensions of your file to the size and shape you will be printing. Then scale/move your artwork as needed.

Colour Separations

Once you have everything how you want it, gather up all the elements you want to be the same colour on one layer together. Then, stack the layers in the order your want them to print. Stacking them in order is more for you to get an idea of what the final product will look like.

I usually keep everything in the colours I’m intending to print up to this point, but remember that your films will have to be purely black and white with no shades of gray. Any gradients have to be halftoned.

Print Your Films

Edit all the layers you will be printing to be purely black on white and print off one transparency for each colour you’ll be printing.

If you’re printing your films at a copy place, export the artwork on each layer as a separate PDF and make sure you uncheck “scale to fit” so all your layers are at 100%.

Go Print

Grab your films and go print! If you’re in Pittsburgh check out Artist Image Resource’s open studio. You can show up with your films — or even just your files and print your films there — and use all their equipment and screens for cheap.

I’ve been sitting on this post for a while because I couldn’t quite get my thoughts on this web fonts as a service topic straight. Then, a couple of days ago, I got into a big conversation about web fonts with friends, and having to put my thoughts into words make things a lot more clear.

Like a lot of folks, I got to try out Typekit firsthand in the last week or so and I really wanted to love it, but something wasn’t right. There are tons of posts out there discussing the pros and cons of all the type as a service options, so I won’t get into that. It’s definitely changing the way we think about fonts on the web. But, I keep wondering – is type as a service something I will really use?

With all the posts and articles I’ve been reading hyping up the idea, I want to say “yes!”. But honestly, I don’t think I will, at least not as they are right now.

There’s nothing wrong with the functionality of Typekit. It’s more the idea of type as a service — a service with a recurring fee — that deters me.

On the work side, I can’t think of a scenario in which I could convince the boss or a client to pay a recurring fee to use certain fonts. The boss will ask what’s wrong with the fonts we already own? and, haven’t we been doing just fine without this so far? I could see a client possibly saying yes if it was their corporate font that could be used. But what are the chances it’s available on any of the services? Slim at best right now.

When it comes to personal projects I’d have no one but myself to convince, but I’m still not sure I’d use them. I have a collection of fonts that I’ve bought over the years because I like them. Those are the ones I want to use on my personal projects. If one of those is available from one of the recurring fee based services that would be great. But wouldn’t that be a bit like renting something I already own?

I’m also a bit stubborn and the idea of having a 3rd party involved to use these fonts that I’ve paid for in some way makes me hesitate. It would be awesome someone came up with some kind of server side software we could install on our own servers– kind of like how wordpress works– if we wanted to. Even with all the assurances of server uptime this still bothers me a little.

Enough complaining! this is the web after all…

Type as a service for web fonts is still young and there are still a lot of details to be worked out. Everything that’s making me hesitate tonight could be cleared up tomorrow for all I know. That’s the great thing about working on the web. I expect the whole landscape of fonts on the web to have changed by even a year from now.

ETA (9/7/09): I just recently saw this Typotheque screencast. The concept of paying a one-time fee for a web license definitely sounds promising. Seriously, the options are changing everyday. Gotta love that!

Type as a service isn’t our only option

With all the talk about the various services in the works, the fact that it is possible to use @font-face without any third party help sometimes seems to get lost.

With the variety of free and open-source fonts popping up, we can all still take advantage of that without testing the waters of type as a service if we want. Just make sure to read the EULA of any font you’re thinking of using. It’s true that some free fonts are free for a reason, but there are some good ones out there too.

This web fonts test page has a listing of a few free fonts that allow @font-face embedding if you’re wondering what might be available. Font Squirrel, also has a listing of free fronts and you can filter by EULAs that allow @font-face as well.