Quickly convert text to single line text

[Dal123]

I have been sent a load of drawings recently as I am tendering for 5 construction projects and I need to have them all printed/ plotted by today .
I'm using Adobe Illustrator CS2 with plug-in to send it to the plotter.
I recently bought a Roland GX 24 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDdY4a9ChKc and you can purchase pen attachments instead of blades so you can draw vector files with it. I remember architectural drawings were originally done with plotters as very accurate, nowadays I assume they use inkjet printers as technology evolved. But don't really want to fork out another £800/ 1000.
The drawings are coming out well but I need to convert the outlined text to single line text/ font. Does anyone have a script or single lined fonts for me? If I can get a single line font I can get these printed today if not I am doomed ,.

 

[Dal123]

Any ideas where I can buy Single-Line Fonts for mac? Google search is not giving any good input so far?

 

[needlnerdz]

Any ideas where I can buy Single-Line Fonts for mac? Google search is not giving any good input so far?

The very first result I got after googling 'single line font' was this one:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=42683

if you scroll to the middle of the thread, there's a link to someone posting a free supposed 'single line font' - and further discussion on using it..

+ I'm not sure if your search results were limited because you were doing the search for UK google? Probably always helpful to change to the US based google.com [should be a link near the bottom of the homepage.. or in preferences] - as it might pull from a wider base of answers.. or more CAD/plotters discussing such issues in the states?

- OK wasting too much time on this.. but i was surprised it wasn't easy to do built into AI.. but more research found an answer.. goto that thread above and download the free PSfonts.zip package.. they are strange PFB/PFM fonts- then go here and download a great PFB2OTF converter:

http://typophile.com/node/37659

- After downloading his script, you'll open it and still have to download a program called fontforge - but its free and will send you to the path for getting it. Damn.. then installing it you need to have x11 installed.. [this is not as simple as i thought] - ok scratch that.. after I installed that font-forge, i could then run the PFB2OTF and presto.. a pile of OTF fonts that should be single line.. testing in AI..= hot damn, they work! ... now i sadly have no plotter.. but if I did.. I'd be even more stoked.

* Soo attached is a .zip of the 'engraving' fonts and a snapshot of them actually creating true single line outlines.

happy plotting.. and now back to my procrastinated writing..

 

[Dal123]

Thanks very good of you to write in that detail it much appreciated.
I did come across this and try to use it, I only manage to download them, when go to install x11 it won't let me as I already have a newer version or something like that.
When trying to run fontbegone (pfb) It just opens and disapeers

 

[needlnerdz]

... did you download the attachment of fonts I put on the thread? They are a handful of true single line fonts - in OTF format [already converted], which you can now just drag and drop into your fonts folder and start working with.

 

[Dal123]

Thanks for your help on this needlnerdz, much appreciated

 

[needlnerdz]

no problem- hope it worked out in the end!

+ watched that youtube link you posted at the top, and now i'm oh so jealous of that plotter you've got..!

 

[alaskagoldman]

Missing parts of letters and the Letter "I" (Caps)

The very first result I got after googling 'single line font' was this one:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=42683

if you scroll to the middle of the thread, there's a link to someone posting a free supposed 'single line font' - and further discussion on using it..

+ I'm not sure if your search results were limited because you were doing the search for UK google? Probably always helpful to change to the US based google.com [should be a link near the bottom of the homepage.. or in preferences] - as it might pull from a wider base of answers.. or more CAD/plotters discussing such issues in the states?

- OK wasting too much time on this.. but i was surprised it wasn't easy to do built into AI.. but more research found an answer.. goto that thread above and download the free PSfonts.zip package.. they are strange PFB/PFM fonts- then go here and download a great PFB2OTF converter:

The only font that had no problems was the VAND font.
http://typophile.com/node/37659

- After downloading his script, you'll open it and still have to download a program called fontforge - but its free and will send you to the path for getting it. Damn.. then installing it you need to have x11 installed.. [this is not as simple as i thought] - ok scratch that.. after I installed that font-forge, i could then run the PFB2OTF and presto.. a pile of OTF fonts that should be single line.. testing in AI..= hot damn, they work! ... now i sadly have no plotter.. but if I did.. I'd be even more stoked.

* Soo attached is a .zip of the 'engraving' fonts and a snapshot of them actually creating true single line outlines.

happy plotting.. and now back to my procrastinated writing..

I downloaded the ones ready for installation. They worked... mostly. The single line fonts all had the same problem. The Letter "I" would not show up at all in Illustrator and the center horizontal line in the letter "E" was missing. This is in the CAP letters. Anyone else have this problem?