1Starting eContour

2Creating a New Chinese Character

2.1Locating Closest Chinese Character

2.2Edit Closest Character

3Using the New Character

3.1Saving the New Font

3.2Using the Newly Created Character

4eContour Navigations

4.1Segment Navigation

4.1.1Segment Selection

4.1.2Segment Group

4.2Point Navigation

4.2.1Point Selection

1Starting eContour

Start eContour via the Start menu. eContour main window will be displayed as follows.

eContour Main Window

Select a font style to work on. This can be any font but you will normally want to ensure that

  • It contains the appropriate character set.
  • You want to create new characters in the style of the selected font.

This can be done via the combo box as highlighted in the above diagram. Here we have selected MingLiU for illustration purposes.

To edit or create a new character, simply double click on any one of the square boxes. The following Font Editor window will be displayed.

eContour Font Editor Window

2Creating a New Chinese Character

Let’s start with creating a very simple Chinese character 「ꀍ」。You can do this in two steps

  • Locate the closest Chinese characters in existing font.
  • Edit the closest characters to form the new character.

2.1Locating Closest Chinese Character

You will need a separate tool to do this. You may know off your head that the following characters「刀」，「刃」「刅」match very closely to the required character so we can use either of them as a starting point. It is then a matter of using a Chinese input method to input them into eContour.

In most cases, you will want to locate a character where minimum or no scaling is required. Scaling will change the thickness of a character segment and you may need to spend some effort to readjust them to fit the font style. In this simple example, we will select 「刅」. Selecting「刀」and「丶」will involve narrowing the「刀」to fit the extra「丶」on the right.

In the general case, we will probably need to browse through all the matching characters to find the most appropriate one to use. Existing Chinese input method does not provide this functionality and browsing through every character with a font browser is not a viable option. This is where eCode Chinese Input Method stands apart from the rest and can locate the closest Chinese character with ease.

Simply enter the stroke order for「刀」and a list of matching characters will be displayed as shown in the above diagram.

Ensure that the focus is on the Font Editor window and select「刅」.

2.2Edit Closest Character

In this case, all we need is to remove the「丶」on the left to get the required character. This can be done as follows.

  • Deselect the character by clicking anywhere outside the character with the left mouse button.
  • Select the unwanted segment by clicking inside the segment with the left mouse button.
  • Delete the unwanted segment using the DELETE key.

This is illustrated in the following sequence of diagrams

Deselect Character

Select Unwanted Segment

Delete Unwanted Segment

Finally, update and close to update the newly created character to eContour.

The newly created character is displayed on eContour main window as illustrated in the above diagram.

  • Select View->Use Font if you want to know how the newly created character will look like in your document. Note, the view will switch back to outline mode whenever a character has changed.

3Using the New Character

Once a character has been created, we can retrieve it via eCode using either stroke order or Pinyin. Before we can do that, we will need to define the stroke order and/or Pinyin in eContour first.

This can be done as follows

  • Use the numeric keyboard to enter stroke order definition
  • Use the alphanumeric keyboard to define Pinyin.
  • Save the new font.

The Numeric keyboard layout for the stroke order is identical to that use in eCode. You will need to disable eCode first or shut eCode down altogether. ECode can be disabled using the eCode menu or CTRL-ALT-D.

Simply enter the stroke order, 「乛丿丶」via the Numeric keyboard and hit ENTER. Likewise, enter a Pinyin definition, e.g. qian2 and hit ENTER. The stroke order and Pinyin will be shown in the list boxes near the bottom of the window as illustrated by the following diagram.

3.1Saving the New Font

Make sure that you close all application using the eCode font before you save the new font. On Windows XP, you will need to close the eCode application as well. ECode needs not be close on Windows 2000.

Save the new font using either

  • The Save icon on the toolbar or
  • The Menu, File->Save.

The new font will be propagated to Windows Font as eCode. If there are any unclosed applications still using the eCode font, you will get a message as indicated in the following diagram.

Close down any known application that are using eCode font and try to save again.

Note that your newly created font will still be saved if you choose No to the above dialog. However, it will not be propagated to Windows so you will not be able to use it.

If you are still unable to save the newly created font after you have closed down all the application, wait for a few seconds and try saving again. You should succeed after a few retries.

3.2Using the Newly Created Character

Once you have successfully saved the font, you can use the newly created characters as follows

  • Restart eCode on Windows XP
  • Re-enable eCode (CTRL-ALT-D) on Windows 2000.
  • Enter the stroke order or Pinyin for the new character to recall.
  • Select the new character into the document.
  • Select the eCode font for the new character in the document.

Recalling new character with defined Stroke Order

ꀍ ꀍꀍꀍ ꀍ ꀍ

New Character samples with varying Font Size

If you are using the evaluation version, the newly created character will contain a very small EON Logo at the bottom left corner. The EON Logo will automatically be removed once you have installed the Permanent license and save the font again.

Selecting eCode Font on Microsoft Word

4eContour Navigations

eContour can be navigated at the segment level or point level

4.1Segment Navigation

4.1.1Segment Selection

A character is made up of one or more segment. A segment can be selected via

  • Clicking inside the segment with the LEFT mouse button.
  • LEFT click on an unoccupied area and drag across at least one point on a segment.
4.1.1.1Multiple Segments Selection

Multiple segments can be selected as follows

  • CTRL LEFT mouse click to toggle segment selection
  • LEFT click on an unoccupied area and drag across at least one point on each segment.

4.1.2Segment Group

When a character is selected into the Font Editor window, it is treated as a group. This selection may be via

  • ECode Chinese Input Method
  • Cut and Paste

If you select a second character in the Font Editor window, it is treated as a second group.

4.1.2.1Group Selection

The whole group can be selected as follows

  • Press the Shift Key down and LEFT click within a segment belonging to the group.

4.2Point Navigation

4.2.1Point Selection

A point can be selected by left clicking on the point. Multiple points can be selected via the CTRL left mouse combination to toggle on and off selection.

Consecutive points on the same segment can be selected as follows

  • Select the first end point by LEFT clicking on the point.
  • Select the second end point by SHIFT and left clicking on the second end point.

If the consecutive points selected is the reverse of what is intended, repeat the above process starting with the second end point.

4.3Segment Navigation Illustration

Let’s illustrate the segment navigation via an example to create a more complicated character 「ꀎ」. This character is made up of 「ꀄ」radical at the top and 「易」at the bottom.

4.3.1Locating closest 「ꀄ」

We can enter the stroke sequence「丿丶丶丿丶丶」to eCode to find the possible matches as follows

Browsing through the matches, it is clear that we can use「竺」to provide the「ꀄ」radical.

4.3.2Locating the Closest「易」

Although it may appear obvious that we can use the「易」character itself, this character may not be the best choice as

  • We will need to scale the height down to provide space for the「ꀄ」.

This will affect the thickness of「易」character and we may need to fatten it up segment by segment to compensate. We will be better off to locate another character that contain「易」that do not span the complete height. This can be done using the following key sequence「＊丨乛一一丿乛丿丿」.

Immediately, it is clear that「惖」is one possible match. We can scroll through the list via UP ARROW/DOWN ARROW or PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN keys to find other matches. The character「鬄」is another possible match.

4.3.3Creating「ꀎ」

This can be done using the following steps

  • Double click on an empty box in eContour main window to create a new character.
  • Enter the「竺」character via eCode.
  • Delete unwanted segments via selecting the segments and pressing the DELETE key.
  • Multiple segments selection can be done via
  • Selecting each segment using CTRL LEFT MOUSE CLICK or
  • Left Mouse click on unoccupied area and dragging at least across one point on the unwanted segment as illustrated in the following diagram.

Selecting unwanted Segment via Dragging across at least one point on each segment

Required Top Radical 「ꀄ」after Deleting Unwanted Segment

The next step is to find the closest character to obtain the 「易」character. We will use the 「鬄」character here. This can be done as follows

  • Select the character via eCode with the following key sequence
    「＊丨乛一一丿乛丿丿」or 「一丨一一一乛丶丿丿丿丨乛一一丿乛丿丿」
  • Enter the character to eContour as illustrated in the following diagram.

Note:

  • The new character 「鬄」overlaps the 「ꀄ」.
  • As both characters are entered at different times, they are group separately.
  • Each group can be selected via SHIFT LEFT MOUSE CLICK on a segment within the group.

Do the following to select the 「ꀄ」radical segment group.

  • Press the SHIFT key and keep it depressed,
  • Move the mouse inside a segment belong to the 「ꀄ」and click the LEFT MOUSE button.

The selection is illustrated in the following diagram.

Selecting the 「ꀄ」Radical Segment Group

Now reselect the 「鬄」segment group and drag it clear of the 「ꀄ」radical.

Drag the mouse across the unwanted segments of 「鬄」to select the unwanted segments.

Delete the unwanted segment and position the remaining segments 「易」accordingly.

Note that the 「易」on the bottom half is a little short so we will need to scale it a little as follows

Free Transform

With every segment in 「易」still selected,

  • Select Free Transform from the Menu invoked via the RIGHT MOUSE CLICK
  • Alternatively, use CTRL-T to invoke the Free Transform menu.
  • A Rectangular Transform Box enclosing all selected segments will appear.

The last remaining step is to scale the 「易」character vertically to increase the height.

  • Simply position the MOUSE CURSOR to the small rectangle located at the top or bottom horizontal line of the Transform Boundary.
  • Click the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON and drag to increase the height.
  • Press Enter to accept the Transformation (or ESCAPE to revert).
  • Select File->Update and Close to finish editing the character.

The new character 「ꀎ」has been created.

  • Enter the stroke sequence「丿丶丶丿丶丶丨乛一一丿乛丿丿」as before
  • Close all applications using the eCode font including eCode if necessary.
  • Save the Font via File->Save menu.

Restart eCode and you should be able to retrieve the new character 「ꀎ」with the stroke sequence just entered.

You can do the following transformation here

  • Horizontally Scaling
  • Vertical Scaling
  • Free Scaling
  • Rotation
  • Translation

Horizontal Scaling

This can be done as follows

  • Move the mouse cursor to the small rectangle located at the middle of the left or right vertical line.
  • Click the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON and scale accordingly.

Vertical Scaling

This can be done as follows

  • Move the mouse cursor to the small rectangle located at the middle of the top or bottom horizontal line.
  • Click the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON and scale accordingly.

Free Scaling

This can be done as follows

  • Move the mouse cursor to the small rectangle located at any corner of the Transform boundary.
  • Click the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON and scale accordingly.

To maintain the same aspect ratio during scaling, Press the SHIFT key while scaling.

Rotation

This can be done as follows

  • Move the mouse cursor outside the Transform Boundary
  • Click the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON and rotate accordingly.

Translation

This can be done as follows

  • Move the mouse cursor inside the Transform Boundary
  • Click the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON and translate accordingly.