I don't want to sound ungrateful for mentioning this, but having my presentation selected for SXSW Interactive 2012 made me miss a very important event in the world of digital typography. On March 8 and 9 KABK, the Royal Academy of Arts at The Hague, the Netherlands, hosted the 2012 edition of the Robothon Conference on Type Design and Technology. An international roster of speakers presented fascinating new tools and ideas, amongst them the new UFO 3 format. It also provided professionals in type design and students the opportunity to mingle with colleagues from around Europe, meet the Type & Media crew, and visit the Gerrit Noordzij Prize exhibition and seminar. The organisation have outdid themselves by publishing the full line-up of presentations on Vimeo.
Robothon 2012: Welcome and introductions from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
Welcome, intros, logistics| Paul van der Laan · Bold Monday
Paul van der Laan opens the Robothon 2012 conference.
Robothon 2012: The State of RoboFab from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
The State of RoboFab| Erik van Blokland · RoboFab
Erik van Blokland talks about the current state of RoboFab, how to install it, some of the common problems in FontLab, plans for the future.
Robothon 2012: RoboFont introduction from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
RoboFont introduction| Frederik Berlaen · RoboFont
Frederik Berlaen introduces us to the APIs in RoboFont.
Robothon 2012: UFO3 from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
UFO3| Tal Leming · Type Supply
Tal Leming digs into the new UFO3 format, a bit of the history of the UFO specification.
Robothon 2012: Postscript hints from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
PostScript Hints| Miguel Sousa · Adobe Type Dept.
Miguel Sousa (Adobe Type dept.) talks about PostScript-flavoured hints: the alignment zones and stems.
Robothon 2012: RoboHint from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
Building a TrueType Hinting Tool| Petr van Blokland · Buro PvB&CM
Petr van Blokland gives a preview of his work in TrueType hinting.
Robothon 2012: Glyphs introduction from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
Glyphs.app introduction| Georg Seifert · GlyphsApp.com
Georg Seifert shows us around in the Glyphs editor.
Robothon 2012: How to make TrueType hints less boring from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
How to make TT Hinting less boring| Frank Grießhammer · Adobe Type Dept.
Frank Grießhammer (Adobe Type Dept) gets into the numbers of TrueType hints, and shows how to deal with them in large quantities.
Robothon 2012: Building Stuff from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
Building Stuff| Tal Leming · Type Supply
Tal Leming shows how to take a small script that was written for a specific task, and turn it into a versatile tool with an interface.
Robothon 2012: Speedpunk from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
Speedpunk| Yanone
Yanone shows the Speedpunk plugin for RoboFont and Glyphs, an interactive (and cross-application) tool that visually shows the smoothness and continuity of the curves.
(Unfortunately only the last part of Yanone's talk was properly recorded – See also the Speedpunk trailer.)
Robothon2012: Superpolator 3 Preview from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
Superpolator 3 Preview| Erik van Blokland · Superpolator.com
Erik van Blokland shows a preview of new features in the new version of Superpolator.
Robothon 2012: hTools from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
hTools| Gustavo Ferreira · Hipertipo
Gustavo Ferreira shows his hTools library, a collection of dialogues, windows and scripts that will benefit every workflow.
Robothon 2012: Mo' Glyphs, Mo' Problems from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
Mo' glyphs, mo' problems| Ben Kiel · House Industries
Ben Kiel talks about some of the issues presented by working with large character sets, scripts, languages and multiple designers.
Robothon 2012: Type & Media from Robofab Consortium on Vimeo.
About Type & Media| Paul van der Laan · Type & Media
Paul van der Laan gives a short introduction to the Type & Media course of the Royal Academy of Arts; the history, students, faculty and work. The Type & Media course co-hosted the Robothon 2012 conference.
