Too many users of modern computer systems, or rather, designers, one way or another are faced with a problem when it is necessary to recognize the font of the text that is contained in some image. Now we will consider several simple options for how to do this with minimal time and effort.
Font Recognition: Key Aspects
Let's start with the fact that, in general, it is naive to think that the definition of a font is the same as text recognition. Recognition of text created in an editor or simply typed on old typewriters is just a special case of a more general definition. And even such powerful programs as ABBYY Fine Reader are not always suitable for this. Of course, they can extract text fragments from the desired image, however, in most cases, the analysis is performed exclusively on the basis of standard fonts, which are universal for all types of text editors and are freely integrated into applications of this type, which makes it possible to use them even independently of the main software platform.
But what to do when recognition of a font created manually, for example, in a graphical application or drawn by hand at all, is required? Judge for yourself, because an artist can depict any letter as he wants.
As the simplest example, you can take at least the original collections of Russian folk tales, where each heading at the beginning of the first paragraph of the text was framed in a patterned pattern. From all this congestion, the computer program must select the letter itself, throwing aside everything else. Actually, that is why the recognition of Cyrillic fonts, even compared with hieroglyphs, is a rather difficult task. Nevertheless, there are some means for this.
Font recognition applications in the picture
Now let's focus on a few simple software products that are suitable for users of any level.
First of all, the CuneiForm application is worth noting. This is a program for recognizing fonts, including Cyrillic, which allows you not only to determine which language the text refers to even with an unusual font, but also to preserve the original structure of the entire document. For example, if it was created in a computer application, it contains tabular data (as well as the table itself), the application can easily determine such a structure and save it when outputting the results. The same goes for the formatting used in the document.
One of the main features of the application is that, in addition to supporting several languages, the program has its own dictionary, which is used to analyze the text carried out at the end of the font recognition process. At the same time, the program works pretty well with low-quality documents, say, scanned old photos with text or historical documents. Among other things, you can add new data to the dictionary database for further use.
A very simple application can be called the Font Analyze program. Without delving into the principles of its functioning, we note only the process itself. Here, the user simply needs to load the image with the font in the analyzer field, and then activate the recognition process. Here the “trick” is that after receiving the scan result and processing it can be edited.
The Font Matching Tool system is also interesting. Among other things, this application is recommended to be used in conjunction with the Compare It! Program, which allows you to compare the source document and the result with recognized fonts.
Font Recognition Online Service
In addition to programs installed on a computer, or their portable versions, you can use the services of many Internet resources. Recognition of the font in the picture in the action plan is carried out similarly to previous applications. The only difference is that the user uploads the image directly to the site, and the result is downloaded to his computer.
Among the most popular and sought-after services are online systems such as What The Font, Identifont, Message Boards: Typophile, Bowfin Printworks, Type Navigator, Flickr Typeface Identification, and many others.
Conclusion
All that remains is to add that it is better not to count on either programs or Internet resources. There is no need to expect anything supernatural from them. Judge for yourself, after all, not all Internet bots recognize even ordinary captcha. But the analogy with programs designed for font recognition is obvious here. So when using such tools, one can rely mainly on the results of determining the simplest fonts. Another thing is that they are not recognized from printed office documents, but from pictures. This, in fact, is the main plus of all software products and services of this type.