Vertical Font Conversion

Use this skill when the task is about turning a horizontal font into a vertical-reading TTF font, or adjusting an existing vertical font result.

This skill is intentionally local-only. It focuses on source checking, grouped conversion, preview generation, local audit, and local test artifacts. It does not include remote conversion services, cloud uploads, or device-transfer steps.

Chinese display name

竖版字体转换

What this skill covers

• Source font precheck before vertical conversion
• Local vertical TTF production workflow
• Stable glyph-group handling rules
• Horizontal and vertical browser preview generation before delivery
• Reader test TXT generation
• Local audit for representative glyph placement
• Grouped conversion aimed at high-satisfaction vertical TTF output

Trigger conditions

Activate this skill when the user asks for any of the following:

• “制作竖版字体”
• “做竖排 ttf”
• “制作竖版 TTF”
• “改竖排标点 / 引号 / 省略号 / 西文 / 数字”
• “启动 Vertical Font Conversion”
• “按竖版字体转换流程来”

Default execution meaning

Unless the user explicitly asks to skip steps, “use Vertical Font Conversion” means:

• check the source font first
• make a horizontal preview first
• wait for user confirmation before building the vertical TTF
• make a vertical preview before delivering the font
• generate a reader test TXT
• stay fully local: horizontal preview, vertical TTF, vertical preview, reader test TXT, and audit output when needed

Mandatory workflow

Follow this order unless the user explicitly asks to skip steps:

1. Read the source horizontal TTF and check that the font opens normally and is not obviously broken.
2. Generate a browser test image from the original horizontal font first.
3. The preview must include:
• Chinese body text
• Latin letters
• Arabic digits
• single-point punctuation
• book-title marks / quotes / brackets
• dash / ellipsis
• one mixed-script sentence
4. Ask the user to judge whether the source font itself is worth continuing.
5. If confirmed, make the vertical TTF by glyph groups.
6. Do not send the TTF immediately. Generate and show a browser test image for the vertical result first.
7. Also generate a TXT test file for reader-side validation.
8. Only after user confirmation, send the TTF and related local test artifacts.

If the original horizontal font already has obvious missing punctuation / Latin / digits / rendering defects, stop and tell the user it is not a good source candidate.

Read next

Before operating, read these references:

• references/workflow.md — full operating sequence
• references/rules.md — glyph-group rules and latest default parameters
• references/implementation-notes.md — practical logic, tuning philosophy, and failure-mode awareness for high-satisfaction output
• references/default-config.json — baseline tunable parameters
• references/examples.md — concrete command examples
• references/case-template.md — template for recording successful real cases
• references/cases-zihun-songkekaiti.md — confirmed real case and lessons from 字魂宋刻楷体

Script entry points

Prefer these bundled scripts before inventing fresh one-off code:

• scripts/render_original_preview.py — generate original horizontal preview image
• scripts/make_vertical_font.py — build glyf-based vertical TTF with the bundled grouped-conversion logic
• scripts/make_vertical_font_cff.py — build CFF-based vertical font with preserved CharString metadata
• scripts/render_vertical_preview.py — generate vertical result preview image
• scripts/generate_reader_test_txt.py — generate reader-side TXT sample
• scripts/audit_font_rules.py — inspect representative glyph bbox / center data after conversion
• scripts/run_full_pipeline.py — one-shot local pipeline for preview → build → preview → TXT

Use the bundled builders as the default baseline. If future tuning is needed, preserve the stable script paths and update the rule implementations behind them.

Scope boundary

This skill stops at local vertical-TTF deliverables.

Out of scope for this skill:

• epdfont conversion
• upload to /fonts
• remote processing services
• cloud transfer / device transfer steps

If a later workflow needs those actions, handle them in a separate skill or a separate explicitly user-directed procedure.

Operational rules

• Preserve the user-confirmed workflow; do not skip preview steps by default.
• Apply rules to the full font character set, not only the demo sentence.
• Process by glyph group; do not use one parameter set for all glyphs.
• For special symbols, prefer preprocessing in horizontal coordinates first, then produce the vertical result.
• Do not rely on only vert/vrt2 substitutions as the whole solution.
• Do not rotate first and then blindly patch positions.
• If the user provides a reference image, prefer matching the reference while keeping the same grouping logic.
• When a parameter tweak is needed, adjust the minimum necessary group rather than rewriting the whole rule set.
• Before sending a user-facing test image, do your own basic inspection first; do not throw raw debug output at the user as a substitute for checking.
• When the result still feels off, inspect representative glyph bbox / center data with the audit script instead of blind re-guessing.
• For one-shot execution, prefer the bundled full-pipeline script so the output order stays consistent.
• In the current WeChat direct channel, local file delivery should prefer the channel’s real file-send path with an absolute path rather than relying on MEDIA: lines alone.

Output expectations

Typical outputs include:

• horizontal preview image
• vertical preview image
• vertical .ttf
• test .txt
• optional audit JSON / terminal report