What Is That LCARS Font Tutorial

[Robert]

My fellow members.
I'm here again with a new tutorial: What Is That LCARS Font!



On many occasions, I was asked how come my LCARS font looked different than other people. Some people might even think I use a different kind of font. The short answer is: No! I use Helvetica Ultra-Compressed, which I found out with some research, is the official one used on the show. Now, what I'm about to show you is a very, very easy way to make your LCARS screen title look better. It should work fine with all the other free LCARS font out-there.

• Simply change the "horizontal scale" of your text to: 80% (see fig. 001)***
• Fig. 003 shows you the same text without scaling.

That' it! A quick and easy way to add a certain charm to your LCARS header. Now this looks good with large titles but I would keep it at around 90% for the other text.

***To change the scale of your text in Illustrator simply follow this short video. If you would like a similar video for Flash or Photoshop, let me know in this thread.



Now the last thing I want to talk about today is the "other font". You know that title font seen in most LCARS screens since TNG that looks like your typical LCARS font to the un-trained eye (see Long Range Sensor Scan shot) but it's not the right font (see Plasma Constriction Map shot). These things bother me for some reason, so I decided to investigate. And my friends, I have to say that it was really hard to find a matching font. The closest one which most of you already knew about was that awful TNG Monitor. I also found that Steelfish (free font) was a close match. In the end, I believe that the closest one is called Placard MT Condensed (Sadly not free). Fig. 003 is that font with a 80% horizontal scaling applied to it. While the last one is without (fig. 004). I think it is a very close match, so expect my next animation to use this font. Just to try it!

Again about fonts, some people will tell you that the key is consistency. I say have fun and try stuff. Let's face it, not that much consistency in official LCARS graphics. Why should we restrain ourselves.

Thanks for reading.

[Kathryn-Johnston]

Great tutorial again! Good to see someone with amazing talent sharing their secrets :D