PAN ASIA ICT R&D Grants Programme - UTM

In the next phase, the project team
developed a physical model for Nafees
Nasta’leeq. The model covered the
work done at the True Type Font (TTF)
level and the efforts at the OTF level.
During this phase, the team listed and
finalized the individual glyphs, which
form building blocks of the font. The
team then defined procedures needed
to convert these glyphs from images to
splines (standard mathematical form
for glyph outline). Similarly the team
also decided what work needed to be
Vectorization of the letters
done at the True Type (which is the
earlier font specifications) level.
Finally, the team indicated the contextual
rules for substitution and positioning.
The implementation phase can be
broadly divided into three sub phases:
1) image processing: acquisition of
Nasta’leeq glyphs and ligatures,
scanning of Nasta’leeq glyphs, segment
joint verification and ligature shape
refinement, thresholding of Nasta’leeq
glyphs (monochrome), and
vectorization of Nasta’leeq glyph
outlines; 2) TrueType Level Work:
glyph size for Nasta’leeq font, positioning
of glyphs at the TTF level,
joining of glyphs at the TTF level,
including missed shapes, glyph
ordering, and TTF file organization;
and 3) OpenType Level Work: Unicode
assignment, glyph grouping, implementing
substitution, positioning,
cursive positioning, mark positioning,
and kerning rules.
The project team tested the font at
three levels before releasing it. Firstly,
Nafees Nastalique
all valid ligatures of Urdu were tested.
Secondly, written texts of Urdu from
various fields were tested. Thirdly, 1.7
M words were taken from frequency
analysis of Urdu done by the Center
for Research in Urdu Language
Processing (CRULP) and tested. The
font is now freely available at
www.crulp.org.
The researchers contributed by
organizing free font training sessions
at font seminars to provide an insight
into font making. In addition, the
grant has helped in acquiring
new equipment such as a
printer, personal computers
and a scanner. The team was
also able to purchase specialized
software required for
font development. Thus, the
research team can utilize the
software obtained and the
experience gained through
this project to work more on
other computationally
unexplored scripts. Also this
grant strengthened CRULP
capacity for analysis and
research. Through this grant,
CRULPmatured into a growing center
of excellence in the computation of
Urdu and other regional languages.
The experience that the research
team has made it easier to anticipate
and identify problems in the analysis
A calligraphy session
phase and to take remedial measures
before prospective problems occurred.
As an example, OTF technology was
thoroughly tested through prototyping
the Nafees Naskh font. This exercise
also served the dual purpose of training
the student team in the technical details
of the new font formalism. This proved
to be a useful exercise for the actual
design and development of the Nafees
Nasta’leeq font and saved a lot of time.
The project was managed in
separate planning, analysis, design,
implementation and testing cycles,
following conventional software
engineering practices. Extensive testing
was done to identify three levels of
bugs. All level-one bugs were removed.
Though other level bugs were
also removed, some level-two and
some level-three bugs were left open
because the team ran out of space
within the OTF formalism to write any
further rules. The Beta version of font
was released on the 14th of August 2003
and is currently being maintained to
remove any additional bugs reported
by end users.
Lasting Impacts
Nafees Nasta’leeq is a successful
project. The results can be attributed to
the hard work of the core team (the
funded students at CRULP) who spent
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