From time to time, you may need to find a Chinese character not listed in an
on-line dictionary, or for which you do not know the pronunciation. It is
particularly easy to browse the fonts corresponding to the Chinese and Japanese
Combined(4-
9)
symbol set(D-
-
7),
which is organized in
radical and stroke(4-
8)
order.
Determine the
radical(D-
-
6),
and count the number of
strokes(D-
-
7)
in the traditional radical form (not the simplified radical form used in
the character). Also count the number of strokes in the character remaining
after the radical is removed.
Open the combined symbol set 16, 24, or optional 48 point font.
Drag the horizontal scroll bar thumb tab to locate characters
containing radicals with the correct number of strokes.
Use Previous and Next to locate the characters that use the
desired radical. Search the characters to find the desired character. If you
are looking for a Japanese character, also search the range beginning with
7340-7740. If you are looking for a somewhat rare character, search the Combined
level(D-
-
5)
II range from 7800 to 8229. If you cannot find the character, you will have
to create it. See
Adding New Characters(8-
2).
If
you use Smart Characters for reading, consider installing an accessory
radical and stroke(4-
8)
dictionary for faster
hypertext(D-
-
4)
access to radicals and characters.
To use an unannotated character in a standard
symbol set(D-
-
7)
in a document:
Select the character in the
symbol set view(8-
1)
window, then select the Select command to copy the character to the
list(4-
4)
window, switch to the main frame window and document, then select the character
from the list window.
Note the character number, switch to the document, and type Ctrl+R plus
the character number (e.g. Ctrl+R-1-2-3-4 writes character 1234).
However, it is better to
add a corresponding reference(8-
2).
Adding New Characters
If you are reasonably sure that a desired character does not exist in a
standard font, select FileAdd User(3-
43)
command to open the FontBit Edit(3-
50)
dialog and create a new
user characters(4-
10).
You can create a new user character from scratch, by copying and pasting parts
of existing characters, or by finding and copying it from another font.
Characters should be added to the end of your
user font(4-
12).
Avoid writing over existing entries, or adding to a standard font.
The following example illustrates how to use more elaborate bitmap editing
programs such as
Paint(D-
-
6)
to edit or create a character:
From the word processor, select Hanzi / Kanji | Browse to open the
symbol set view(8-
1)
window to display the font containing the character, if any, at the insertion
point. If desired, use File | Open to open another font. Select a
character in the symbol set view window to make it the current character.
Double click the character, or select Edit to open the FontBit Edit(3-
48)
dialog. (Note that Hanzi / Kanji | Edit edits the character at the
insertion point.)
Adjust the Zoom control, then select Export to copy the
zoomed character glyph to the
Windows clipboard(D-
-
9).
Press Alt+Tab (or Ctrl+Esc) to switch to the Program Manager, then
launch Paint.
From the Paint Options menu, select Image Attributes. Set
Units to pels, Colors to Black and White, and Width
and Height to 96 or so.
Select Edit | Paste to copy the character glyph bitmap.
Edit as desired. Remember that fine detail will be lost when scaling the
character to a lower resolution.
Use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle around the entire figure. Make
sure that the upper left and lower right corners are at the extremities of the
image area. Tip: activate View | Cursor Position to make sure that the
corners are at (0,0) and (95,95).
Select Edit | Copy to copy the new bitmap to the Windows clipboard.
Switch to Smart Characters, and use Edit | Erase to erase the
previous version (alternatively, Swap it with the font clipboard), then
File | Import to paste the new character.
Use your PC to Master Japanese and Chinese