A new feature of Obenkyo starting at 3.0.4 is the ability to change the font for any Japanese writing in the app.
More info after the break…
This document is a first draft, if you have any issue or have any ideas or suggestions, please comment.
The first thing to consider is why does people want to change the font?
Because the default font is far from perfect…
font supported:
First, Obenkyo only accept True Type Fonts (supported by Android), also it must be “unicode fonts” and not fonts that put some kana instead of the “AZERT…” keys (like windings & the likes)
Where to find fonts:
There are many websites that list fonts like:
- http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Japanese.html (great list but with many of them going 404)
- http://nihongoup.com/blog/10-beautiful-japanese-fonts/
- http://www.ilovegkr.com/pages/fungames/typejap.html
Personally I use the package you can download from Epson “I love Epson” website http://www.i-love-epson.co.jp/download2/printer/driver/win/page/ttf30.htm that contains some nice fonts.
If you find other link or some great fonts, post a comment and I will add them to the list.
Where to copy the fonts:
At first runtime, Obenkyo will create a folder “Obenkyo_data” and a subfolder “font” in the external storage. If you add a font in this folder it will show up in the settings.
For instance in both my GalaxyS and EeePad, the folder is in the Root of the internal Memory Card (since the GalaxyS have 8GB of internal + µSD Card, Android set by default the 8GB storage as the “external” storage)
Note that you might have to reboot your device if the folder does not show up (I had to do it on my eeePad)
If you have any issue finding the folder contact me and give me the model of your phone.
Why aren’t the fonts bundled into the app?
The 2 main reasons are:
- Weight: adding a single unicode font would almost raise by 50% the weight of the app
- Copyrights: creating a font is not a sinple task … especially kanji fonts. I spent some time trying to find Kaisho fonts that I could bundle into the app (even at a price), but at the end I struggled to find “open” fonts that I could embed into the app without having to make you pay some 20$ per user (and that’s without Google’s Share and I would gain nothing of it). Even fonts available freely on the internet are often under copyright that would prevent me to embed them (I have tried to contact Epson that had great fonts free on the internet, and they could not allow me to add the font to the app).
Another example : http://www.paratype.com/fstore/fonts/DF-Kaisho.htm
Don’t get me wrong, creating a font is a tremendous job that DESERVES some payment (Windows 7 font took 2 years to create). But Obenkyo being a free project, I just can’t afford to have to pay to embed fonts.
So the easiest way was to enable you to find the font you want and to add it to the app.
November 25th, 2011 - %I:%M %p
hey, i downloaded this current update from the market. so far, so good! i still haven’t had a chance to sit down and use it extensively and give feedback, but i still love your program.
as a sidenote, i’m pretty sure it’s version 3.04 i have, but under About > Version, it still says Obenkyo v3b. you said last time that this was an indication that i wasn’t using the latest one, but how can i be sure? where can i find the actual version number within the software?
November 25th, 2011 - %I:%M %p
Yes, it’s a stupid bug … this value is a contant, and I forgot to update it. People reported it to me and I have change a constant … but it was not the good one, and I forgot to check …
In the version I am working on there is not a constant anymore made everything dynamic … the question is when will I publish it
If you have downloaded it on the market you have the latest version (you can check in android app settings that use the good info)
Thanks for reporting.
November 28th, 2011 - %I:%M %p
Please keep up the great work! Definitely will donate. An iPhone version would be popular too. Ganbatte!
November 28th, 2011 - %I:%M %p
Thanks
For the iphone/ipad version the main issue is that I would have to “finance” 70€/year just to have the app up on the app Stroe (android is only 25$ once) and I would have to buy myself a mac (since iOS apps have to be developped on a mac).
(plus having to pay myself an iPhone ^^).
There is way more chances for a Windows(metro)/WinPhone version to be created than an iOS version
November 30th, 2011 - %I:%M %p
I really love this app! Recommended it to my friends and teachers. Would love so much more if I could search from japanese to english ( romaji/hiragana/katakana/kanji -> english). Would really appreciate it if if you could do that thank you very much for this app!
November 30th, 2011 - %I:%M %p
You should already be able to search using english, Kanji and Hiragana/katakana (if it does not work properly tell me what is appening and how you input theses texts – it worked on my phone using SIMEJI) as of today it is not possible to search for romaji since I did not find a proper way to do it without having very poor performances.
but I am working on it (this and drawing search that is quite challenging ^^ )
December 2nd, 2011 - %I:%M %p
Hi, I got the latest Obenkyo update from the market a few days ago and I noticed a couple of issues.
First, I’m glad to see the “every char once” option that was missing in the previous release is back, but I’m not sure if it’s working correctly.
I’ve been doing the recognize kanji test, and it asks the same characters even though I answered them correctly earlier.
So, it seems to do just the same thing as the “random” option.
A second thing I’ve noticed: In the middle of a kanji test, put Obenkyo to the background by long pressing the home key. Sometimes when returning to the kanji test later, the test crashes (I get the “force close” dialog) and then Obenkyo returns to the main menu.
This seems to only happen if I leave Obenkyo on the background for some time, for example today I returned to the test maybe half an hour later, and then it crashed.
December 2nd, 2011 - %I:%M %p
Drats, I have to check what could be the issue with one char once :/
concerning the force close in coming back to test, if you press report the issue, it is displayed in my developer console, so I will have the positing of the crash.
I had many reports and fixed many of thoses bugs (in short, Android deleted one of my memory field without notifiing me => I have to detect this and to exit the test – in most case it is the full test context that is deleted).
If I identify a bug with “each char once”, I might do a small update for both issues this week end I guess.
Thanks for reporting.
December 27th, 2011 - %I:%M %p
Hi. I could not find an email so i am sending you at comment.
I have just reported a bunch of recognition errors with the katakana shi and diphtongs based on shi.
I have not been able to draw the ” smile” correctly, and I am now suspecting an error.
Thanks for an awesome program
Carsten
December 27th, 2011 - %I:%M %p
You can find my mail in the Android Market (both Web Market and in device Market actually).
Thanks for the reports, sorry I have not posted about the reports I get but I am working on making me tools to test the algorithm changes according to the reports that where made.
I will post soon more about it.
February 22nd, 2012 - %I:%M %p
I’m using an SGS2 19100GT and I’m having problems adding fonts.
I’ve checked on the SD card as well as the internal storage, and the Obenkyo_data folder is no where to be found.
I manually created it and the fonts sub folder as well, and stuck some epson TrueType fonts into it and yet, the app fails to detect any of them.
Just wondering, in the next update, could you add a feature to let the user specify where the font directory is? Thanks in advance.
February 22nd, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Hi,
That’s pretty strange … on my SGS2 I have the folder at the root of the SDCard … I have to see how hard it would be to add a folder selection …
It won’t be on the next update, because I am on the final steps before releasing it (probably this week-end)
Edit: OK, when I connect my SGS2 on my computer as USB storage, It shows 2 disks, there is the Obenkyo_data directory in one of them, but in fact it’s the internal storage (when using a file explorer ou your device, android differentiate internal storage by /sdcard and actual SD card by /sdcard/extenal_sd)
hope this helps
February 28th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Hey man, great app. I am having trouble finding the obenkyo folder with the font… I have a motorola razr with Android 2.3.5, and its not rooted. I created the folders in the Sd external, but the program don’t recognize it.
Well, thanks in advance, and sorry for my bad English.
February 29th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
You are not the first one to report me this issue … I really have to find a way for you to select in what folder the font is …
Thanks for the report.
April 26th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Hi,
Your instructions are wrong. It’s /sdcard/Obenkyo_data/font/ – not /sdcard/Obenkyo_data/fonts/ at least for me.
After install/first run app didn’t created “Obenkyo_data” folder, so as instructed I made one myself and put some fonts in “fonts” folder. As to everyone else it didn’t worked, so I looked in /data/data/com.obenkyo sub folders and found com.Obenkyo_preferences.xml with empty string “Fonts”. Entered epkaisho.ttf wich I earlier put in “fonts”, saved and launched app. Nothing changed in app of course, but “font” folder was created in “Obenkyo_data” with file “Put_Font_here”. Moved fonts there and now I can select them in settings.
So check your source code if it’s just your spelling error or I’m the odd one out.
Otherwise loving the app so far, really helped me. Keep the great work!
April 27th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
wow, that’s strange :/
I will check if there is not something wrong … thanks
May 17th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Hey atomusk, nice new addition.some days ago I found a “kanji stroke font”,which was,if I well remember,free.Its basically a font with each mankind having embedded its stroke number.try to look on Google for it,otherwise ill look if I can find where I took it…anyway,felt it would be great,and perfect for the app’s purpose.
June 10th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Hey Atomusk!
Great app it’s very useful and a demonstrates a lot of dedication. I have a Galaxy Nexus (GSM) that comes with Android ICS version. Just installed from Play Store a couple of hours ago.
I looked around the filesystem with Astro but cannot find the fonts folder. I turned off, rebooted, scanned and checked twice…
The Galaxy Nexus does not have any provisions for an external SDcard.
Where else could I look? Is there a special place you have designed for these font files for ICS?
Cheers and thank you very much!!
Serge
June 11th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Hi Serge,
Don’t you have at least an “Obenkyo_data” folder ?
If you do have one, and no font folder in this folder, just add a font folder and push fonts in it.
I really have to get my hand on a Nexus to test this :/
Sorry
June 14th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
I did exactly as you said using ASTRO an it worked perfect! Thank you very
thumbs up!
much Atomusk. You are extra cool
July 28th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Hello,
Thanks for this app (and for french translation), this is my favorite for japanese. I really luv the grammar section and the kanji’s one.
Greets from Metz, FR.
July 29th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Ca fait plaisir
Mais bon étant Français moi même, c’est pas surprenant que l’application soit en français :p
(bah oui, le site est un free.fr
)
Atomusk
July 31st, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Bonjour, navigant avec un SP la barre d’adresse est cachee et en tout cas bravo pour ce succes international !
signé : Un utilisateur de Obenkyo fan de l’appli
August 5th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Thanks for this great piece of software
I tried to use several unicode ttf-fonts (even the ones from the i-love-epson page), but none of them seems to be working. I can choose the the font in the options menu, but when I switch to study, I got a force close. I am using a Nexus 7.
Any Idea whats wrong here?
August 5th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
It’s me again! I figured out what’s wrong:
This time I copied the ttf-files by USB to the “font” folder instead of using Google Drive. It seems that the files are damaged by using the Drive :-/
August 6th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Good news that you found the solution
I never heard of google drive corrupting files, but I don’t use it much anyway…
Thanks for the info
October 15th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Love this app
Phone : Droid X
I downloaded it from the playstore, rebooted, ran it, rebooted again and then searched my folders for the Obenkyo_data file. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find it
I tried with Astro & even root explorer but my searches come up blank.
The only Obenkyo that even shows up is in /data/data/com.Obenkyo and the only folders in there are : cache, databases, files, lib & shared_prefs.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much for this wonderful app.
October 16th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Hi,
Can you try in the settings to check the checkbox to copy the database to the SD card ? and see if the app works again and if the folder was created ?
Regards
October 16th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
I clicked the checkbox to copy database to the SD card, I searched my files, didn’t see it so I rebooted and checked again. The only change I saw was that it created : /mnt/sdcard/Android/data/com.Obenkyo with the subfolder ‘files’ which contained myDB_info.db
I tried creating my own Obenkyo_data and font subfolder, but regardless of where I place it, it doesn’t seem to work.
If you have any other suggestions to try I would be grateful
Thank you for taking the time to try and help me =^.^=
October 17th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
So there might be an issue … I had some people that had the same issue … I have to add a “folder picker” so that you can select the folder you want to search font from … to the todo list !
(sorry for the inconvenience)
October 18th, 2012 - %I:%M %p
Thank you so much for trying to help, I really appreciate it
Sorry for making your todo list grow lol
Thank you again! <3
March 3rd, 2013 - %I:%M %p
You have done such a great job with this program. The ability to select and deselect kanji from the quizzes is pure genius! Thank you much for all the time and effort you put into making this program!