Missing Fonts

Some computers are missing Japanese Fonts, and in that case the Kanji Sketch Pad will be unable to display kanji characters (though it will still be possible to draw them). The result will look somehting like this:

Here is a help file that was originally written for the Cerebware Vocab Trainer, but applies equally well to the Sketch Pad. Please let me know if it works on your system, and whether you know of a better way to install fonts:

INSTALLING THE NECESSARY FONTS

If the characters below look like normal Japanese, then you probably already have the right fonts installed in your system, and you can skip down to the input methods. You might need to make the text larger, however, to see the detail of the Kanji (Under Text, choose ''Larger'', or select a font size from the drop-down list in the menu bar).
 
Kanji - 漢字
Hiragana - ひらがな
Katakana - カタカナ


If the characters appear as rectangles, or as other non-Japanese symbols, it means your operating system is missing the necessary font files. (You might have some Japanese fonts, used in your web browser or word processor, but they are not the modern True-Type fonts required by Java). If you have a copy of Microsoft Office, or many other Windows products, just install Japanese as a new Language under the Windows Control Panel, and the fonts will be made available. Usually the operating system will ask you for the Microsoft Office installation disc.


If you do not have access to Japanese fonts as part of your operating system, you can use the Japanese font file provided with Cerebware. Follow these steps:


Step 1:
Find the file, CODE2000.TTF (look in the JapaneseGrammar folder if you have the Vocab Trainer, or visit the Cerebware website if you have the Sketch Pad).


Step 2:
Open My Computer, or Windows Explorer. Go to: C:\Program Files\Java\

In there, you should see some folders beginning 'jre.' They should all end with an underscore, then a number. Example: jre1.6.0_07 Go into the one that ends with the largest number - this is the most recent copy of Java.


Step 3:
Find the folder named 'lib', enter it and go into the folder named 'fonts'.


Step 4:
Create a folder named 'fallback'. Go into it.


Step 5:
Copy CODE2000.TTF into here. Restart Cerebware or the Sketch Pad to test that the font has been loaded. (For the Sketch Pad, you will need to sut it down completely by right-clicking the Sytem Tray icon, then clicking 'Exit')


Another option is to obtain one of the freeware Japanese input methods, which usually come with their own fonts. For example, google for NJStar.