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- From: walsh@cs.umass.edu (Norman Walsh)
- Newsgroups: comp.fonts,news.answers
- Subject: comp.fonts FAQ.2.Mac-Info
- Summary: This posting answers frequently asked questions about fonts.
- It addresses both general font questions and questions that
- are specific to a particular platform.
- Message-ID: <WALSH.92Dec7141434@ibis.cs.umass.edu>
- Date: 7 Dec 92 19:14:34 GMT
- Expires: 8 Jan 93 00:00:00 GMT
- References: <9212071410.WW57338@cs.umass.EDU>
- Sender: news@dime.cs.umass.edu
- Reply-To: walsh@cs.umass.edu (Norm Walsh)
- Followup-To: poster
- Organization: Dept of Comp and Info Sci, Univ of Mass (Amherst)
- Lines: 288
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
-
- Archive-name: fonts-faq/part03
- Version: 1.1.1.
-
- FAQ for comp.fonts: Chapter II: Macintosh-specific Info
-
- Version 1.1.1., Release 07DEC92
-
- Welcome to the comp.fonts FAQ. These articles, posted monthly, describe many
- of the basic questions that seem to be repeated frequently on comp.fonts.
- Your comments are both welcome and encouraged.
-
- The FAQ is divided into chapters. The first chapter is a general overview.
- Most of the remaining chapters are more-or-less platform specific.
-
- For more information about the FAQ, please consult the beginning of the first
- chapter. The FAQ is always available via anonymous ftp from ibis.cs.umass.edu
- in /pub/norm/comp.fonts/FAQ*
-
- This chapter covers the following topics:
-
- 1. Mac font notes
- 1.1. Font formats
- 1.2. Frequently requested fonts
- 1.3. Commercial font sources
- 2. Font installation
- 3. Font utilities
- 4. Making outline fonts
- 5. Problems and possible solutions
- 6. Creating Mac screen fonts from Type 1 outlines
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 1. Mac font notes
-
- 1.1. Font formats
-
- Postscript Type 1 fonts can be installed on the Macintosh only by using
- accompanying bitmapped fonts.
-
- Postscript Type 3 fonts are installed on the Macintosh in the same way
- that Type 1 fonts are.
-
- Truetype fonts: no bitmapped font is necessary with this type, though
- commonly used sizes are often supplied.
-
- Bitmap fonts: on the Macintosh, bitmap fonts also contain the kerning
- information for a font and must be installed with both type 1 and type
- 3 fonts. Their presence also speeds the display of commonly used font
- sizes.
-
- 1.2. Frequently requested fonts
-
- Many fonts are available at various archives. The king of Macintosh
- font archives is mac.archive.umich.edu. On mac.archive.umich.edu, the
- fonts are located in the following folders:
-
- /mac/system.extensions/font/type1
- " /type3
- " /truetype
-
-
- The following fonts are in Type 1 format for the Macintosh. Some are
- also available in TrueType format.
-
- Tamil Paladam, T. Govindram
-
- Hebrew ShalomScript, ShalomOldStyle, ShalomStick, Jonathan Brecher
-
- Japanese Shorai (Hirigana, with application)
-
- Star Trek StarTrekClassic, Star TrekClassicMovies, StarTrekTNGCrille,
- StarTrekTNG Titles, TNG monitors, StarFleet,
- Klinzai (Klingon font)
-
- Command-key Chicago (TrueType or bitmap, key: Ctrl-Q), Chicago Symbols
- symbol (Type3, key: 1), EncycloFont (Type3, key: d)
-
- Astrologic/ Hermetica (Type1), InternationalSymbols (Type 3, Mars and
- Astronomic Venus only), MortBats (Type3), Zodiac (bitmap)
- symbols
-
- Many of these mac fonts are available in files that are either entitled
- xxxx.sit or xxxx.cpt. xxxx.sit files are Stuffit archives. xxxx.cpt
- files are Compact Pro archives. StuffitLite (shareware $25) and Compact
- Pro (shareware $25) are available at the standard ftp sites.
- Uncompressors for these programs (free) are also available at the
- archive sites. Check the utilities/compression utilities folders.
-
- 1.3. Commercial font sources
-
- Commercial fonts can be obtained from a number of different companies,
- including the large font houses: Adobe, Font Haus, Font Company,
- Bitstream, and Monotype. At these companies, fonts cost about $40 for a
- single face, and must be purchased in packages. Adobe, Bitstream, and
- Monotype also sell pre-designated type collections for slightly lower
- prices.
-
- Image Club sells a wide selection of fonts for about $50 for a 4 font
- family.
-
- Other, cheaper companies sell fonts of lesser quality, including KeyFonts,
- which sells a set of 100 fonts for $50 and Cassady & Green's Fluent Laser
- Fonts, a set of 79 fonts for $99. Cassady & Greene also sells Cyrillic
- language fonts in Times, Bodoni, and Helvetica sell for about $40 for each
- 4 font family.
-
- Underground Phont Archive (Jason Osborne, V065HJKU@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu):
- is a distributor of shareware/freeware truetype fonts. Many of these
- fonts can also be obtained at the mac.archive.umich.edu archive site.
- Currently [ed: as of 7/92] 170 fonts, which are distributed for $35, +3
- shipping for overseas orders. (Some fonts may have additional shareware
- fees).
-
- Foreign language fonts, ranging from Egyptian hieroglyphics to Cyrillic
- can be obtained from Ecological Linguistics.
-
- Please consult the vendor list for a more complete list of vendors.
-
- 2. Font Installation
-
- System 7
-
- Install the fonts by opening the suitcase containing the bitmap file
- and dropping the fonts into your system suitcase, located inside your
- system folder. You will need to quit all other applications before
- doing this. For a TrueType font, the icon for the font will have
- several letters in it, instead of just one. Dropping it into your
- system suitcase will make all sizes of the font available. For
- Postscript type 1 fonts, you also need to place the printer font in
- the extensions folder in your system folder. If you are using ATM you
- need to place these fonts in the root level of your system folder
- (not inside another folder). Using Suitcase, a font management
- utility, you can avoid cluttering your system folder with printer
- fonts.
-
- You can make new suitcases of fonts (generally not needed, but used by
- those who use Suitcase) by using Font DA mover. It operates the same
- as in system 6, except that the most recent version must be used.
-
- System 6
-
- Bitmap fonts can be installed using Font DA mover to move the fonts,
- located inside suitcases, into your system. You will need to restart
- your computer to make these fonts available. Printer fonts must be
- placed in the system folder, not inside any other folder.
-
- Truetype fonts can be used with system 6 if you get the Truetype init.
- Then the fonts can be installed in your system with Font DA mover.
- Suitcase can also be used under system 6.
-
- 3. Font utilities
-
- SUITCASE
-
- Suitcase is a nifty little system extension that lets you avoid having
- to install fonts into your system. In system 6, it means that you can
- avoid restarting your system every time you want to install a new font.
-
- In system 7, Suitcase lets you avoid quitting all applications before
- making fonts available. Some programs, like Quark Xpress will
- automatically update their font list when you open a new suitcase,
- allowing much more flexibility in opening and closing font suitcases and
- making different sets of fonts available.
-
- Suitcase appears in your Apple menu in both system 7 and 6 and allows
- you to open suitcases, as though they were files, thus making the fonts
- contained in them accessible to programs.
-
- In addition, when suitcase is installed, printer fonts can be stored
- with the bitmap suitcases they correspond to, instead of having to drop
- them into your system folder.
-
- The most recent version of Suitcase is compatible with TrueType.
- Suitcase is about $54 form the mail order places.
-
- MASTER JUGGLER
-
- Claims to do similar things
-
- ATM
-
- Adobe Type Manager is an Init and Control panel allows accurate screen
- display, at any size of Postscript type 1 fonts. It's function is
- replicated with Truetype (but for different outline font format). With
- it installed, you can print fonts of any size to non-postscript
- printers. When using ATM, printer fonts must either be stored with the
- bitmap files opened with suitcase (when using Suitcase), or they must be
- stored in the root level of the system folder. ATM is now available,
- with the System 7.0 upgrade, as well as directly from adobe with 4
- Garamond fonts. It will supposedly be built into System 7.1.
-
- TTconverter
-
- A shareware accessory available at the usual archives will convert
- Truetype fonts for the IBM into Macintosh format.
-
- A variety of programs, for example, Font Harmony, etc. will allow you
- to change the names and ID numbers of your fonts.
-
- Fontmonger and Metamorphosis will let you convert fonts among several
- formats (type 1 and 3 and Truetype for the Mac and PC), as well as
- letting you extract the font outlines from the printer fonts.
-
- 4. Making outline fonts
-
- This is very, very difficult. Many people imagine that there are
- programs that will simply convert pictures into fonts for them. This
- is not the case; most fonts are painstakingly created by drawing
- curves that closely approximate the letterforms. In addition, special
- rules (which improve hinting, etc.) mandate that these curves be drawn
- in specific ways. Even designing, or merely digitizing, a simple font can
-
- take hundreds of hours.
-
- Given that, there are two major programs used for font design on the
- Macintosh, Fontographer ($280) and FontStudio ($400). These programs
- will allow you to import scanned images, and then trace them with
- drawing tools. The programs will then generate type 1, 3, TrueType
- and Bitmap fonts for either the Macintosh or the IBM PC. They will
- also generate automatic hinting. They also open previously constructed
- outline fonts, allowing them to be modified, or converted into another
- format.
-
- As far as I know, there are no shareware programs that allow you to
- generate outline fonts.
-
-
- 5. Problems and possible solutions
-
- 1) Another font mysteriously appears when you select a certain font for
- display. This is often the result of a font id conflict. All fonts on
- the Macintosh are assigned a font id, an integer value. When two fonts
- have the same id, some programs can become confused about the
- appropriate font to use. Microsoft word 4.0 used font id's to assign
- fonts, not their names. Since id's can be different on different
- computers, a word document's font could change when it was moved from
- one computer to another. Other signs of font id problems are
- inappropriate kerning or leading (the space between lines of text).
- Some font ID problems can be resolved by using Suitcase, which will
- reassign font ID's for you, as well as saving a font ID file that can
- be moved from computer to computer to keep the id's consistent. Font
- ID problems can also be solved with several type utilities, which will
- allow you to reassign font id's. Most newer programs refer to fonts
- correctly by name instead of id number, which should reduce the
- frequency of this problem.
-
- 2) When using a document written in MSWord 5.0, the font mysteriously
- changes when you switch from your computer at home to work, or vice
- versa. This is the result of a bug in MSWord 5.0. The MSWord 5.0
- updater, which can be found at the info-mac archives at sumex (in the
- demo folder), will fix this bug.
-
- 6. Creating Mac screen fonts from Type 1 outlines
-
- A)
- Berthold K.P. Horn <bkph@ai.mit.edu> contributes the following solution.
-
- This is a commercial solution. A font manipulation package from Y&Y
- includes:
-
- AFMtoPFM, PFMtoAFM, AFMtoTFM, TFMtoAFM, AFMtoSCR, SCRtoAFM, TFMtoMET,
- PFBtoPFA, PFAtoPFB, MACtoPFA, PFBtoMAC, REENCODE, MODEX, DOWNLOAD,
- SERIAL, and some other stuff I forget.
-
- To convert PC Type 1 fonts to MacIntosh use PFBtoMAC on the outline
- font itself; then use AFMtoSCR to make the Mac `screen font'
- (repository of metric info). You may need to use PFMtoAFM to first
- make AFM file.
-
- To convert MacIntosh font to PC Type 1, use MACtoPFA, followed by
- PFAtoPFB. Then run SCRtoAFM on screen font to make AFM file.
- Finally, run AFMtoPFM to make Windows font metric file.
-
- Y&Y are the `TeX without BitMaps' people (see ad in TUGboat):
-
- Y&Y makes DVPSONE, DVIWindo, and fonts, for use with TeX mostly,
- in fully hinted Adobe Type 1 format.
-
- Y&Y, 106 Indian Hill, Carlisle MA 01741 USA
- (800) 742-4059
- (508) 371-3286 (voice)
- (508) 371-2004 (fax)
-
- B)
- Mac Screen fonts can be constructed from outline fonts using
- Fontographer, as well.
-
- -- END OF PART II --
-