Re: Problem with type 42 font

[Tom Kacvinsky <tjk@ams.org>]

Hi,

I made a Type42 font of the MS's Times New Roman using ttftot42(*),
and I had the same problems.  I used MS's ttfdump to get the tables,
and the 'vhea' table is missing.  According to the Type 42
specification (*), the 'vhea' table is required by the Type42
rasterizer.  But I also had problems with Chicago (from Apple)
(ttftot42 said that this was in an invalid TrueType format), and
Verdana (which you didn't seem to have a problem with).  However, If I
use the MacOS version of the font and Apple's LaserWriter driver
(which will write out Type 42 fonts). Times New Roman caused *no*
problems with Distiller, but it did cause problems with GhostScript.
In fact, all of the type 42 fonts put out by ttftot42 have problems with
both gs and Distiller, whereas LaserWriter Type 42 fonts will Distill
fine but choke gs.  I suspect that gs doesn't have as robust a Type 42
rasterizer as a CPSI, and that ttftot42 isn't writing compliant Type 42
fonts.

I had problems with ttf2ps. I couldn't get it to write out a PS file
from a TrueType font.  What version are you using?  Where did you get
it?  The copy I am using I found at

http://www.leo.org/pub/comp/usenet/comp.sources.postscript/ttf2ps/ttf2ps.tar.gz/.

Oh yeah, there are some gotchas listed in the Type 42 spec about the
format of the /sfnt array.  It has to do with the alignment of TT
tables and glyph descriptions.  I am not sure if ttftot42 is
"compliant" in this case, as I haven't groked the code just yet.

References:

 *  http://ftp.giga.or.at/pub/nih/ttftot42
**  http://partners.adobe.com/supportservice/devrelations/PDFS/TN/5012.Type42_Spec.pdf)


Regards,

Tom

> 
> I don't know if anyone on this list is sufficiently familiar with Type 42 fonts:
> 
> I wanted to try ttf2ps, and took the most common font: times.ttf (the WGL4 version
> as it is included in Win95, WinNT or as it can be fetched from www.microsoft.com/typography)
> When I convert it to times.pfa and try to use it in a file, I get the following
> error message in GhostScript 5.50 (both Linux and Mac):
> 
> Aladdin Ghostscript 5.50 (1998-9-16)
> Copyright (C) 1998 Aladdin Enterprises, Menlo Park, CA.  All rights reserved.
> This software comes with NO WARRANTY: see the file PUBLIC for details.
> GS>{ [72.0 72.0] [612.0 792.0] 8 4 1 (temp0000.ps) false .newwindow  (Klein:Desktop Folder:temp0000.ps) run } .runjob
> Error: /rangecheck in --.type42execchar--
> Operand stack:
>    --dict:13/14(L)--   103   g   74
> Execution stack:
>    %interp_exit   .runexec2   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--   0   3   %oparray_pop   --nostringval--   %loop_continue   1   3   %oparray_pop   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   false   1   %stopped_push   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   false   1   %stopped_push   1   3   %oparray_pop   1   3   %oparray_pop   .runexec2   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--   1   4   %oparray_pop   %finish_show   3   4   0   0   --nostringval--   (gs_show_enum)   %op_show_continue   --nostringval--   --nostringval--
> Dictionary stack:
>    --dict:858/941(G)--   --dict:0/20(G)--   --dict:50/200(L)--   --dict:100/300(L)--
> Current allocation mode is local
> Current file position is 613261
> 
> The same file is converted perfectly into PDF by Distiller. I get this error message only
> with times.ttf: other styles (times(i|bd|bi).ttf) and other fonts (arial, verdana, georgia, etc.)
> all display correctly under GhostScript. 
> 
> have you any idea where this error comes from? Is the problem in GhosScript or in the font
> or in ttf2ps??
> 
> Thanks in advance for any hint
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Yannis
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