OpenType Fonts

[Christina Thiele]

Penny writes:
>
> Good Morning All
>
> I have a question, probably a stupid one, but I need someone to help me out
> with. Is it possible to use an OpenType font with the YandY system, I'm on
> a NT4 operating system, so just getting the font into my machine is going
> to be a challenge, but once I do get this font into my machine, am I going
> to be able to use it in TeX, and be able to create Postscript files with
> it. This font was supplied by a customer, that wants it used in the
> creation of their book.
>
> Thanks for any help or advice that you may be able to give on this subject.
> Penny
> Bookcomp, Inc.
>


Hi there. There was a discussion of OpenType fonts several months ago
(Sept 15 and 16) -- the three most pertinent messages appear below.

As well, I've added in my own initial response, which was pretty
rambling, but did point to various tools and .txt help files available
in various locations in the c:\yandy tree. They don't address
OpenType, since I don't know anything about it ;-). But they do
provide background info on what TeX and PS printers need in terms of
font file formats, and so make it easier to understand why one has to
get from an OpenType file format into a more `recognisable' format for
use with Y&YTeX.

I don't believe we ever got a reply back from the original poster, as
to whether any of this worked for him ;-) I've added his original post
at the very end, so you can see what he was encountering at the time.

And perhaps, in the intervening months, others have made use of
OpenType fonts and can tell how they did it.

Ch.

===============

...

Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 06:27:05 -0400
From: Tom Kacvinsky <tkacvins at cox.net>
Subject: Re: Bickham Script Standard (OpenType)  Font
To: Techsupport at yandy.com

...

Hi,

The "problem" with OpenType fonts and Y&Y TeX/DVIPSONE (and not just
those tools) is that OpenType fonts are self contained.  They contain
the Type 1 outlines in what is called a CFF table (using Type 2 format
for teh charstring byte code), the equivalent of an AFM file in yet
another table, and enought enough information in other tables that
when combined with the metrics information is enough to get a PFM.

I would suggest trying out Eddie Kohler's *excellent* LCDF Typetools:

    http://www.lcdf.org/type/#typetools

which will make both a PFB and a TFM.  Getting a PFM file is another
extra step, but I believe the Y&Y FMP has a tool for generating a PFM
from an AFM file.  Getting the AFM file can be accomplished by using
other tools out on the INternet (google is you friend).

Let me know if you need further "assistance".

Regards,

Tom

==================

...

Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 10:19:08 -0400
To: techsupport at yandy.com
Subject: some Adobe web pages for OpenType ... and "other"  font information
...
From: Mimi Burbank <mimi at csit.fsu.edu>
...

For those of you interested in the Font Discussions of late, you might
want to go to the Adobe Web site and download the following pdf
files...  It has been my experience in the past that some of the Adobe
web pages "disappear" - and I don't believe the files should be copied
and placed on another web site ....


entries are all between the   === sets ...

mimi

========
Type 1 Fonts, TrueType Fonts, OpenType Fonts, and ATM for
Windows General Information
   http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/2f26a.htm


For more information about OpenType font files, see the OpenType User
Guide at www.adobe.com/type/browser/pdfs/OTGuide.pdf

^^^   I downloaded this and printed it out.. It is good info
for a "non font specialist"  like me  ;-)
=======

Installing and Using ATM Light for Fonts Purchased from Adobe Store
   http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/2f236.htm
========

*this one is a really neat one*

How Acrobat Distiller and Acrobat PDFWriter Handle Fonts
   http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/12f6e.htm


About Windows and Mac OS Fonts
How Acrobat Distiller and Acrobat PDFWriter Use Fonts
How Font Types Affect Text in PDF Files

This document describes how Adobe Acrobat Distiller and Acrobat
PDFWriter use font information when they create Adobe PDF files.
========

Adobe Type Manager Deluxe 4.1 for Windows Press Release
   http://www.adobe.com/support/salesdocs/f7ba.htm

New Version of Font Management Utility Offers More Versatile
Management of OpenType, PostScript and TrueType Fonts ....
 ....
ATM Deluxe 4.1 also allows customers to export font sets to other
users, apply font smoothing to screen fonts, and view and print font
samples without having to activate the fonts.
 ...
=====

ATM 4.1 Light and ATM 4.1 Deluxe for Windows Feature Comparison
   http://www.adobe.com/support/salesdocs/432e.htm

Adobe Type Manager (ATM) 4.1 Light and ATM 4.1 Deluxe for Windows
enable Type 1 fonts (sometimes called PostScript fonts) and OpenType
fonts to be smooth and sharp on-screen and in print. ATM also provides
automatic font substitution and enables you to create Multiple Master
font instances.

ATM Deluxe also lets you do the following:
-- Automatically activate and deactivate fonts
-- Display and print font samples
-- Manage OpenType, Type 1, and TrueType fonts by creating custom font sets
-- Install and use 15 included Adobe Originals Type 1 fonts

===================

...

From: Christina Thiele <cthiele at ccs.carleton.ca>
...
Subject: Re: Bickham Script Standard (OpenType)  Font
To: Techsupport at yandy.com
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 10:18:40 -0400 (EDT)
...

Great info, Tom.

And yes, the Outline Font and Font Metricks Manipulation Package (no
wonder it's abbreviated to `FMP'!) does indeed have conversion
tools. Here's the list as I go through the first part of the manual:

   PFBtoPFA
   PFAtoPFB
   MACtoPFA
   PFBtoMAC
   AFMtoSCR
   SCRtoAFM
   AFMtoPFM  <-- here it is!
   PFMtoAFM
   AFMtoTFM  <-- another one you want
   TFMtoAFM
   TFMtoMET
   METtoTFM
   REENCODE
   PFAtoAFM
   SAFESEAC

Along with some auxiliary programs: MODEX, SERIAL, DOWNLOAD, NAMECASE
... hmmm ... the package sure seems to have lots of stuff. A few of
these also look familiar ...

I just checked on my machine and by gar! I've got afmtopfm -- it's in
c:\yandy\util. The \util folder seems to have a lot of .exe tools
... take a look! I think the Technical Manual is your best bet on
finding more details on how to use them.

Good luck. And let us know how things progress, because you surely
aren't the only person who's going to look at OpenType fonts.

Ch.

===================
===================


...
Subject: Re: Bickham Script Standard (OpenType)  Font
To: Techsupport at yandy.com
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 21:55:20 -0400 (EDT)

...

Like Mimi Burbank, I'm another member of the volunteer support team
for Y&YTeX.


As you mention, PS fonts are distributed with .pfb and .pfm files,
which don't come with OpenType fonts. PS fonts also come with .afm
files -- but you didn't mention if these are the format that OpenType
fonts use.

What format file(s) do OpenType fonts then use? I guess we can't help
with info on generating the correct file formats if we don't know what
you're starting with ;-)

On your machine, in c:\yandy\doc-misc, there's a file called
psfonts.txt, which has a comment to the effect that .afm files are the
`ultimate repository of metric information'. So it would seem that if
you have the .afm file, then you've got what you need to generate a
.tfm file -- in the appropriate encoding. You'll need to check what
encoding (if not the default texnansi) is set up for your Y&YTeX
installation.

IF we're lucky, and you have .afm files, then we're laughin', as they
say: in order to get the font to work with TeX, a .tfm file has to be
generated via the utility afmtotfm.exe. Details are in the smaller
manual (section 3.7.2 Installing and Using Fonts), and in various
places in the larger Technical Addendum.

====

In the interim ... I've located a few documents and texts which might
also help provide useful information.

Pp.4-5 of the Technical Manual provide a list of the main font file
formats, what each contains, and then which ones are needed by either
DVIWindo or DVIPSONE. The former uses both .pfb and .pfm files; the
latter accesses info only from .pfb files. Notice the final para. on
p.5 (before section 2.3): all of the files have to be consistent in
the choice of encoding schemes.

You mention dvips -- my understanding (and it may be incorrect) is
that dvips will not yield you anything useful with Y&YTeX, which needs
its own driver, DVIPSONE, to function properly and fully.


I'm finding a lot of interesting and probably useful things on fonts
in the Technical Addendum -- much of it I don't understand, of
course. But the detail and trouble-shooting is not to be sneezed at
... I think that someone who's patient enough to read through this
techno-font-babble (and I don't expect there's any easy way to really
discuss it) may well find the little tricks and details that need to
be checked out in cases where things go wrong: mis-matched encodings,
mis-match in font names (or `Font Names', as this seems to be a label
with a specific meaning attached to it), faulty or left-over font
names, and so on and so forth.

Indeed, there are a lot of interesting .txt files in that
c:\yandy\doc-misc folder. Granted, many are old, but when they talk
about standard font file formats, I don't know that the info has
changed all that much.  OpenType clearly is new, though ... so I guess
we'll find out more as others post about their experiences.

Oh, something else. You mention you're using XP and 2.2 ... on the
techsupport list, we've just been discussing the use of ATM to
_manage_ fonts (not _install_ then, which is not correct when it comes
to an XP or Win2000 machine). We're seeing some people say that ATM is
very helpful in making (some) fonts work/behave properly in Y&YTeX.

If you aren't yet a member of the techsupport, I strongly urge you to
join, as there are others who may well have experience with OpenType
and XP and Y&YTeX (details under `Support', at www.yandy.com).

I hope this helps you get started. Please sign up to `techsupport' and
post your messages there, as that's where I send all replies, to
ensure other users can also benefit from both queries and (efforts to
find) answers. And where my `impressions' are corrected by more
knowledgeable users ... ;-)

Ch.

=======================
=======================

> Wei-Chau Xie writes:
> >
> > Dear Sir/Madam:
> >
> > I just purchased Adobe Birkham Script Standard (OpenType) font and
> > installed it on my PC running XP Pro. I use Y&Y TeX Release 2.2. I could
> > view the font on DVIWindo correctly. However, I could NOT use DVIPSONE
> > to print the page to a Postscript printer NOR use dvips to generate
> > postscript file--the system shows an error message saying that the font
> > cannot be found. The font works fine on other software, such as
> > Microsoft Word.
> >
> > I have various postscript fonts, including Mupltiple Master fonts
> > (MinionMM), installed in the system and they run perfectly in Y&Y TeX.
> > This is the first time that I use OpenType fonts in Y&Y TeX. Unlike
> > postscript fonts, OpenType fonts do not come with .pfb and .pfm files.
> > What files is DVIPSONE or dvips looking for? How can I generate them and
> > where should I put them? Your help is very much appreciated.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Wei-Chau Xie
> > =================================================================
> > ...