CompuServe Messages

Chris Wilson: The 3 major bitmap font editors for the PC are "Fontgen" by VS Software "PTF" (Publisher's Type Foundry) by Zsoft "Font Editor" by Softcraft I would avoid the Softcraft, though I recommend their "Font Effect" package for dressing up existing fonts. Fontgen has most features you might want; PTF Bitmap is a little less capable. (PTF contains an outline and a bitmap editor.) PTF Bitmap is a little easier to use but runs under Windows, and thus is much slower than Fontgen. You'll need a 286 for Fontgen but a 386 for PTF. Overall I favor Fontgen, but not by much. If you want to scan fonts from paper and then edit them, it can be done simply (but slowly) with PTF Bitmap and the Windows clipboard. Outline Editing: Outline fonts are attractive in theory, but PTF's results are not good. It is incomplete and certainly inferior to outline editors on other platforms. The editor features are fine, but it cannot deliver fonts to a useful form, i.e. LaserJet or Postscript format. Using a single outline font, you can create any size of LaserJet bitmap font. PTF stumbles here. The bitmap fonts it produces are poor quality; the edges are crude in sizes below 18 point. "Font Hinting" technology is necessary for good outline/bitmap font conversion. The PTF convertor could be replaced with custom software incorporating hinting. The issue of font hinting comes up with Postscript, too. PTF produces unhinted Postscript Type 3 fonts. Adobe soft fonts are in Postscript Type 1 hinted format. As with the LaserJet, unhinted fonts look crude at sizes less than 18 points. This applies to 300 or 400 dpi printers; at 1200 or 2400 dpi, font hinting is not necessary. It is quite possible to write a program add hinting to a Postscript type 3 font. Summary For LaserJet bitmap font editing, get Fontgen or PTF. For outline font editing with PTF, to produce LaserJet or Postscript fonts, you will need some serious custom programming. Otherwise, you'll have to put up with unhinted fonts (which certainly are not commercial quality). Lee-Jeff Bell [Rubicon Computer Labs]