#PStream and CG?>
16 messages in this thread
I hear that PageStream can use Compugraphic fonts? Is that true? Can it
use the fonts from GoldDisk directly or do they have to be converted? Also,
what does it do for screen representations of these fonts?
Jim: yes, PageStream can use Compugraphic fonts. PageStream has the latest
Compugraphic Bullet technology in it. PgS can use any Compugraphic
Intellifont including those from Gold Disk. PageStream ships with ten
Compugraphic fonts, including four weights of CS Times and two weights of
CS Triumvirate, plus four weights of Garamond. Compugraphic fonts are
rendered as outlines to the screen at all sizes, plus we allow optional
bitmapped screen fonts to be used under a certain size for fast body type.
SL Tech
I have tried to use Gold Disk fonts.. and indeed telephone you regarding
fact that they did not work. I have a fax from support stating that the fix
to the problem involved using a disk editor to path the PS files generated
by ppages Make PS utility. Does the aforementioned comments mean you have
fixed this problem? If not… then why make it sound so easy – and as yet I
still havn't heard as to how to fix the fonts…? (We desktop publish a
full colour magazine using the Amiga every two months0)
Gold Disk CG fonts DO work with PageStream. The CG Dingbats and Symbols
fonts do NOT work because the character mapping is off. Another FONTSS is
required. It is on the wishlist. Zapf Chancery does not work for some
unknown reason. All other GD fonts are reported to work by users and
betatesters. I do not know about the Make PS utility. I have a GD font
package somewhere and will try to get a chance to try it soon. If you
publish a full color magazine please don't use CG fonts since you almost
certainly use PostScript. Purchase the PS Plus Pack from Soft-Logik ($75)
and you can use the 35 built-in fonts without hassles. For other fonts,
wait for our 600 Type 1 fonts. (Coming real soon now. They are truly
beautiful fonts.)
SL Tech
Sorry, I must have been a bit vague.. you're correct that we are using
Postscript (how else do you do anything in the way of serious publishing)
and that is my problem.. the CG fonts don't work. After a long phone call
with your support team and a fax from someone there promising there would
be a fix real soon now I have heard nothing. So you're telling me they do
work… Okay… I have another problem. Create a page, see how many 8-bit
scans you can import.. On our 9 MB machine we run out of memory after the
first! This is nuts.. Propage will let you handle many in one folio,
pagestream seems to think there ain;t enough room! What's the deal? Are you
guys storing every IFF imiage that's imported in CHIP RAM or something? How
can you possibly do professional DTP if you can only fit ONE scan in a
document! Does 2.2 fix this? How do we get the update? Thanks, Andrew
Farrell Editor, Australian Commodore and Amiga Review Professional Amiga
User \exit
Andy,
I import six & seven B&W scanned images into a single PgS page all the time
without any problems on my 6 meg A3000 (2meg Chip/4 meg fast). Are you
closing the import window for each graphic import after making your
crop/copy selection?
– Whapping from the North Coast Michael
Are we talking 8-biy images here? That's what I'm having trouble with. (And
yes I do close the import window.) (That should read 8-BIT as in 256 grey
scale)
Andy,
Now that you mention it, hten graphics that I import into PgS are 2
bitplane B&W scans… I use dithering instead of greyscale… hmmmm, I'll
have to try and import some 24 bit stuff and see how far I get… I'll let
you know!
– Whapping from the North Coast Michael
Bitmap graphics are handled differently in PGS than in ProPage. The
pictures are stored in the main file, not separately. This means you need
room for all the scans in ram. Now, this is somewhat limiting, unless you
have loads of ram. (Just for interest, the scanned photograph in our 2.2 ad
is 20 megs, and was edited into the PostScript file since it was too big
for ram.) Bitmap picture handling changes are on the wishlist. BTW,
remember, if you import a pic, two copies are put in ram: one in the doc,
one in the cutcopy buffer. Therefore, to free up that memory, copy a small
object and you'll get some ram back.
SL Tech
Cheats! Fancy doctoring the output like that! I am disillusioned. Your ad
should clearly state the program does not handle the scan in your example.
If you guys are serious about professional DTP you've got to get this sort
of stuff up to scratch.
Andrew:
Doctoring software ads is, unfortunately, commonplace. The worst example is
say, a paint program which features a beautiful rendering that was created
with the help of a multitude of other graphic programs and which took
hundreds of man hours of tweaking to complete. Yet none of that is
mentioned in the ad. The prospective buyer is lead to believe that they too
could create such a masterpeice in no time at all and with no effort. One
rather large company is guilty of this, but I don't think I'll mention any
names (you know who you are!:)
Gary
– Mirror Image Prod. (416) 495-7469, via WHAP!
Gary–
I hope that you're not talking about the incredible HAM-Tut image that
was on EA's mega-postcard promotional for the DpaintIV upgrade. I mean,
it's so beautiful that it had to have sprung from the the artist's brain,
onto the screen…instantaneously…
Jonathan
Jonathan – from Albany, NY, via whap!
Sounds good. Is the screen representation part of the font, then? How do
you get that part from a font?
And what is a Bullet?
thanks.
Jim: I assume your question referred to CG fonts. Bullet technology is the
CG routines which are incorportated into PageStream and licensed from AGFA
Compugraphic. PageStream is the only Amiga desktop publisher with Bullet
technology. Other desktop publishers which use CG fonts use older and
slower font technology. The outlines on screen are rendered from the main
font file. Bitmap screen fonts are provided for Times and Triumvirate in
Soft-Logik format to speed body type up.
SL Tech
You should perhaps have remembered that ProPage caches its fonts on disk,
which makes on-screen rendering very fast after a character has been drawn
for the first time.
PageStream, on the other hand, does not and so has to render from the main
font files wherever a bitmap equivalent is not available. The fact that PS
uses Bullet technology makes little difference, since it is still a lot
slower than rendering direct from the cached bitmaps.
Even with PS's Bullet technology, ProPage is very much faster at times
(using non-cached fonts).
Mike (Whapping from the UK)
PgS does not cache fonts on disk because you can only cache certain sizes.
We decided forcing the user to choose the optimal caching system was stupid
because it forces the user to plan ahead to decide what is needed, and is
far too complex for Joe User. PgS decides which sizes it should cache and
how much memory should be used — it's all dynamic. PgS does not have to
render from the main font file if the bitmap is not in the cache. This is
identical to ProPage. However, if you don't have enough memory for caching,
PgS will have to get it off of disk. This is why ram is so important. 3 to
4 megs is required for serious use. I have 6 on my system and CG fonts fly.
SL Tech