Adobe NFNTs?
2 messages in this thread
Despite what Compugraphic claims, The faces that iI've seen so far from
them look identical to those created with Fontogrpapher, not the big
proprietary system Adobe uses (I was led to believe they were using more
"advanced" software…but I'm not knocking Fontographer either).
The problem that ANY company (other than Adobe) has in designing fonts
is the "hinting" that Adonbe encodes into their fonts…they won't release
the algorithims they use to "fix" fonts at smaller sizes, so only Adobe
fonts print perfectly on an LW.
I've been following the threads on NFNTs and Compugraphic fonts the past
couple weeks with great interest. This is probably the biggest burst of
activity I've seen on this forum since it started.
Our service bureau, Central Graphics in San Diego, is also following the
discussion about whether to offer other fonts than Adobe. We of course have
the full Adobe library. At least in our area, there hasn't been any
clamoring for Compugraphic fonts, although there are a fair number of
non-Adobe fonts (usually Fontographer-created) around.
In addition to the fact that non-Adobe fonts don't contain the "hints" for
low-resolution printers that the Adobe fonts do, one seldom-discussed
difference between the two is how the fonts are stored on a Linotronic
RIP's hard disk (or in fact on the hard disk of any PostScript printer).
You can store Compugraphic or other non-Adobe fonts on a hard disk if you
use the Apple-developed downloading program available with the Laserwriter
NTX. (I got a copy from a utility disk distributed by QMS with its
printers). However, Adobe fonts are stored in such a way that when used
only about 6 Kb of data have to be loaded into memory. The rest of the data
from the font can be pulled from the hard disk. With non-Adobe fonts, even
when they are stored on a printer hard disk, the entire font must be loaded
into printer memory, even when only one character is being used. This is
detailed in one of the Technical Notes in the Aldus Forum.
While PageMaker's Aldus driver is very skillful in moving fonts in and out
of printer memory, the Apple driver doesn't do so well. I've noticed that
Xpress files, for example, which use non-Adobe fonts run into more memory
problem on the Linotronic than Adobe fonts for this reason. This is another
issue that other font vendors are going to have to cope with until most
PostScript printers have enough RAM to handle large number of fonts in
memory.
BTW, an article about PostScript printers and fonts in the latest issue of
Seybold Report on Desktop Publishing stated that the current Compugraphic
fonts are indeed created with Fontograper.