#FontConversion
10 messages in this thread
I have run into difficulty trying to get some PostScript fonts I
downloaded working. I am using FontManager with ProPage V3.0.
The first font was .lzh archived. When unarchived, it left a readme.txt
and two other files with extensions ".afm" and ".pfb". What do those
extensions mean and what are those files contents?
When I run FontManager, I get an error message "Loader error could not
load .afm file". The other file does seem to convert and the fontname
appears in my CG Fonts (dir). It seems to work with ProPage.
The other font was archived and unpacked with .LhA. When I use
FontManager to try and convert the files, I get the same error message on
the .amf file. Also, when I try to convert the .pfb file, it starts the
process, then puts up the same error message about the .afm file.
What gives? The description of these files indicated they were tested
with FontManager and would work.
Any help would be much appreciated. Also, if there is a good explanatory
textfile on fonts, PostScript files and converting them for ProPage use in
this library, I think I could use some help! I am not a C Programmer, so
language intelligible to a non-techie would be best.
Thanks, George Roland
George –
I do the same as you do. First a few questions.
Are you clicking on the .pfb file and then converting? It is the
"printer" file that is what FontManager uses to convert.
The .afm stands for Adobe Font Metric and that is the file (to my
understanding) that contains the information to create the font.
I will wait for the answer to the above question, for doing that I have
had no problems with most of the fonts. You are running the updated 3.0
Fontmanager I assume.
Jack
Jack, I clicked on the pfb file then converted. I also tried clicking on
the .amf file to convert as well, but got the erroe message I noted in my
first posting. I am using the V3.0 of ProPage. When I just checked
FontManager, I notice it states V1.0 FontManager (c) 1992. I assume this is
the latest version of FM? George
George–
You should not have to click on the .afm file to convert the font.
You should just click on the .pfb file, and if the font mane matches the
.afm if should perform the task automatically.
And my Fontmanager also says V1.0
Shrugging shoulders, Corupt .pfb file??>
—Jack
Jack,
Thanks for your reply. I tried your suggestion on many of the fonts in the
FONTS1.LZH file I downloaded and they converted fine. On the Blocky.lha
file, I'm beginning to suspect the lha archiving utility I downloaded…I
think it might be what's corrupted.
Best, George wexit
George
The file with the .pfb extension is a PostScript font file (Printer Font
Binary is what it satnds for) and is the file which is converted by
FontManager.
The .afm file contains additional information about the font for use with
DTP packages (Adobe Font Metric). When FontManager does the conversion of
the .pfb it will take a look at the .afm file at the same time to glean
that additional information.
If you clicked on the .afm file to convert, you will get an error message
(because you're trying to convert a file which isn't actually a font file).
On your other font, you're also trying to convert the .afm file … you
shouldn't try this, and you will always get that error message.
However, you say that when you try to convert the second font's .pfb you
get the `unable to load .afm' message … that is either because the .afm
isn't in the same directory as the .pfb (although I'd have thought it would
have been), or that there's somthing wrong with the .afm file which is
almost impossible to diagnose at a distance.
Unfortunately, FontManager has very poor error reporting, so it's difficult
to work out what is failing.
Anyway, I hope this helps clarify things a little.
Mike (from the UK)
George,
You have both the .AFM and the .PFB files in the same directory? What
are the names of the files you donwloaded? You only click on the
printer.PFB file and not the .AFM file. Please give us some more
information, so we can better help you.
Chris
Chris,
The files were Blocky.lha and Fonts1.lzh. I'm pretty sure the .amf and .pfb
files were both in the same directory. It was just the root directory of a
floppy where I had the compressed file I downloaded and the unpacked files
which came from it.
Hope this info helps clarify things a bit more.
Thanks to all who replied, hope you can enlighten me some more!
Best, George
George,
Which fonts in Font1.lzh won't convert? I remember going through the
entire FontsX.lzh series of files and found problems with any font made
with Fontographer version 3.5. They wouldn't convert in FontManager, but
worked in Pagestream. You can check the version number by loading the .PFB
into a text editor and looking for Generated by Fontographer 3.5. This one
I found was Elizabeth-Ann, in Fonts1.LZH
Chris
Chris,
All the fonts in FONTS1.LZH converted just fine. The other one,
Blocky.lha will not convert. I may have downloaded a corrupted file, I
don't know!
George