#Need Font Previewer
3 messages in this thread
Bob,
As Gary already said the Postscript fonts on the R3 CDRom are fully compliant
with the Type 1 spec. There are a number of reasons that most programs like
FontMinder won't read them and print them.
Reason #1 – Only the PFB's are included on the CDRom. 3D Studio only needs the
vector information from the font code. Since 3DS only needs to pull the vector
info to create the curves in the Shaper, that's the only part of the postscript
file that is included.
Reason #2 – The R3 PFB's are fully ISO Latin 1 compliant. In short that means
that instead of just having the standard US character set, they also have alot
of characters from other lanquages. This makes the PFB alot larger and more
complex than the average font and alot of programs choke when they try to deal
with them.
Reason #3 – I made the fonts specifically for 3DS. If I had made the fonts for
use with word processing and printing programs, they would've been designed
differently, and would've been supplied with alot of supplemental info so that
they would work within the various quirks of Dos and Windows based text
programs. Since I was out to "Optimize" the sets specifcally for 3DS, lots of
supplemental info, i.e. font metrics were left out.
Reason #4 – There are a number of other reasons that probably don't need to be
listed.
After saying all of that, When the R3 CDRom was compiled there were a series of
Gif files created to enable the end user to quickly flip through them and see
what the various font styles looked like. If you simply print the files out,
you'll have a great way of showing them to clients. The Gif files are in the
same directory on the CDRom.
Hope This Helps, Paul
P.S. – If you have further questions don't hesitate to ask.
Paul,
Yes, I printed the Gif samples from the CD, but they didn't print out as clean
as when using render to hardcopy. I set the resolution to 1200 x 1400 for the
RHPADI output. It's a bit more work to generate the font samples from the
Shaper to the Lofter to the Editor….. but I needed specific characters.
Another point. My ALR P-90 with 136 MB of Ram crashed during this process. It
hung after activating RENDER. No such problem with one of the 486-66's/32MB.
Of course, I was running 3DS3 on the 486, and 3DS4 on the Pentium; switching
dongles, natch. <g> NOT. Maybe it was that dam@#! block.
Cheers,
BB
Bob,
Another problem in printing the fonts is in the fact that they have "no"
hinting info, so instead of clean text like you're used to in word processing
programs, you'll end up with jaggedy text that may not be pleasant for your
clients to view.
At the same time I created those fonts, I also created a fully hinted set to
supplement the fonts in print media. I often work on projects that need to have
matching animation and hardcopy for discriminating clients. 🙂
A year or so ago I printed all of the fonts out and sent copies to a few 3DS
animation shops. If you "REALLY" need a set, I suppose I could do it again.
Paul