Mac, PC, PostScript, TrueType, OpenType – universal font converter User’s manual for macintosh pro TransType
TransType Pro Copyright ©1992-2005 by Fontlab, Ltd. All rights reserved. Cover illustration: Paweł Jońca, pejot.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher. Any software referred to herein is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license.
Contents CONTENTS 3 INTRODUCTION 7 USER INTERFACE 9 Source Fonts List 10 Destination Fonts List 13 Pop-up Buttons 14 Macro Pop-up 15 Command Buttons 16 CONVERSION PROCESS 17 Converting a Sample Font 18 Adding Fonts to the Source List 21 Previewing Fonts 23 Setting Conversion Options 25 General Conversion Options Destination File Options 27 29 PC to Macintosh Conversion 31 TrueType Fonts Changing Font Format Reencoding Symbol Encoding Unicode Mapping Defining the Source Encoding
TransType Pro Macintosh to PC Conversion TrueType Fonts Type 1 Fonts TrueType<->Type 1 Conversion Type 1 Options General Type 1 Options Metrics Options Macintosh Suitcase Options TrueType Options General TrueType/OpenType TT Options Embedding And Identification Options OpenType Fonts OpenType Features Converting OpenType Fonts OpenType PS Options OpenType Layout Options OpenType Properties The Output Panel 60 61 62 63 63 64 65 66 66 69 71 72 73 73 75 76 78 FontLab (VFB) Font Conversion 79 TrueType F
Contents BIBLIOGRAPHY 97 SUPPORT 99 A NOTE ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 101 APPENDIX A BASICS OF DIGITAL FONT ORGANIZATION 103 Definitions 104 5
Introduction TransType Pro is a TrueType, PostScript Type 1 and OpenType font conversion utility. It can convert PC fonts to Macintosh, Macintosh fonts to PC, Type 1 fonts to TrueType or OpenType, TrueType fonts to Type 1 or OpenType, and OpenType fonts to TrueType or Type 1. Moreover it can do platform and format conversions at the same time. There are several important features that make TransType Pro different from other font conversion programs: 1.
TransType Pro 5. You can quickly and easily preview the fonts that are not installed in your System. 6. TransType Pro can convert from VFB (FontLab’s internal format) into TrueType, OpenType or Type 1. TransType Pro can also convert from PC TrueType font collection (TTC) format. 7. TransType Pro can additionally process the converted fonts with Python macro scripts. The MacPython interpreter must be installed to use this feature. 8. If a StuffIt product is installed TransType Pro can also accept .
User Interface TransType’s Main Window consists of several parts: the Source and Destination lists, the Preview field, the Legend fields, the Macro pop-up menu and the Command buttons.
TransType Pro Source Fonts List The Source list contains the names of the fonts (PC and Macintosh in TrueType, OpenType, FontLab (VFB) or Type 1 formats) that you are going to convert. You can convert all different kinds of fonts in one step and TransType will automatically convert Macintosh fonts to PC and vice versa. TrueType and OpenType PS will be converted to TrueType and Type 1 to Type 1 by default.
User Interface As you can see, the presentation of different kinds of fonts in this list depends on the font’s platform and type. The following icons are used: Macintosh font suitcase. Click on the blue triangle to the left of the folder icon to see the contents of the suitcase. Click with the Option key depressed to open all the suitcases. Click again with the Option key down to close them all.
TransType Pro To the right of the font name you will see style icons, which give you the information about the font’s style. Only 4 main styles can be recognized: Font is Italic Font is Bold Font is Bold Italic Font is Plain The Preview field is located below the font list. It contains a short text preview of the font currently selected in the source list. You can switch the preview off by clicking the triangle at the left. The Legend panel is located below the preview field.
User Interface Destination Fonts List The Destination fonts list is located in the right part of the TransType Main Window: Destination Fonts List The Destination list contains the names of fonts as they will look after conversion. If you are converting PC fonts to Macintosh it will contain Macintosh font suitcases that will be automatically generated by TransType.
TransType Pro Pop-up Buttons The items in Source and Destination lists contain pop-up buttons ( ) located at the right of the font and suitcase names. You can press these buttons to open pop-up menus where you can set the destination format, customize font conversion options, call for a family properties dialog or manipulate individual fonts and their styles.
User Interface Macro Pop-up One of the unique features of TransType Pro is an integrated macro programming language. With this feature you can program repeated tasks, define custom font transformations, and use TransType in many other powerful ways. Macro programs in TransType are written in the well-known and welldocumented Python programming language. TransType uses the standard version of the language so almost all macros written in Python will work in TransType.
TransType Pro Command Buttons Command buttons are located in the right-bottom area of the Main Window: Here is a brief description of each button (from left to right): 16 Add Use this button to add fonts to the source font list and prepare them for conversion.
Conversion Process To convert fonts, you have to: • Add the fonts you want to convert to the source list. • Check and define the encoding and codepage settings for all the fonts in the source list, if necessary. The values selected in the Preferences dialog will be used by default. • If necessary, change the destination font format (if you are converting TrueType fonts to Type 1 or vice versa).
TransType Pro Converting a Sample Font In this section we will show you how to convert one of the Macintosh system fonts to PC font format. We will not provide a detailed description of all operations here (it’s provided later in the chapter) but will show you the main points as an example. 1. Open the Fonts folder in your System/Library Folder. 2. Copy the Times.dfont file to the Desktop. 3. Drag the Times.
Conversion Process 5. Refer to the Destination Fonts list. Press the pop-up menu button to the right of the font name and observe the menu contents: Destination Format Submenu As you can see there is an option to change the destination font format. Let’s, for example, select Win Type 1 option in the Format submenu. The Times font will be converted from Macintosh TrueType to PostScript Type 1 format for PC in this case. 6. Now you must select the encoding for the fonts you are going to generate.
TransType Pro 8. If you haven’t defined the default destination folder in the Preferences dialog, TransType will ask you to choose the destination for the fonts generated: Choose Destination Dialog We recommend you create a new folder for the destination fonts. This will help when more than one font consisting of more than one file is converted at a time. In any case, select the destination folder and press the Choose button. 9.
Conversion Process Adding Fonts to the Source List To add one or more fonts to the source fonts list you can use two methods: the Add button or drag-and-drop. To add fonts with the Add button: 1. Press the Add button or select the Add command in the File menu. You will see the standard Macintosh File Open dialog: 2. Select the fonts you want to add for processing and press the Open button. TransType will open every font selected, check it, and extract the information necessary for further processing.
TransType Pro To add fonts using the drag-and-drop method: 1. Open the folder with the fonts in the Finder. 2. Select the fonts you want to add and drag them to TransType’s Main Window or onto the TransType icon. Note: You can drag-and-drop not only individual fonts but also folders containing many fonts. Subfolders are processed recursively. Note: When you add Macintosh Type 1 fonts for conversion you MUST add suitcases along with the printer font files.
Conversion Process Previewing Fonts After you have added fonts to the source list you can preview the source fonts and how they will be converted in a different encoding. There is a blue triangle to the left of each suitcase icon. Click on this triangle to see the contents of the suitcase. Holding down the Option key while you click will show the contents of all the suitcases in the list.
TransType Pro To have a look at the particular font character set, double-click the font icon (not the suitcase icon) in the Source or Destination list. The font will open in the Preview window: Font Preview Window This window consists of two main parts: the font character chart and codepage options. If you opened this window from the Destination font list of the Main Window, you will see the destination font character chart preview.
Conversion Process The character chart contains the font glyphs’ preview and their position in the currently selected encoding. Each character has a caption with its Unicode index. To see the code and the name of the particular character, press and hold down the mouse button while the mouse cursor is over the character’s cell: To change the encoding in the preview, use the Codepage pop-up menu at the bottom of the window.
TransType Pro Setting Conversion Options After you have added fonts to the Source list (and the resulting font names have appeared in the Destination list) TransType usually is ready to begin conversion using the default settings. But sometimes you may need to change the conversion options (particularly the destination font format), the methods that TransType uses to reencode fonts and, if you are converting PC fonts to Macintosh, the styles of the generated fonts and their placement in suitcases.
Conversion Process General Conversion Options Click the Preferences button at the bottom of the Main Window and refer to the General Conversion Options Page of the Preferences dialog: General Conversion Options Page of the Preferences Dialog 27
TransType Pro These general options are quite important. They actually switch between different conversion methods implemented in TransType Pro: 28 Perform conversion with minimal changes if possible If this option is selected, TransType will try to use our old conversion engine first introduced in TransType 1.x instead of the new FontLab conversion engine implemented in TransType Pro.
Conversion Process Destination File Options Use the General/Font Files Naming Page of the Preferences dialog to define the file naming scheme for Windows output fonts: The options described here are used for generating font files in any Windows format: Short (8.3) name If this option is checked, TransType will generate file names for Windows fonts in DOS notation for more compatibility.
TransType Pro Use the Defaults Page of the Preferences dialog to choose the place where new fonts will be stored: Click the Always ask for destination folder radio button to make TransType open the standard Save File dialog for each conversion session. Click Save in the same folder as original fonts to let TransType save the converted fonts in the same place as the input fonts reside.
Conversion Process PC to Macintosh Conversion The following key points are important when PC fonts are converted to Macintosh format: 1. Only Macintosh font files have a resource-based structure. 2. Fonts that belong to a font family have to be united into a Macintosh font suitcase structure. 3. Type 1 font files on the Macintosh stay separate from the font suitcase files and are linked to the Macintosh font resources using name reference methods, similarly to the implementation on the PC platform.
TransType Pro TrueType Fonts When you add OpenType TT/ TrueType fonts to the source font list TransType Pro does the following: 1. Opens the TrueType font file and extracts information about all the available glyphs, the Unicode mapping data, the font names and the font style (plain, bold, italic or bold-italic). 2. Tries to detect which encodings this font can support. 3.
Conversion Process Reencoding Source TrueType fonts can have the following encodings: 1. Normal Unicode encoding. In this case all characters are assigned to their proper Unicode indexes. This makes it very easy to determine to which languages they belong and how they can be used. 2. Normal Symbol encoding. The codes in the 0-255 range are mapped to symbolic or pictorial characters. 3. Simulated Symbol encoding. Symbol encoding is used to map normal alphabet characters of a language to the 0-255 codes.
TransType Pro Symbol Encoding Symbol encoding is usually used to map symbolic or pictorial characters to the 0-255 code space. No reencoding is necessary when you convert such fonts to Macintosh format, so TransType will simply copy the characters and you will use the same codes you used on the PC to access the characters. Unicode Mapping In the case of Unicode mapping in the source font all we need to do is to convert this encoding according to the Macintosh requirements.
Conversion Process Defining the Source Encoding When you add a PC OpenType TT/ TrueType font to the source list you can look in the legend field below it. If it says “This is a Unicode font”, that means that the font has a valid Unicode mapping table and the conversion is very simple. The Unicode table is used by default in this case, but you have the option to change the source encoding.
TransType Pro When the font doesn’t have a Unicode table or is encoded as a symbol font, the legend will not say that the font is “Unicode” and you will have to use the encoding pop-up menu. The Use Unicode item will be disabled in this case and you have to determine which encoding the source font has. The first item is Default: this means that TransType will use the codepage currently selected as default in the Defaults/Codepages & Scripts Page of the Preferences dialog.
Conversion Process Defining the Destination Encoding When you define the source encoding for a TrueType font you may also define the destination encoding.
TransType Pro Assigning the Codepage In the Codepage submenu you can see three common commands and a list of Macintosh codepage names: Default Use the destination codepage selected as the default in Defaults/ Codepages & Scripts Page of the Preferences dialog. Unicode Is not usable in the case described here. Leave as is Do not reencode the source font – any selection in the source list’s pop-up menu is ignored. A list of potential codepages to which the font can be reencoded follows these three commands.
Conversion Process Assigning a Script Code After you have selected the source and destination codepages, assign a script code to the font using the Script submenu. Note that for most Macintosh encodings when you select the destination codepage TransType will automatically select the correct script code. Use the Defaults/Codepages & Scripts Page of the Preferences dialog to select the script code that will be used by default: To summarize the process of font reencoding: 1.
TransType Pro Customizing Suitcases When you convert several fonts that form a font family on a PC, TransType will automatically combine these fonts into a Macintosh font family suitcase. If for some reason you don’t want TransType to do this, you have the following options: 1.
Conversion Process In the Exclude/Move Font dialog select the suitcase to which you want to move the font in the Move font to pop-up menu or select New to extract the font into a new empty suitcase. Change the font name in the editing field below if necessary. Note that if some fonts in the suitcase have conflicting styles (for example, if you have two italic fonts), then the OK button is disabled. Correct the problem or press Cancel to close the dialog. 3.
TransType Pro Font Properties You can easily edit the destination font suitcase information. Select the suitcase in the destination list. Press on the pop-up button to the right and select the Properties command in the pop-up menu or just double-click the suitcase icon or name. The Properties dialog appears: Font Properties Dialog (compact) The compact version of the dialog allows you to: 42 1. View the names and styles of the fonts in this family. 2.
Conversion Process For even more control of the font header information, click once on the Advanced triangle. The dialog will be expanded: Font Properties Dialog (expanded) Normally you do not need to change anything in the font names but sometimes you may want to rename some fonts or rearrange a big font family containing more than 4 fonts. If you don’t know the significance and consequences of changing font names, be very careful when doing this.
TransType Pro In the expanded Properties dialog you can: 1. Change the font Family name. The Family name is the name of the typeface to which the font belongs. All fonts that are from the same typeface must have the same Family Name field. The Family Name is used as the root of the Full Name field so we recommend that you fill in this field first. 2. Change the font Weight. You may enter a custom value in this field or .
Conversion Process 7. Use the Tools pop-up button to quickly generate all the necessary name fields on the basis of the Family name: Using the Tools pop-up button with the Option key pressed down affects all the fonts in the family. For example, choosing Revert names with Option reverts all names for all fonts in the family. Note: The OT Family name and OT Style name fields are used for OpenType PS and TT fonts only. See the OpenType Fonts section for details.
TransType Pro Macintosh FOND Properties When you press the FOND Info button in the Properties dialog, the FOND Info dialog appears in which you can change some parameters: FOND Info Dialog Usually you won’t need to change these parameters. But if you are a professional in font design, this dialog is for you.
Conversion Process Besides the FOND name, which is the same as the font menu name, you may edit parameters in the following groups. Font family properties: FOND ID FOND resource identifier (or family ID number) lying in the range of the particular script. Changing the script in the pop-up menu to the right will automatically change FOND ID and vice versa.
TransType Pro Font metrics: 48 Calculate values automatically If this radio button is checked, TransType will automatically calculate vertical metrics for the destination family. You cannot edit global family metrics manually in this case Use custom values If this radio button is checked, you get access to the following fields to change them.
Conversion Process Style mapping flags (Font Class): Font name needs coordinating This option is switched on if the font name needs coordinating Font family creates the outline style by changing PaintType When this option is switched on, the Outline style of the family will be created by changing PaintType, a PostScript variable, to 2 Font family doesn’t allow simulation of the outline style This option is switched on if the font family disallows simulating the Outline style by smearing the glyph and w
TransType Pro Type 1 Fonts Conversion of PC Type 1 fonts to Macintosh format is similar to the TrueType conversion process with the following differences: 1. The characters in Type 1 fonts are identified by names, not Unicode indexes. 2. The metrics and kerning information of Type 1 characters on the PC is located in separate metrics files (PFM or AFM). 3. There are no multiple master TrueType fonts.
Conversion Process Reencoding Type 1 fonts also must be reencoded when converting from PC to Macintosh. To simplify this process and make it similar to the one used when TrueType fonts are processed, TransType automatically assigns Unicode indexes to all characters in a Type 1 font using a special table containing thousands of name-Unicode pairs. This way TransType can correctly handle Type 1 fonts that have more than 256 characters.
TransType Pro If you select the Default item TransType will refer to the codepage selected as the default in the Defaults/Codepages & Scripts Page of the Preferences dialog: If you select Use Names (the default option for the source encoding popup menu) TransType will try to convert character names to Unicode indexes and later apply Unicode-based reencoding algorithms.
Conversion Process Multiple Master Fonts TransType can convert multiple master fonts into virtually any format or platform. After you have added a PC multiple master Type 1 font to the source fonts list for conversion, TransType automatically prepares to convert it to a multiple master Type 1 font for Macintosh as set in the Defaults/Formats Page of the Preferences dialog. You can see this in the destination fonts list of the Main Window.
TransType Pro The familiar Properties dialog appears: Font Properties Dialog You can change font style attributes and the FOND properties here in the same way as for the TrueType fonts described earlier. And one more option becomes available when a multiple master font is converted: Create instance. You may check this option if you want to create a single master Type 1 font, but you MUST check this option to convert to a TrueType or OpenType font.
Conversion Process After the Instance checkbox is checked, click on the Create button. TransType reads the multiple master font and presents the following dialog with preview: Create Instance Dialog The process of creating the single master is very simple: you just select one of the instances of the multiple master font by dragging the Weight, Width and Optical Size sliders and previewing the result.
TransType Pro As you can see it is possible to generate as many font instances as you want from one multiple master font. But this cannot be done in one step. If you are going to generate several single master fonts from one multiple master font, you must then enter a unique family name for each font you're creating in the Family Name field. In both Font Name and Full Name postfixes always enter "Regular": Press the OK button when you are finished defining the instance of the multiple master font.
Conversion Process Suitcases Suitcases containing (“referring to”, if speaking more precisely) Type 1 fonts have no major differences from suitcases containing TrueType fonts ('sfnt' resources), so please refer to the TrueType section above for information about suitcase manipulations and font suitcase properties. The only additional option that may be useful when converting PC Type 1 fonts is to force TransType to generate suitcases by checking and using the MSMenuName fields in the .inf files.
TransType Pro Bitmap Fonts Any Type 1 font on the Macintosh must have at least one accompanying bitmap font. TransType Pro will automatically build a bitmap font when you convert a PC Type 1 font to Macintosh format and it can do so using one of three methods: 1. FreeType rasterizer built into TransType Pro. This is the default and the only choice if you do not have ATM installed in Mac OS 9: Bitmap Generating Options 2.
Conversion Process Macintosh to PC Conversion Converting Macintosh fonts to PC is easier than vice versa for the following reasons: 1. There are no suitcases on PCs. 2. PC OpenType TT/ TrueType fonts are based on Unicode, so usually the reencoding process is simpler. 3. Bitmap fonts are not necessary for Type 1 fonts on PCs.
TransType Pro TrueType Fonts When you add a Macintosh font suitcase containing TrueType fonts (sfnt resources) to the Source list, you must let TransType know which codepage it uses. The only case when this is not necessary is when the source Macintosh TrueType font has a Unicode table (usually the case). To select a codepage for the source TrueType font follow the rules that were described when we talked about converting PC TrueType fonts to Macintosh format.
Conversion Process Type 1 Fonts Conversion of Type 1 fonts from Macintosh to PC is very similar to the conversion from PC to Macintosh. The only difference is the handling of the metrics. Metrics information (a character’s width(s) and kerning) is extracted from the font suitcase and converted to AFM, INF and PFM files. Of course, the reencoding information is used when the metrics files are generated so that you get a valid PC Type 1 font file.
TransType Pro TrueType<->Type 1 Conversion By default TransType converts between platforms but not between formats (TrueType to TrueType and Type 1 to Type 1). You have the option to change the destination font type in the destination Format pop-up menu or in the Font Properties dialog. Before you change the destination font type (and actually before adding fonts to the Main Window), it is a good idea to check some of the more important options for generating fonts in the destination format.
Conversion Process Type 1 Options To check and set parameters for generating Type 1 fonts, click the Preferences button at the bottom of the Main Window and refer to the Generate Type 1 section of the Preferences dialog. General Type 1 Options Generate Type 1 Page of the Preferences Dialog There are only four controls on the Generate Type 1 page: Use FontName instead of FullName If this option is checked, TransType will name the files of Type 1 fonts on the basis of FontName.
TransType Pro The Level of automatic hinting pop-up menu allows you to control Type 1 hinting. Autohinting is not needed when conversion from Type 1 format is performed. All old hinting information is preserved in this case. But when conversion from TrueType is performed, the are two ways to deal with hints: 1. To not generate hinting information in a new Type 1 font: Select No Hinting in the Level of autohinting pop-up menu. The font will loose quality in this case. 2.
Conversion Process Macintosh Suitcase Options Generate Type 1/Macintosh Suitcase Page of the Preferences Dialog The options on this page are useful when creating Type 1 fonts for Macintosh. TransType can automatically generate bitmap fonts with one of three rasterizers. Choose between the built-in FreeType rasterizer or ATSUI on Mac OS X. If you are using classic system and have Adobe Type Manager™ (ATM) installed, then choose between the built-in FreeType and ATM’s rasterizers.
TransType Pro TrueType Options To check and set parameters for generating TrueType fonts, click the Preferences button at the bottom of the Main Window and refer to the TrueType/OpenType section of the Preferences dialog.
Conversion Process Here is the description of controls which are used to customize the TrueType font (Win OpenType TT/TrueType and Mac TrueType) generating process: Treat single byte destination Win TrueType as Symbol If this option is checked, TransType will generate a non-Unicode Windows TrueType font as a Symbol font. All characters in this font will be mapped to F000F0FF range.
TransType Pro Font smoothing is a special technique for improving the appearance of TrueType fonts on the screen. Font smoothing is used by the latest versions of the Windows operating system. With this technique edges of the characters are rendered using shades of gray. Font smoothing may be combined with a gridfitting method that optimizes the character’s appearance by adjusting its outline. The Font smoothing pop-up menu lets you control the usage of these methods: 1.
Conversion Process Embedding And Identification Options Generate TrueType/OpenType/Embedding & Identification Page of the Preferences Dialog The Embedding & Identification Page contains two additional pop-up menus and two checkboxes. The Font's embedding pop-up controls how the font may be embedded into documents. Embedding is a feature of the operating system and some applications that allow programs to include fonts into documents to guarantee that they will be reproduced correctly.
TransType Pro You cannot reduce or remove the embedding restrictions that were set in the source font by the original creator of the font. You can either leave the embedding restrictions unchanged or set the restrictions higher. For example, if the original font has the embedding level Editing of the document is allowed and you change the level to Everything is allowed in the Preferences dialog, then in the output font the original embedding level will be retained rather than the one you set.
Conversion Process OpenType Fonts Among the new features of TransType Pro is the support for the OpenType font format. The OpenType font format, jointly developed by Microsoft and Adobe, allows us to combine the best features of the TrueType and Type 1 font formats. For the end user there is little difference between OpenType and TrueType fonts: both are stored in a single font file, both are Unicode-encoded and Windows and Mac OS directly support both.
TransType Pro OpenType Features OpenType fonts consist of multiple tables. Every table is identified by a tag, which is a combination of up to 4 characters. 3 tables are “responsible” for the OpenType features: GDEF Glyph definition table. Contains information about font glyphs, including their type (simple, mark or ligature), cursive-attachment points and position of the caret inside the ligature character.
Conversion Process Converting OpenType Fonts Conversion of OpenType TT and OpenType PS fonts to the traditional Type 1 and TrueType formats is of no interest because this will just strip out all additional OpenType-specific information from the font. This is possible but not a very useful operation. The more useful types of conversion are as follows: 1. Conversion of OpenType TT fonts to OpenType PS fonts and vice versa. This can be called "changing the font flavor". 2.
TransType Pro The Level of automatic hinting pop-up menu is used when an OpenType PS font is generated. Autohinting is not needed when conversion from Type 1 format is performed. All old hinting information is preserved in this case. But when conversion from TrueType is performed, the are two ways to deal with hints: 1. To not generate hinting information in a new OpenType PS font: Select No Hinting in the Level of autohinting pop-up menu. The font will be unhinted in this case. 2.
Conversion Process OpenType Layout Options OpenType Layout Page of the Preferences Dialog These options are used to customize the OpenType font features generating process: Remove all features Add standard features if possible Convert Apple GX/AAT morph features to OT features Write 'kern' table Write 'kern' feature If this option is checked, all features of the source OpenType font will be ignored. This may be useful when one wants to convert OpenType TT font to the traditional TrueType font.
TransType Pro OpenType Properties You can edit some OpenType font properties when you convert to OpenType PS format. Press on the pop-up button at the right of the suitcase name in the destination font list and select the Properties command in the pop-up menu or just double-click the suitcase icon or name. The familiar Properties dialog appears: This dialog was described earlier when we spoke about TrueType fonts and suitcases. Here we add some information regarding OpenType fonts.
Conversion Process The OT Family name field allows you to define an additional (alternative) font family name. This name can be used to create a family containing more than 4 fonts. You must use the same OT Family name in all fonts that you want to put into a “big” family and make the OT Style name different for each of these fonts. The fonts with one OT Family name may belong to different traditional small families and have therefore different Family names.
TransType Pro The OT Family name appears in the font menu as the “font name”. Please note that this information is used only by new applications that can handle OpenType fonts. Adobe InDesign or other new Adobe programs are good examples. For more information on OpenType fonts refer to the OpenType format specification: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/default.htm The Output Panel When OpenType features are compiled the special Output panel may occur.
Conversion Process FontLab (VFB) Font Conversion TransType can convert fonts from the VFB format used internally in other FontLab products. They can be converted to any format for any platform. There are, however, a few caveats: 1. Converting a VFB font in TransType is the same as exporting it from a Fontlab application, only with the additional power that you can choose the encoding. 2.
TransType Pro TrueType Font Collection (TTC) Conversion TransType Pro can open fonts in the TrueType font collection (TTC) format used on PC. The TTC file is actually a set of TrueType fonts in one file. Each font in a collection usually has its own family name and can be converted to virtually any format supported by TransType Pro. When you add a TTC file to the Source fonts list in TransType Pro you get its name in the list: You can see the font collection file , which contains PC TrueType fonts.
Conversion Process Other Types of Conversion By default TransType converts between platforms in one format (PC TrueType to Mac TrueType etc.). This is set on the Defaults/Formats Page of the Preferences dialog and can be changed. You have also the option to change the destination platform and format in the destination Format pop-up menu or in the Font Properties dialog and convert, for instance, Win TrueType/OpenType TT to Win TrueType/OpenType TT or Mac Type 1 to Mac Type 1.
Python Programming One of the unique features of TransType Pro is an integrated macro programming language. With this feature you can program repeated tasks, define custom font transformations, and integrate TransType Pro into a font development system that may include other tools. Macro programs in TransType Pro are written in the well-known and welldocumented Python programming language.
TransType Pro The Python Programming Language Python is a very high level object-oriented programming language. It combines a very clear and easy-to-understand syntax with great power, flexibility and extensibility. Python works on all known platforms and is intensively maintained and updated by many professionals around the world. It is not surprising that during the last few years Python has become a defacto standard for macro programming related to fonts.
Python Programming Installing Python When you run TransType Pro for the first time it will know nothing about macro programming and Python. The Macro pop-up menu is hidden and disabled. This means that if you don’t want to use this feature you are not required to and TransType Pro will work smoothly without any Python integration. If you want to use macro programs or perhaps create some programs yourself, however, you have to install the Python interpreter.
TransType Pro Macro Pop-up Menu After you have properly installed the Python interpreter and restarted TransType Pro you will see the Macro pop-up menu appear below the Legend field in the Main Window: By default "Do nothing" is selected in the menu and TransType Pro doesn't load and perform any macro program during the font conversion process. You can integrate macro programs (written yourself or downloaded from the Internet) into the Macro pop-up menu in TransType Pro.
Python Programming Writing Programs If you feel ready to create your first macro program you can start by opening a text-editing application. TransType Pro doesn't have its own macro editing interface so you must use a text editor like TextEdit or SimpleText. First Steps Let’s write a basic program. The “Hello World!” program is a typical benchmark of the simplest useful program you can write. It is very easy to do in TransType Pro/Python: 1. Open the text-editing program and create a new document. 2.
TransType Pro 5. Convert the font as usual. The Output panel will open with the text "Hello World!" printed: All text you output with the Python print operation appears in the Output panel. You can show or hide this panel at any time by choosing the Output panel command in the View menu. OK, now you can try more complex macro programs like "Demo Macro" included with TransType Pro.
Python Programming Naming the Programs When you are saving a program and want it to be used in the Macro popup menu you need to name it. There are two ways to name a program: you can store the name in the file name (followed by the “.py” extension) or you can embed the name into the program code. The latter way is recommended – it allows you to keep the filename small but descriptive. Anyway, do not name your file "test.py". It will not work.
TransType Pro The Programs Structure The next required string following the program name is: from FL import * This string is mandatory and should be included in every macro used with TransType Pro. The remaining part of the program has the following structure: <…> def tr_init(): <…> return 0 def tr_process(font): <…> return 0 def tr_done(): <…> return 0 The tr_init procedure is called every time you press the Convert button that is once before the first font will be converted.
Python Programming TransType Pro Python Classes TransType Pro is based on the FontLab 4 Python API. The highest class in the FontLab hierarchy is a class named FontLab. You cannot create it explicitly, but the object of this class is always available and is named “fl”. The most important member of this class is “font” – the current font as a Font object. The Font class contains all the data that is related to the font in TransType Pro internal data structures.
Technical Details Here we’ll add some technical details for professional TransType users. With the information contained here you can customize some of TransType’s features and better understand how it works.
TransType Pro Type 1 Fonts TransType opens every Type 1 font being converted and partially interprets it to extract the names of all the characters present in the font and the information about the characters’ widths. Note that information about the characters’ bounding boxes is not extracted, so when Macintosh fonts are converted to PC and an AFM file is generated, the font bounding box is used instead of character bounding boxes.
Technical Details TrueType Fonts When TransType opens PC TrueType fonts it looks for a (3.1) CMap table. If this table is found then the font is marked as a normal Unicode font. If not TransType tries to open the (3.0) table – if this table is present, it means that the source font is a symbol font. The last table that is checked is the (1.0) table usually used to encode fonts on the Macintosh. This table is also used as a symbol-mapping table. If the font contains more glyphs than are covered by the (1.
TransType Pro Customizing Codepages Files containing definitions of the codepages that appear in the pop-up menus are in the Library/Application Support/FontLab/Codepage folder and have a simple text structure. You can edit the existing files and make your own codepages following the structure of any existing file. You may put the edited codepages in the Library/Application Support/FontLab/ TransType Pro/Codepage folder or in the ~/Library/Application Support/ FontLab/Codepage folder.
Bibliography TrueType, OpenType and TrueType Open Specifications from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/tt/tt.htm OpenType Specification: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/default.htm TrueType Specification by Apple: http://fonts.apple.com/TTRefMan/index.html Adobe Type 1 Font File Specification: http://www.adobe.com/supportservice/devrelations/PDFS/TN/T1_SPEC.PDF Adobe’s Glyph Naming for Type 1 Font Programs: http://www.adobe.
Support For further information about TransType Pro browse to the TransType home page: http://www.fontlab.com/Font-tools/TransType/ Use the following address to get support information, TransType updates and downloads: http://www.fontlab.com/Font-tools/FontLab-Product-Support/ In case of any questions about TransType or any other of our products use the form at: http://www.fontlab.
A Note on Intellectual Property Digital fonts are complex computer programs created with a good deal of hard work by individuals and companies. They are valuable intellectual property and are protected by trademark, copyright, and patent laws. The details and extent of this protection varies in different countries, but the basics are as follows: Trademark: A font name (and only the name) may be trademarked. Only the trademark owner or licensees may use the name to describe a font.
Appendix A Basics of Digital Font Organization Digital fonts consist of glyphs (drawings) of characters (letters of alphabets/scripts) organized (encoded) in a particular arrangement. Because there are many different languages and scripts each alphabet has its own arrangement (codepage) which allows a computer to know where to find a particular character, retrieve the glyph, and either print or display it for the computer user.
TransType Pro Definitions AAT (Apple Advanced Typography) fonts the TrueType fonts especially designed for use with ATSUI. Like OpenType fonts these fonts have special features such as swashes, contextual forms, ligatures etc. These fonts are widely presented among system fonts in Mac OS X and are supported in Cocoa applications. AFM (ASCII Font Metrics) file a text file that contains the metrics information for a PC Type 1 font.
Appendix A Codepage a 256-character portion of the Unicode encoding table (because that’s how much we can address with one byte of data). The Russian codepage, for instance, contains the characters used in writing Russian: Composite characters the characters that have no outline, but link to other font characters. Good example of composite characters are accented characters, like ‘Á’, ‘å’ or ‘ñ’. Encoding the linear arrangement (also called the encoding vector) of a script.
TransType Pro Notice that now a number (its “code”) is assigned to each character. This is how the computer identifies the character. Also notice that there are no characters 0-31. This code range is “undefined” (meaning that its behavior is unpredictable). When Unicode came along it adopted the ASCII encoding and just added to it. FOND resource Macintosh terminology for the part of a Macintosh font that contains metrics information and describes the contents of a suitcase.
Appendix A PFB (Postscript Font Binary) file a binary file that contains the glyph outline information for a PC Type 1 font. PFM (Postscript Font Metrics) file a binary file that contains the metrics information for a PC Type 1 font. POST resource Macintosh terminology for the part of a Macintosh font that contains an Adobe Type 1 font. sfnt resource Macintosh terminology for the part of a Macintosh font that contains a TrueType font.
