3.470 PScript fount generation (53)

Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA)
Thu, 14 Sep 89 21:33:35 EDT


Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 470. Thursday, 14 Sep 1989.

Date: Thu, 14 Sep 89 10:42:33 EDT
From: Ruth Glynn <RGLYNN@UK.AC.OXFORD.VAX>
Subject: Publisher's Type Foundry etc.

A little while ago Josef Wallmannsberger posted a message
about PScript font generators. I don't remember seeing
any comments on it (maybe those that were got swamped
in the deluge of email after the French link recovered).

I have just taken delivery of Publisher's Type Foundry (PTF
hereafter). One use is to perfect via PTF's bitmap and
outline editors existing fonts for ancient Greek, Hebrew,
and Cyrillic for screen display; another is to use it to
create bitmaps of one-off specials such as logos, special
chemistry sorts etc. for both screen and printer fonts
(PScript). In the case of the latter, Ventura will be
the vehicle.

Josef Wallmannsberger predicted 'major effort' in
doing much the same via WORD. Unfortunately his suspicions
are going to be confirmed -- not because the task itself
is inherently difficult (it's great fun fiddling around
with this sort of facility and PTF is easy enough to get
used to), but because the PTF manual is worse than useless.
In fact I'd say that it's one of the worst I have ever
come across (and that's saying something). Not only do
the instructions leave you high and dry after telling you
how to prepare material for export, but many of the instruct-
ions are plain wrong. This isn't helped by the fact that
the Ventura manual doesn't fill the gap. I have wasted a
fair amount of time trying every which way to get Ventura
to recognize the external fonts, and still haven't
discovered how to do it.

Has anyone out there successfully edited files in PTF and
imported them to Ventura for both screen and font? If so,
please tell me the magic formula! Or is there a PTF
equivalent to the Nace & Will-Harris *Ventura Tips and
Tricks* book?

If all else fails, I shall have to go on a course ... and
maybe after that I'll write my own manual.

Ruth Glynn
Oxford Electronic Publishing, OUP