[comp.sys.amiga] Font file formats

thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Thomas Summerall) (10/09/90)

Does anyone know of a way to convert Mac font files to Amiga font files?  If
not, what is the format of an Amiga font file?  I will try to write a program
that converts the formats if I can find this out.

Thanks,
Thomas Summerall

mrush@csuchico.edu (Matt "C P." Rush) (10/09/90)

In article <24972@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Thomas Summerall) writes:
>Does anyone know of a way to convert Mac font files to Amiga font files?  If
>not, what is the format of an Amiga font file?  I will try to write a program
>that converts the formats if I can find this out.

	There's already a program out there that will convert Mac fonts from
suitcase format to Amiga format.  It really works nice except for the difference
in how the Mac figures font sizes vs. how the Amiga figures fonts sizes, and 
that's no big deal.
	It should be on an OLD fish disk.  I think it used to circulate as
CONVERT.ARC, or some such.

	As far as Amiga font formats, you can get that kind of info from the
RKM's.

>Thanks,
>Thomas Summerall

	-- Matt

    *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
    %    "I programmed three days        %      Beam me up, Scotty.      %
    %     And heard no human voices.     %     There's no Artificial     %
    %     But the hard disk sang."       %    Intelligence down here.    %
    %          -- Yoshiko                                                %
    %                            E-mail:  mrush@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu %
    *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
     This is a SCHOOL!  Do you think they even CARE about MY opinions?!

rusty@steelmill.cs.umd.edu (Rusty Haddock) (10/09/90)

In article <1990Oct09.002906.26840@ecst.csuchico.edu> mrush@cscihp.UUCP writes:
   >In article <24972@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Thomas Summerall) writes:
   >>Does anyone know of a way to convert Mac font files to Amiga font files?  If
   >>not, what is the format of an Amiga font file?  I will try to write a program
   >>that converts the formats if I can find this out.
   >...
   >	As far as Amiga font formats, you can get that kind of info from the
   >RKM's.

Another possibility is in one of the first three issues of
TransAmi (RIP) a wonderful lady by the name of Betty Clay
wrote an article (maybe two) on the format of the Amiga's
font files.  It was well written (how could it not be, she was
a school teacher) and easy to follow.  I suggest you might dig
up that issue(s).

	-Rusty-
--
Rusty Haddock				DOMAIN:	rusty@mimsy.cs.umd.edu
Computer Science Department		PATH:	{uunet,rutgers}!mimsy!rusty
University of Maryland			"IBM sucks silicon!"
College Park, Maryland 20742			-- PC Banana Jr,"Bloom County"

micja@IDA.LiU.SE (Michael Jansson) (10/10/90)

In article <26901@mimsy.umd.edu> rusty@steelmill.cs.umd.edu (Rusty Haddock) writes:
>In article <1990Oct09.002906.26840@ecst.csuchico.edu> mrush@cscihp.UUCP writes:
>   >In article <24972@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> thomas@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Thomas Summerall) writes:
>   >>Does anyone know of a way to convert Mac font files to Amiga font files?  If
>   >>not, what is the format of an Amiga font file?  I will try to write a program
>   >>that converts the formats if I can find this out.
>   >...
>   >	As far as Amiga font formats, you can get that kind of info from the
>   >RKM's.
>
>Another possibility is in one of the first three issues of
>TransAmi (RIP) a wonderful lady by the name of Betty Clay
>wrote an article (maybe two) on the format of the Amiga's
>font files.  It was well written (how could it not be, she was
>a school teacher) and easy to follow.  I suggest you might dig
>up that issue(s).

I think I can give you (Thomas) a rough description of the font file format.
They are simply Amiga load object modules (or was it called something
else?), i.e. executable files that can be loadseg:ed. The files are built
using normal 'hunks', and consists of a DiskFontHeader structure, a TextFont
structure and the raw data for the font, such as bitmap data, kern data
etc. I think that the only thing that is expected is that the first bytes
in the first hunk is a 'moveq #0,d0; rts' sequence and then there should be
the DiskFontHeader. You need to create one additional file that usually
have the '.font' extension that contains some information about the size,
style of the font and the path to the actual font file. The format of
hunks etc are not documented in RKM, but the font structures are very
nicely described in Lib&Dev.

You are welcome to ask me about some specific details. I probably know of
most of the problems with creating fonts because I have practical
experiences of creating them.

SOME INFO TO YOU ALL: I am working on a font project that currently
supports standard Amiga fonts and vectorized fonts (outline, contour etc).
The project consists of two parts - a run-time library that can be
accessed just like the diskfont.library and a font editor. I am working on
supporting postscript fonts and will support other types of font formats
in the future, such as Mac fonts. It will be SW and/or PD. Please send me
documentation on your favorite font format if you would like to use it on
your Amiga.

--
##########################################################
#   Michael Jansson             |   \_/
#   Internet: mij@IDA.LIU.SE    |    V                   _|_
#   UUCP: uunet!liuida!mij      |    |    Absolut Software|
#   BITNET: mij@SELIUIDA        |   ~~~