dirk@words (Dirk van Nouhuys) (03/22/88)
What tools are available for defining new characters for PostScript
printers?
Here's the background: I'm a technical writer, and I print a lot of
camera-ready copy from an IBM PC. I do most of this with Microsoft Word,
but some with Ventura Publisher. I'm becoming convinced that a
PostScript printer is the best solution to my recurring problems with
typographic quality and flexibility. Before I take the plunge, I have to
be sure that PostScript will do everything that my clients expect.
My currently foreseeable needs are:
1. To change the character positions of some characters in downloaded
fonts. I must do this to get the same output from a text file as my
client, who may be using a LaserJet.
2. To compose new characters and incorporate them into downloaded fonts.
All the characters represent keycaps, and either are very simple (lines
and arrows) or are composed of an existing character and very simple
additions. I'd like true PostScript characters, but bitmapped symbols
are adequate if I can make the printer treat them just like font
characters.
I must be able to download the modified fonts from a PC. I'd prefer to
be able to design the characters on the PC, but I have access to a Mac
if I need it.
3. To print crop marks on each page from Microsoft Word (I know V.P. can
do this automatically).
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UUCP: {amdahl,decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4}!sun!plaid!desktop{-request}zwicky@pterodactyl.cis.ohio-state.edu (Elizabeth D. Zwicky) (03/22/88)
>What tools are available for defining new characters for PostScript >printers? >Here's the background: I'm a technical writer, and I print a lot of >camera-ready copy from an IBM PC. I do most of this with Microsoft Word, >but some with Ventura Publisher. I'm becoming convinced that a >PostScript printer is the best solution to my recurring problems with >typographic quality and flexibility. Before I take the plunge, I have to >be sure that PostScript will do everything that my clients expect. I am also a technical writer, although I print my camera-ready copy from a Mac, with a certain amount of fiddling on UNIX machines, using LaTeX. My husband does the layout for a small magazine (he is art editor for the Society of Creative Anachronism's national magazine, Tournaments Illuminated, in case anyone cares), also using TeX, LaTeX, and glue. We both use a variety of PostScript printers, including LaserWriters, Dataproducts LZR 2665s, and a PostScript typesetter, and between us we do all the things you want to do. For PostScript fonts, we use Fontographer on a Macintosh; for the fiddly stuff he does, he initially draws things in Adobe Illustrator. I tend toward the keycaps end of fonts design, rather than the swash capitals end, and do my fiddling directly in Fontographer. This will take care of both creating new characters, and moving old ones. Once the fonts are created, they can be downloaded pretty much from anywhere; this requires some fiddling I am innocent of, but I know I've downloaded fonts from UNIX, once my husband waved a magic wand over them. Automatic crop marks can be printed from *anything* via a small piece of PostScript code which redefines the output page routine in the printer. The first time the printing house that we get typesetting time from saw TeX make automatic crop marks, they just about fell off their chairs. Again, this is my husband's magic, but I'm sure he'd be glad to give you all 3 lines of it. All in all, we adore PostScript printers. The ability to go to the typesetter without difficulty is one of the best points. Elizabeth Zwicky (zwicky@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu zwicky@ohio-state.arpa ...cbosgd!osu-cis!tut!zwicky) ---------------------------------------- Submissions to: desktop@plaid.sun.com Administrivia to: desktop-request@plaid.sun.com UUCP: {amdahl,decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4}!sun!plaid!desktop{-request}