[comp.sys.mac.system] System 7.0 - TrueType vs Bitmapped fonts and postscript?

yee@osf.org (Michael K. Yee) (05/31/91)

	I have both TrueType and bitmapped fonts in my System File (7.0).
	My questions are:

	1. Should I removed all of my bitmapped fonts in favor of their
	   TrueType equivalent?  Meaning if I have both a TrueType Times
	   font and all the Times bitmapped fonts, should I removed all my
	   bitmapped Times fonts from the System File?

	2. I heard that documents created with TrueType fonts will create
	   huge postscript files that includes the font description, instead
	   of just using the printer font.  Is this true?  If so, how do I
	   work around this?  BTW: I heard that this problem also existed
	   when using ATM.

	3. Last question - Is an italicized Times font equal to the Times
	   Italic font?  If not, when should I choose one over the other?

	As usual any and all help is greatly appreciated.


	Happy windowing,

	=Mike


--
==  Michael K. Yee <yee@osf.org>      -+-      OSF/Motif Team
==  Open Software Foundation - 11 Cambridge Center - Cambridge, MA  02142
==  		"Live simply, so that others may simply live."

lamont@convex.com (Bradley Lamont) (05/31/91)

yee@osf.org (Michael K. Yee) writes:


>	I have both TrueType and bitmapped fonts in my System File (7.0).
>	My questions are:

>	1. Should I removed all of my bitmapped fonts in favor of their
>	   TrueType equivalent?  Meaning if I have both a TrueType Times
>	   font and all the Times bitmapped fonts, should I removed all my
>	   bitmapped Times fonts from the System File?

If you remove all the non-truetype fonts, everytime you change fonts or sizes, 
the system will have to regenerate the new style/size/font.  This takes time
and slows the system down.  If you don't care about the speed, then take out
all the duplicate non-truetype fonts in the system file.

>	2. I heard that documents created with TrueType fonts will create
>	   huge postscript files that includes the font description, instead
>	   of just using the printer font.  Is this true?  If so, how do I
>	   work around this?  BTW: I heard that this problem also existed
>	   when using ATM.

I haven't heard anything about this.  I have been using ATM and ow truetype and 
have had no problems with larger files.  Someone else correct me if I am wrong 
about this.

>	3. Last question - Is an italicized Times font equal to the Times
>	   Italic font?  If not, when should I choose one over the other?

Times Italic is a different font.  It has the fonts tilted, but it is defined
differently than the Times font.  Italicized Times is done by the toolbox by
ofsetting the letters.  It is not as astheticly pleasing and may not print
smoothly.

Later,
Brad

Charles.E.Dubuque@dartmouth.edu (Charles E. Dubuque) (06/01/91)

yee@osf.org (Michael K. Yee) writes:


>	I have both TrueType and bitmapped fonts in my System File (7.0).
>	My questions are:

>	1. Should I removed all of my bitmapped fonts in favor of their
>	   TrueType equivalent?  Meaning if I have both a TrueType Times
>	   font and all the Times bitmapped fonts, should I removed all my
>	   bitmapped Times fonts from the System File?

Depends. For Helvetica, Courier and Symbol I would say leave the
bitmaps in there for the point sizes you use most. This is because
these fonts have bold and italic that are essentially the same as their
Quickdraw equivalents (ie. there isn't much difference between a
Helvetica bitmap bold and the Helvetica true type bold and neither has
a true italic, so you will always get a slanted font anyway). However,
if you've got fonts with their own special italics (like the Times
font), I would suggest taking out the bitmaps. If bitmaps are present,
the Mac will slant the bitmap for italic instead of generating a true
italic. If this doesn't bother you, you can leave a bitmap in, but it
bothers me. As for the rest of the TrueType fonts out there, most are a
single weight, so leaving in a bitmap at the font size you use most
won't hurt any.

>	2. I heard that documents created with TrueType fonts will create
>	   huge postscript files that includes the font description, instead
>	   of just using the printer font.  Is this true?  If so, how do I
>	   work around this?  BTW: I heard that this problem also existed
>	   when using ATM.

Rule of thumb: if you are generating postscript files to disk, the
computer will assume that you are using a LaserWriter II with no
downloaded fonts, no matter if your printer came with 99 fonts and has
all 500 that you normally use on an attached hard disk. Which means, if
you are printing Times from a TrueType font, the Postscript file will
not contain an image of the Times font but will simply reference the
Times Postscript font. If your font is either a TrueType font or a Type
1 or Type 3 font not normally found in a LaserWriter II, despite that
you may have downloaded it to your particular printer, the driver will
generate a description of that font, making your PostScript file huge,
whether it is an ATM font or a TrueType font. Therefore, if you want
your file to be small, use only the typefaces built in to LaserWriter
IIs (Times, Courier, Helvetica, N Helvetica Narrow, Bookman, Palatino,
New Century Schoolbook, Avant Garde, Symbol, Zapf Chancery, Zapf
Dingbats). If you use any other fonts, expect your file to be huge.

>	3. Last question - Is an italicized Times font equal to the Times
>	   Italic font?  If not, when should I choose one over the other?

You cannot choose which one to use. If you have a bitmap installed at
12 point and you select italic at 12 point, on screen you will get the
slanted font. If you select italic at 13 point, you will get the true
Italic font for Times. Whichever font the screen uses, when you print
you will get the true Italic font for Times, assuming either that (a)
you are using a Quickdraw printer and you have Times Italic TrueType
installed in your system or in a SuitCaseII suitcase or (b) you are
using a PostScript printer with the Times family built in.

Chuck
c.dubuque@dartmouth.edu

jonh@pogo.WV.TEK.COM (Jon Howell) (06/01/91)

}>	2. I heard that documents created with TrueType fonts will create
}>	   huge postscript files that includes the font description, instead
}>	   of just using the printer font.  Is this true?  If so, how do I
}>	   work around this?  BTW: I heard that this problem also existed
}>	   when using ATM.
}I haven't heard anything about this.  I have been using ATM and ow truetype
}have had no problems with larger files.  Someone else correct me if I am wrong 
}about this.
I just put System 7 on this here IIci.  When I generate a PostScript file
(rather than printing to the printer) of a fairly simple image (I think the
application I was using was Aldus Freehand 2.02 [Yes, I know that's not the
latest revision -- haven't tried it with Freehand 3.0 yet]), I get a file
that's over 700K long!  The corresponding PS file from previous revisions of
the system is about 125K long (sans prep section).

Anyone know anything about this?

	--Jon
-- 
Jon Howell: College kid leading a "normal" life.           jonh@pogo.WV.TEK.COM
6417 Sorrel Way                              Delphi: PHEON
West Linn, OR  97068                         (not that I
(503) 657-7964                               ever log in)

howard@locus.com (Howard Moskovitz) (06/04/91)

In article <10981@pogo.WV.TEK.COM> jonh@pogo.WV.TEK.COM (Jon Howell) writes:
>}>	2. I heard that documents created with TrueType fonts will create
>}>	   huge postscript files that includes the font description, instead
>}>	   of just using the printer font.  Is this true?  If so, how do I
>}>	   work around this?  BTW: I heard that this problem also existed
>}>	   when using ATM.
>}I haven't heard anything about this.  I have been using ATM and ow truetype
>}have had no problems with larger files.  Someone else correct me if I am wrong 
>}about this.
>I just put System 7 on this here IIci.  When I generate a PostScript file
>(rather than printing to the printer) of a fairly simple image (I think the
>application I was using was Aldus Freehand 2.02 [Yes, I know that's not the
>latest revision -- haven't tried it with Freehand 3.0 yet]), I get a file
>that's over 700K long!  The corresponding PS file from previous revisions of
>the system is about 125K long (sans prep section).
>
>Anyone know anything about this?
>
>	--Jon
>-- 
>Jon Howell: College kid leading a "normal" life.           jonh@pogo.WV.TEK.COM
>6417 Sorrel Way                              Delphi: PHEON
>West Linn, OR  97068                         (not that I
>(503) 657-7964                               ever log in)


One of the problems is that postscript file produced in System 7 include
the laser prep. If you look at the file produced, it is a complete,
standalone postscript file (as if you had used command-K in 6.0X. This
probably adds at least 200K of overhead for the Apple Dict and font
descriptors, etc.

-- 
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        **                              **
       **        Howard Moskovitz      **