I am automating the creation of books using ConTeXt with a graphic design graduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design.
The book cover is created using MetaPost inside a ConTeXt source file.
The graphic designer tells me it is very common to specify the interletter
spacing, or tracking, and in fact, he considers this capability to be essential.
I understand that these, so called, microtypography capabilities are present in
pdfTeX fully, but only partially present in LuaTeX (protrusion and expansion),
although tracking can be set in a way using \kerncharacters[0.5] in LuaTeX.
However, the quality of the typesetting produced by LuaTeX is completely
inadequate, while the quality of the typesetting produced by pdfTeX is very
good.
Am I miss-understanding the differences in capability between pdfTeX and LuaTeX
in this regard?
Relevant examples follow and PDFs are attached.
I processed the following ConTeXt source file using MKII:
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-1.40.10 (Web2C 2009) (format=cont-en
2011.8.13)
ConTeXt ver: 2011.05.18 18:04 MKII fmt: 2011.8.13 int: english/english
===== START MKII EXAMPLE =====
\pdfminorversion=5
\definepapersize[LG1][width=9.3in,height=6.87in]
\definepapersize[LP1][width=9.55in,height=7.12in]
\setuppapersize[LG1][LP1]
\setuplayout[location=middle,marking=off]
\setuppagenumber[state=stop]
\startMPenvironment
\usetypescript[modern][ec]
\switchtotypeface[modern][7.0pt]
\setupinterlinespace
\def\stretchedspacefactor{4}
\def\stretchedspaceamount{0.25em}
\stopMPenvironment
\startuniqueMPgraphic{cover}
cover_paper_width := 9.55in;
cover_paper_height := 7.12in;
left_margin := 0.347222222222in;
top_margin := 0.347222222222in;
bottom_margin := 0.347222222222in;
draw (0, 0)--(cover_paper_width, cover_paper_height)
withpen pencircle scaled 1bp withcolor white;
picture labelText;
labelText := btex {\vbox{\hsize 2.38888888889in \baselineskip 10.5pt
T\hskip 0.25em\stretchednormalcase{HIS BOOK
CONTAINS 988 TWEETS POSTED TO TWITTER BY
LADYGAGA FROM MARCH 27, 2008 TO AUGUST 5,
2011. IT WAS PUBLISHED ON DEMAND ON AUGUST
14, 2011}}} etex;
labeloffset := 0bp;
label.lrt(labelText, (left_margin,
cover_paper_height - top_margin));
\stopuniqueMPgraphic
\defineoverlay[cover][\uniqueMPgraphic{cover}]
\starttext
\title{}
\setupbackgrounds[paper][background={cover}]
\stoptext
===== STOP MKII EXAMPLE =====
I processed the following ConTeXt source file using MKIV:
this is luatex, version beta-0.70.1-2011051908 (rev 4277)
ConTeXt ver: 2011.05.18 18:04 MKIV fmt: 2011.7.13 int: english/english
===== START MKVI EXAMPLE =====
\pdfminorversion=5
\definepapersize[LG1][width=9.24in,height=6.87in]
\definepapersize[LP1][width=9.49in,height=7.12in]
\setuppapersize[LG1][LP1]
\setuplayout[location=middle,marking=off]
\setuppagenumber[state=stop]
\definefont[LabelFont][Serif sa 0.583]
\startuniqueMPgraphic{cover}
cover_paper_width := 9.49in;
cover_paper_height := 7.12in;
left_margin := 0.347222222222in;
top_margin := 0.347222222222in;
bottom_margin := 0.347222222222in;
draw (0, 0)--(cover_paper_width, cover_paper_height)
withpen pencircle scaled 1bp withcolor white;
picture labelText;
labelText := btex {\vbox{\hsize 2.38888888889in \baselineskip 10.5pt
\LabelFont
{\kerncharacters[0.5]
THIS BOOK CONTAINS 988 TWEETS POSTED TO
TWITTER BY LADYGAGA FROM MARCH 27, 2008
TO AUGUST 5, 2011. IT WAS PUBLISHED ON
DEMAND ON AUGUST 14, 2011}}} etex;
labeloffset := 0bp;
label.lrt(labelText, (left_margin,
cover_paper_height - top_margin));
\stopuniqueMPgraphic
\defineoverlay[cover][\uniqueMPgraphic{cover}]
\starttext
\title{}
\setupbackgrounds[paper][background={cover}]
\stoptext
===== STOP MKVI EXAMPLE =====
The MKII PDF
cover-mkii.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
The MKIV PDF
cover-mkiv.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
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