Re: [Fonts] convert font
>From: Salvatore Celsomino <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >there is a system in order to convert a font .bdf or .pcf into font .fon or >.ttf. i have tried bdftofon.exe and pcftofon.exe, but for the my font,they >have errors: too many characters. thanks ttf2pt1 (http://ttf2pt1.sf.net) can convert .bdf to Type1 (.pfa or .pfb). Conversion to the smooth curves is a bit experimental and incomplete yet, but the direct by-pixel conversion works fine. There is also some interactive editor, I forgot the name, pfaedit or something, that can convert to TTF. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list Fonts@XFree86.Org http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts] help: about how to convert BDF fonts to TTF fonts
zhang hui wrote: > > Hi, everyone > > does anyone know any tools which can convert BDF to TTF in linux OS? the > tool is important to my current project,so if anyone got the tool,would you > please tell me where to download it? > please reply me to [EMAIL PROTECTED] as soon as possible > thank you very much Ttf2pt1 can do it reasonably decently. http://ttf2pt1.sf.net Look in the Snapshots for the most recent version. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]hinting & anti-aliasing
"James H. Cloos Jr." wrote: > > >>>>> "Sergey" == Sergey Babkin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > Sergey> just make the hinting instructions work in terms of > Sergey> full pixels. Then multiply whatever coordinates they produce > Sergey> by 2 or 4 to convert them into subpixels. > > Freetype itself could work wither way, but that is how Xft handles aa. > > Except that the specified axis is expanded by 3, not 2 or 4. > > That said, many users find the fonts look better when freetype is told > not to hint them. I find some fonts are best w/ the hinting/ > instructing and some are better w/o. As far as I understand from looking at the FreeType page, it has a problem with fonts having many unneccessary intermediate points on the curves. If you look again at the example in http://ttf2pt1.sf.net/SNAPSHOT/dust.ps.gz you can see a lot of red dots on the black curves. The problem is that if you move the endpoints of the curve around according to the hinting, you change not the whole curve but only its section to the next intermediate point. The result is a monstrous bulge. Worse yet, many TTF fonts have curves crossing the vertical or horizontal tangents (i.e. the curve goes up and then down, without interrupting at the topmost point). Adobe has described these problems in the Type1 specification and strongly advised how to design the outlines properly. On the other hand, most of the TTF font designers don't seem to know about them. To do hinting of any reasonable quality the outlines have to be cleaned up in advance co conform to Adobe's rules, similarly to what is shown on the diagrams. The diagrams are the result of the algorithm in ttf2pt1 that replaces these short curve fragments with one [almost] identical long curve. The algorithm works on the cubic Bezier curves but I believe can be adapted to the quadratic curves just as well or better. The downside is that it works by sequential approximation and thus is not very fast, so it's better to be ran in advance rather than when opening a font. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]Re: [Freetype] FreeType 2 changes required for XFree86
Juliusz Chroboczek wrote: > > Hi Antoine! > > So nice to hear from you. > > BS> Defining common names like ''read'' always leads to problems > BS> when using multiple packages. > > BS> Why doesn't XFree86 follow common C protocol and use uppercase? > > >> The goal being to use common source code both in the X server (when > >> using the wrappers) and outside it, it would be rather pointless to > >> use ``common C protocol'', wouldn't it? > > AL> I am not sure you (both Brian and Juliusz) will have a similar dispute > AL> about tolower or malloc, would you? > > We're not having a dispute. A dispute is a form of exchange, and in > this case Brian is obviously not listening. > > Brian is absolutely right that all-caps names should be used for > processor defines in the ordinary case, and XFree86 code follows this > convention religiously. The definitions done in xf86_ansic.h are in a > completely different situation, and Brian's received wisdom does not > apply to them. > > In XFree86 modules that include xf86_ansic.h, a number of libc symbols > (standard or not, that's not the point) are redirected to their > cross-platform xf86_* equivalents. Due to the lack of a module system > in C, this redirection is done at the preprocessor level: > > #define read(x, y, z) xf86_read(x, y, z) > #define tolower(x) xf86_tolower(x) > ... etc ... > > Obviously, the fact that it's the very names used by libc that are > redefined is the very essence of the hack in question. Suggesting > that we redefine some other names instead is missing the point > althegither. I guess what Brian is trying to say is that it's much cleaner to do it the other way around: use xf86_read() etc. throughout the code and then if you are compiling this code not in the XF86 server then include a header that would do defines like #define xf86_read(x, y, z) read(x, y, z) The way it's done now is an extremely dirty hack. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]Outlines to borrow
Roozbeh Pournader wrote: > > I and my team are developing a set of Persian OpenType fonts, to > contribute to XFree86 (and other projects). Can someone tell me that from > which fonts may I steal (read borrow) the glyph outlines for ASCII > characters and other punctuations (open double quotes, etc)? I have some Public Domain TrueType fonts. The hinting in them is probably not good but I guess you can use the outlines themselves. Please let me know if you would want to get them. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]Another approach to text in X
Alexander Gelfenbain wrote: > > On Mon, Feb 25, 2002 at 12:38:28PM -0800, Erik van der Poel wrote: > > Alan Coopersmith wrote: > > > > > > It is our belief that leaving font rendering on the server side will be more > > > efficient than sending the bits over from the client side. Of course, we can't > > > prove this until we've actually done it, so we don't know for sure. > > > > It would be interesting to see the results. I'm curious about laying out > > text, drawing it, and selecting it (with the mouse). > > Unfortunately we have not yet implemented highlights and hit testing. The idea > is that the server will manage an encapsulated text object and it will > be able to highlight a selection without exchanging any metrics data with > the client. How about breaking the text into lines ? You just have to get the metrics for separate words in the line and if you split the words then of the separate syllables in the last word for that. Another example is the text justification: it either has to be done completely at the server or again the metrics for separate words should be received by the client and used to compute the positions of the words. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
[Fonts]a font server backwards ?
All, I've been thinking about the fonts stuff and I think I've got an interesting idea about the font servers. Normally a font server runs as a TCP/IP server and the X server connects to it as a client. This is not very convenient because it makes running the running of a font server by a random user not very easy. Also if it happens that the font server crashes or has not been started, the X server tends to freese. As far as I understand, the Render extension allows an application to provide bitmaps to be used as fonts. Hovewer these fonts are used only by one application and can't be shared with the others. So a logical next step seems to be an "X-client font server". The idea is that the font server connects to the X server as a client, and then does a call indicating that it's a font server. At this point the X server adds this new font server to its font path (I guess, either at the beginning or the end, depending on the options) and uses it as a normal font server, with fonts available to all the X clients. If this connection drops, the X server will silently remove this font server from its font path and go on. This makes such things as starting a personal font server from .profile easy and reliable. Well, the catch is that I don't know enough about the internal workings of the X server and the font protocol to actually implement it (nor really have time) :-( -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]Another approach to text in X
Alexander Gelfenbain wrote: > > On Wed, Dec 19, 2001 at 07:20:45PM -0500, Sergey Babkin wrote: > > Alan Coopersmith wrote: > > > > > applications. We have designed a display and platform-independent text > > > architecture, the Standard Type Services (ST) framework, which handles > > > not just font rendering, but text layout and font management as well. > > > ST incorporates typographically sophisticated features and ideas from > > > the best regarded existing APIs, including Apple Type Services for > > > Unicode Imaging (ATSUI) and Java2D TextLayouts. On top of ST, we have > > > layered a new extension to the X protocol, called XST, which > > > incorporates the ST functionality. The ST API will also be exposed to > > > applications independant of the X environment so that it can be used > > > > It would be good if it also could provide the output in PostScript. > > It would be capable of generating outlines. Converting them to PostScript > is trivial. I think, not quite trivial. I guess I should first explain that I don't want to sound ungrateful, and the way it is now this architecture looks very interesting and useful. Just it seems to me that it's a great opportunity to fix the historical X's weakness with printing. And seeing it missed once again would be a pity. Basically, rendering the general graphics in PostScript is easy and does not require much effort. Rendering of the text is much harder. The major thing making it complicated is the fonts. Of course, transferring the outlines of a rendered page back is a possible thing but it means large size of the resulting file and slow rendering to bitmaps at the printer. Providing a way to convert the used fonts to PostScript fonts, transferring them to the client and then rendering the pages in terms of these fonts looks like a much better thing. And probably provide a protocol to get the kerning information on to the client (unless all the rendering including kerning is done at the server side). Such a conversion is "trivial" too in the sense that it's clear how it can be done, the only difficulty is to actually do it and to provide an X protocol extension for such a transfer: - the Type1 fonts can be transferred directly, only with the encoding table changed according to X the server's idea about it and with the large fonts split into multiple 8-bit fonts (and/or possibly then combined into a Type0 composite font) - the TrueType fonts can be either converted to Type42 with the algorithm taken from ttf2type42 or converted to Type1 with the algorithm taken from ttf2pt1 - the other fonts can be rasterized to bitmaps and then converted to the Type1 fonts with the algorithm taken from ttf2pt1 Actually, one more possibility is to take the outlines produced from any kind of font and feed them into the algorithm from ttf2pt1. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that since yet another extension is being added to the X protocol, it would be nice to include this font transfer ability into it. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]Another approach to text in X
Alan Coopersmith wrote: > applications. We have designed a display and platform-independent text > architecture, the Standard Type Services (ST) framework, which handles > not just font rendering, but text layout and font management as well. > ST incorporates typographically sophisticated features and ideas from > the best regarded existing APIs, including Apple Type Services for > Unicode Imaging (ATSUI) and Java2D TextLayouts. On top of ST, we have > layered a new extension to the X protocol, called XST, which > incorporates the ST functionality. The ST API will also be exposed to > applications independant of the X environment so that it can be used It would be good if it also could provide the output in PostScript. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]changing desktop font size and type
Louis Lu wrote: > > Hi > >is there anyone who knows how to change the > font type and size of the desktop. Is the xset the correct > command? if it is, How I use this command. Highly unlikely. Probably what you need is xrdb or just to add entries into $HOME/.Xdefaults. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]freettf project?
Vadim Plessky wrote: > > On Monday 15 October 2001 01:43, Sergey Babkin wrote: > | Vadim Plessky wrote: > | > Problem with Pragmatica and Newton that their hinting is terrible, and > | > I just can't use them for display. Quality for printed material is very > | > good, indeed! > | > | I wonder, have you tried to auto-rehint them ? Say, with PfaEdit ? > > I tried auto-hint in FontLab 2.5. > For printing: result is good. For printing at high resolutions the hinting just does not matter because the changes is produces are not visible anyway (they are +-1 pixel, so when each pixel is small enough this difference is negligible). > Problem is with *screen*, as FT 2.0.4 doesn't support PS T1 native hints So why not use the X11's traditional implementation of the Type1 rasterizer (which is also available as T1Lib) ? Or has it been already phased out ouf XFree86 in favor of FreeType ? -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]freettf project?
Vadim Plessky wrote: > > Problem with Pragmatica and Newton that their hinting is terrible, and I just > can't use them for display. Quality for printed material is very good, > indeed! I wonder, have you tried to auto-rehint them ? Say, with PfaEdit ? Or convert with ttf2pt1 to Type1 with autohinting ? -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]freettf project?
Sergej Malinovski wrote: > > Sergey Babkin wrote: > > It would be real nice if the fonts had the same license as XFree86. > > That is, _NOT_ GPL. > > Let's suppose GPL could be applied (so to speak) to fonts. What > exactly would you not like about GPL'ed fonts? Limitation on the derived fonts. For example, if someone creates a font with Latin set of glyphs and then someone else comes and adds the Cyrillic glyphs then the result is: with GPL: the resulting font including the Cyrillic glyphs gets covered by GPL as well with (BSD or MIT or X)-style license and I believe LGPL too: the addition does not get under GPL and its author may do with the resulting font whatever he wants Of course these GPL effects may be a good thing too. But there are ways to work around the GPL requirements as well - for example, make the Cyrillic glyphs into a separate font and combine these two fonts into one at loading time. Another bad thing about GPL is that changing the license afterwards is difficult. Any GPLed piece would contaminate the result, so theoretically all the contributors have to be contacted. On the other hand, going in the reverse direction, from a BSD/MIT/X license to GPL is easy: just add a GPLed piece and the whole combination gets contaminated. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]freettf project?
Sergej Malinovski wrote: > > Sergey Babkin wrote: > > I'm not sure whether the TTF fonts can be considered programs > > but the Type1 fonts surely are. Besides, in any case the fonts > > are works of art and get under the general copyright concept. > > In a sense they are programs, but do you have a concept of "closed > source" fonts for example? Well, for example when Adobe introduced the Type1 format they did not disclose the (primitive) encrypting algorithm used in it. So the fonts very quite closed. I think later people have figured out this algorithm or maybe Adobe has decided to fight for the market presence, so eventually they've published it. But as an artifact of this original design decision every Type1 font is still encrypted even though it makes no sense whatsoever. Or if you look at the TTF format, the hinting program is compiled into a sort of byte code. > Yes, they get under the general copyright, but the purpose of most > kinds of free licenses is the opposite of copyright -- to give more > freedom than general copyright allows. If they are under copyright then you can apply any sort of a license to them. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
Re: [Fonts]freettf project?
Sergej Malinovski wrote: > > The question is, if you were to make "Free" fonts, how do the standard > free licences apply to fonts? A font isn't exactly a program with it's > binary and a source... I'm not sure whether the TTF fonts can be considered programs but the Type1 fonts surely are. Besides, in any case the fonts are works of art and get under the general copyright concept. > It would be interesting hear RMS's opinion, because I sure he has made > some thoughts on the subject because a Free GNU system need Free > fonts. I was thinking of sending an email to gnu.org with questions on It would be real nice if the fonts had the same license as XFree86. That is, _NOT_ GPL. -SB ___ Fonts mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
