Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Lou From: Lou@cup.portal.com (William Joseph Marriott) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Adobe Type Manager Message-ID: <22693@cup.portal.com> Date: 1 Oct 89 09:40:00 GMT References: <15514@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> <1179@adobe.UUCP> <5516@wiley.UUCP> <2463@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> <125093@sun.Eng.Sun.COM><1236@adobe.UUCP> <20062@usc.edu> <13818@well.UUCP> <14699@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <4055@ncsuvx. Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 90 Comments: - The stuff about how expensive the Mac seems compared to MS-DOS compatibles has been hashed over a lot already. I want to read about ATM. So can that discussion be moved somewhere more appropriate? - The fella from GE seems to have a big problem with the definition of "font" and I suppose that's ok, except that before the Macintosh, anyone who used the word font took it to mean the expression of a typeface in a specified style. The words "typeface" and "type family" are much more appropriate. There are scores of variations on Helvetica, including Helvetica Black, Helvetica Condensed, Helvetica Light. Would you want these all to be called part of the Helvetica "font?" If you do, then you should ask Apple to expand the functionality of the "Style" menu to accomodate these rich variations. You can argue all you want about deception, but the original deciever was Apple, when it decided to bastardize the word with a "font" menu. - A lot of folks seem to have bought into the media hype over "competing font technologies." Hogwash. Adobe simply decided it liked the way it generated font outlines much better. And judging from the way other font companies have attempted to implement outlines, I have to agree. Nothing compares with the quality of Adobe fonts. Nothing. I beleive Adobe feels that in lieu of system-level support for PostScript, they'd either have to convert their whole library to Royal format (possibly at a loss of quality, or the need to have a Royal outline for the screen and a PostScript outline for the printer) or keep their high-quality format and give users the same functionality for Adobe fonts, somehow. ATM gives Adobe customers the peace of mind that they will not have to "upgrade" their fonts. And if they use Adobe fonts exclusively, they will reap font-rendering benefits months before System 7. - ImageWriters come in two flavors. The ImageWriter I has a maximum resoution of 72 dpi. The screen fonts were printed directly, and were the highest quality possible for that machine. You cannot get better print quality, even with double-sized bitmaps installed. The only benefit of System 7 or or ATM will be that you will be able to print in sizes not installed as explicit bitmaps (like 16-point, 11-point, or 48-point). ImageWriter II printers have a maximum resolution of 144 dpi. System 7 and ATM will let users of those printers print fonts at the highest resolution of their printer without installing double-sized bitmaps. Users of LQ printers should have similar benefits, and should users of the AppleFax modem and LaserWriter IISC. - Having to buy the LaserWriter Plus font set is a drag, and in cases where a fella has a single LaserWriter Plus or IINT/X connected to his personal machine, possibly unfair. But the license agreement was very clear that you purchase a font description for use with one CPU at a time. Most LaserWriters are used by several people, with several Macs. With ATM, you'll be using the font on several Macs (CPUs) at a time. I'd like to see the Plus set of fonts available as a special bundle at the introduction of ATM, perhaps both for $250 list, which would bring it under $200 mail order. Because ATM will give non-Postscript printers the ability to print Adobe quality fonts, I see no reason why Adobe should give away their most popular fonts to users of DeskWriters, PaintJets, etc. Questions: - How will ATM interface with Adobe Illustrator? Will Illustrator users (finally) be able to edit the outlines of the letters? Certain perspective effects are currently impossible with Illustrator when text is involved, as are effects where the letterform is curved to match an arced path. I'd like to be able to have that kind of control without resorting to LetraStudio. - For users who bought a hard disk full of font outlines for their LaserWriter IINT, the outline capabilities are both wondrous and distressing. Will ATM read the fonts from the disk drive on the IINT? Will I have to load those same fonts onto my Mac's hard disk as well?It seems the only reasonable alternative is to move the NT Hard disk to my Mac, and loose all the benefits of having the fonts directly available to my laser printer. - Apple has said it will not support rotated text with its Royal scheme. Will ATM offer that? You don't have to be a "type weenie" to appreciate the quality of Adobe's fonts and the freedom afforded by having one scheme for describing both display and printed matter. I can't say I've always loved Adobe for its slowness to open up Postscript and its font outlines to the public. I think if it had made these moves earlier, Apple would have had less resistance to implementing some sort of display postscript in the Mac OS. I intend to get ATM the instant it's available. I also intend to get System 7 when it becomes available. I doubt I'll be "locked" into choosing one or the other; ATM will kick in when I try to print an Adobe font, and Royal will go to work when I print in other fonts. Now, if only we could persuade Adobe to have an option in Illustrator to "Save as editable PICT" we'd really be able to sleep at night! -Bill Marriott