Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!uwmcsd1!marque!gryphon!richard
From: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton)
Newsgroups: comp.fonts
Subject: Re: Self-Adjusting Outline Typefaces
Summary: Bozo move for HP ?
Keywords: outline typeface size change intelligent
Message-ID: <3965@gryphon.CTS.COM>
Date: 12 May 88 05:54:35 GMT
References: <868@actnyc.UUCP>
Reply-To: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton)
Organization: Trailing Edge Technology, Redondo Beach, CA
Lines: 51

In article <868@actnyc.UUCP> gcf@actnyc.UUCP (Gordon Fitch) writes:
>A few weeks ago I posted an inquiry about font outlines
>which contained information about how to change them to
>adjust for size.  I get the following, without permission
>of course, from "Computer Graphics World,"* a trade magazine:
>
>   To preserve the design and readability of typefaces, several
>   vendors are now offering intelligent outlines.  Intelligent
>   outlines provide more information about character shapes and
>   relationships.  This additional information, sometimes called
>   hints or optimization rules, mimics hand tuning.
>
>   OEMs and users can purchase intelligent outlines typefaces
>   from a variety of sources in several different formats.
>   Font Technologies (Wilmington, MA), a division of Compu-
>   graphic, now markets Intellifont intelligent outlines and
>   processing technology as OEM products.
>
>   ....Compugraphic expects to market this product to OEMs
>   (in object code) and to end users.
>
>Intellifont OEMs mentioned are HP, Archetype Inc. (Boston),
>Hampstead Computer Graphics (East Hampstead, NH), Laser
>Friendly (San Jose, CA), and G.O. Graphics (Burlington, MA).
>

I just got a blurb in the mail about Compugraphic's Intellifont.

It seems to be a PC programme that takes an outline and rasterizes
it into a bitmap and downloads it to your HP LazyJet.

They have 100 outlines out of their 1700 font library.

Is it just me or is HP building PostScript piece by piece ?

Is it that if they slap postscipt on their laser, they
no longer have a unique product ? It's now an expensive
laser like all the other ones, with nothing to recomend it ?

I guess having 100 new fonts is nice, and HP users can finally
scale fonts to an arbitrary size, but they still can't do
things like render text on an arbitrary path, or bend them
over cubes.

I guess you get what you pay for.



-- 
               noalias went. it really wasn't negotiable
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM                          rutgers!marque!gryphon!richard