OpenType Feature Support

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stinkykong
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OpenType Feature Support

Post by stinkykong »

I would like to see support for open type fonts. Is there any chance this will ever come about?
Steve Horn
Erwin Denissen
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Post by Erwin Denissen »

Right now there are no plans to add OpenType support to the Font Creator Program.

The Font Creator Program doesn't support OpenType tables but won't remove them, so you could work in parallel with other software like VOLT (Visual OpenType Layout tool) to add OpenType layout tables to fonts with TrueType outlines to convert them to OpenType.

Check out the Microsoft Typography web site for information on making OpenType fonts.
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/developers/volt/
Erwin Denissen
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newbe
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• Opentype features

Post by newbe »

Hi!

Would it be any way to add support for OpenType features such as contextual alternates?
It would be easier (I think), if there was a way to enter specifications/rules either (fully) manually, or (fully) by pointing and clicking).
But the simplest way seems to be to define some kind of (easy) syntax for defining such features manualy, then specify by clicking/naming them, the characters/classes it should be applied to.

What do you think?
vanisaac
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Location: Washington State, USA

Post by vanisaac »

Go to the microsoft typography site. I was able to get Microsoft VOLT (Visual OpenType Layout Tool) there. They do require you to submit some information, but they obviously aren't that picky if they just gave it to me.
prabudh
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Post by prabudh »

Ya,
Volt Is one of the most powerfull tool available to work on Open type fonts, It may look a bit complex software but infact its quite easy once you understand the script and the features.

Should you need any help on Indic font you can contact me through my website.

See ya,
prabudh
William
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OpenType ligature glyph substitution facility

Post by William »

At present I make TrueType fonts using FontCreator and I use them in such applications as Microsoft Word 97, Microsoft WordPad, Microsoft Paint, Serif PagePlus and Serif ImpactPlus.

Serif is at http://www.serif.co.uk and makes fairly reasonably priced application packages, such as PagePlus which, in recent versions, allows the production of pdf documents and such as ImpactPlus which allows three-dimensional design of graphics.

The leading edge for font development seems to be to produce OpenType fonts and to use them in OpenType-aware applications where things such as automated substitution of ligature glyphs can take place.

For example, if the font includes a glyph for a ct ligature as a discretionary ligature and the application has discretionary ligatures selected, then if one keys ct the glyph for the ct ligature is displayed instead of the glyphs for c and t, though if one saves the file as a text file, the c and t are saved as c and t. So, if one keys a word such as actually then the word is displayed with a ct ligature in it. Using some of my own TrueType fonts and WordPad one can in fact get the display with the ct ligature included by keying Alt 59143 instead of keying ct as I have the ct ligature glyph in the font and mapped to U+E707 in the Unicode Private Use Area. However, I would like to be able to produce fonts with the automated method of glyph substitution.

However, the software packages for the said leading edge font development and application are not in the same general price range as products from High-Logic and Serif: in fact they tend to be about ten times the price in the United States and who knows how many times the price in the United Kingdom!

Then there is the matter of the VOLT system. I am unsure quite whether one needs this as an obligatory part of the system to produce OpenType fonts.

First let me say that, although I have programmed computers I have done little of it for quite some years and when I was programming I was mostly doing small programs and learning the basics of the languages in order to be able to advise people learning to program. So, I am unable to have any real idea as to how much work would be needed to produce what I am requesting: however, I am setting down how I would like it to work if possible.

From reading about OpenType it appears that internally OpenType fonts work by glyph numbers within the font rather than mappings. This appears to be because the purported best way to supply ligature glyphs is not to have them mapped.

However, what I would like is a system which uses postscript names so that a font designer can set up assignment statements in plain text in a dialogue panel accessed by a new facility, say, Format Ligatures... in FontCreator.

For example, for those of my fonts where there is a glyph for a ct ligature mapped to U+E707 I could enter the following line into the dialogue panel.

c+t=uniE707

That is, postscript names.

There could be other lines such as the following.

f+f+i=uniFB03
f+i=uniFB01

Upon clicking OK FontCreator would produce the glyph substitution table or tables for the ligatures automatically and an OpenType font would be produced.

I know that I cannot program such a system myself, yet wonder if you could possibly say whether such a facility could be added to FontCreator please.

Some of my fonts have a few ligature glyphs, some have many ligature glyphs. For example, Chronicle Text has a large number of ligature glyphs and I would like to be able to produce an OpenType font.

As to how difficult it would be to have application software which can use the OpenType font is another matter, yet hopefully as time goes by, both the ability to produce OpenType fonts which include ligatures and to use OpenType fonts which include ligatures will come to budget software packages.

William Overington

30 January 2007
William
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Post by William »

The email version of the February 2007 edition of the Linotype LinoLetter has arrived.

There is a version available on the web, though the link may be to the current issue, so maybe this link will not be permanent.

http://www.linotype.com/38/newsletter.html

In this edition is a link to an article about ligatures.

http://www.linotype.com/2705/february2007.html

There is specific mention of various typefaces: Palatino Sans Informal Ultra Light is mentioned in particular.

I followed the link to Palatino Sans Informal Ultra Light and arrived at the following page.

http://www.linotype.com/113191/palatino ... -font.html

I then clicked on the Character Map link and arrived at the following page.

http://www.linotype.com/36843513/palati ... ermap.html

Selecting Private Use Area in the selection box showed the glyphs in the Private Use Area of the font.

The font has some glyphs for ligatures mapped into the Private Use Area, including, surprisingly, the glyph for an st ligature: surprising as the st ligature is one of the few ligatures mapped into regular Unicode, at U+FB06.

Starting another copy of the browser, so as to keep the Private Use Area page available, for reference, I again reached the http://www.linotype.com/113191/palatino ... -font.html page.

This time I chose the Create sample link.

Noting from the Private Use Area page that a ct ligature is mapped in this font to codepoint decimal 57856 I tried the font sampler, entering the following.

Aually

This worked!

I have tried various other of the ligatures using the Private Use Area codes listed, including the following.

JOY

William
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Opentype features

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Support for OpenType Features was added in FontCreator 7.0 and improved in FontCreator 8.0. Further improvements will follow in later versions.
My FontsReviews: MainTypeFont CreatorHelpFC15 + MT12.0 @ Win 10 64-bit build 19045.2486
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