[texhax] opentype and latex

William Adams wadams at atlis.com
Wed Jun 11 09:57:58 CEST 2003


Wolfgang asked:
> i'm wondering if it is possible to use opentype-fonts
> with latex...
>
> adobe provides the minion font at various optical
> sizes, but only as opentype. it would be nice if
> i could use all optical sizes in latex.

If you check, you should be able to find a Multiple Master version.

> i managed to convert opentype to type1 (by simply
> skipping all gylphs beyond 0xFF) but i want to use
> all these beautiful smallcaps, osf and ligatures
>
> that means:
> - extract a standard enconding pfb from the otf
>   (which is simple)
>
> - rearrage the glyphs to produce a expert-file for
>   the same font (which is complex).
>
> - let fontinst do the rest...
>
> do you know a handy solution for what i'm
> intending?

This sort of thing verges on nightmarish, 'cause of the possible 
complexities of OpenType kerning tables (well their size, anyway), 
and ligature mechanisms.

FWIW, the Omega team is looking into using OpenType as their native 
font format, and some of the commercial tex implementations (e.g., 
Bakoma) seem to support OpenType after some fashion or other. There 
was a long, drawn-out discussion of this on the tex-fonts mailing 
list a while back....

There's also this recent announcement:

> Subject: RFC: OpenType font handling software
> Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2003 22:53:11 -0700
> From: Eddie Kohler <kohler at coyote.icir.org>
>
> Hi all,
>
> I've just posted an initial version of some software for dealing with
> PostScript-flavored OpenType fonts with TeX, and would appreciate 
> comments
> and suggestions.
>
> LCDF Typetools
> http://www.lcdf.org/type/#typetools
>
> The package contains two particularly relevant programs. Cfftot1 
> translates
> a PostScript-flavored OTF into Type 1, preserving subroutines when 
> possible
> and all hints. Pfaedit does this too, I think. Otftopl is more 
> interesting:
> You supply an OTF, an input encoding, and any OpenType features you 
> want to
> turn on (like "kern" for kerns, or "salt" for stylistic alternates);
> otftopl generates PL font metrics and an output encoding that 
> implement the
> required features, as far as is possible. It does glyph substitutions,
> ligatures, and pair kerns. Pfaedit didn't do this last time I checked.
>
> The manual pages give more information:
> http://www.lcdf.org/type/cfftot1.1.html
> http://www.lcdf.org/type/otftopl.1.html
>
> Anyway, I hope people find this useful.
> Eddie Kohler
--
William Adams, publishing specialist
voice - 717-731-6707 | Fax - 717-731-6708
www.atlis.com



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