@database TTFLIB @node MAIN @title "ttf.library" @{B}ttf.library version 0.8.3@{UB} A truetype font engine for Amiga computers. @{" Overview " link OVERVIEW} @{" Credits/Legal " link CREDITS} @{" Requirements " link SYSREQ} @{" Installation " link INSTALL} @{" Usage " link USAGE} @{" ttfmanager " link TTFMNGR} @{" ttfinstall " link TTFINST} @{" ttflist " link TTFLIST} @{" ttfcp " link TTFCP } @{" Bitline " link BITLINE } @{" ftview " link FTVIEW } @{" Limits " link LIMITS} @{" Recent Changes " link CHANGES} @{" Future " link FUTURE} @{" FAQ " link FAQ} The most current publicly available version of this software can be found at the following web address: http://ragriffi.home.sprynet.com/ Send comments, suggestions, and bug reports to: Richard Griffith ragriffi@sprynet.com @endnode @node OVERVIEW "ttf.library Overview" @{B}Overview@{UB} ttf.library is a truetype compatible font engine for Amiga OS. It functions in a manner compatible with the outline font engine standard established by Commodore with the bullet.library engine for compugraphic format fonts. This means that Amiga applications which use normal system fonts are now able to use truetype fonts. @endnode @node CREDITS "Credits and Legal Issues" @{B}Credits and Notes@{UB} The ttf.library and related programs were made possible by the outstanding achievement known as the FreeType Project. For more information, visit http://www.freetype.org/ Also, Amish S. Dave's type1.library (which does for postscript type1 fonts what ttf.library does for truetype) served as an invaluable inspiration and an initial guide for the rather poorly documented amiga outline font engine format. Bitline, as distributed here, is an adaptation of a program of the same name written by Georg Steger. Some icon imagery supplied by Luca "Hexaae" Longone. @{B}Legal@{UB} I am not a lawyer, nor do I want to be, so expect plain english here. First, this library comes with NO WARRANTY. ttf.library is free, think of it as my gift to the faithful. I do not restrict its use and/or distribution, however, some of the technology used is covered by a separate license, see the @{"FreeType license" link FTLIC} for details. I do ask that if you distribute it, please don't try and call it your own work. I know better, you know better, and I'm sure karma will get you. If you sell it, be advised you will have stiff competition, as it will continue to be available free. (As a side note, no I don't think all software should be free. I make my living as a programmer, consultant, general geek type, so I do place a great value on software. This one, though, I feel should be free. So there...) Also note that it is virtually impossible to refer to anything relating to the subject of fonts without the mention of at least some trademarked names. ttf.library asserts NO CLAIM to ANY sort of trademark whatsoever. The following list of trademarks is provided, but may not be complete: Amiga® is a trademark of Amiga, Inc. TrueType is a trademark of Apple Computers, Inc. Unicode® is a registered trademark of Unicode, Inc. Microsoft® and Windows® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation M$ and Windoze are derisive terms, unregistered by any party to the best of my knowledge. @endnode @node FTLIC "FreeType Project License" The FreeType Project LICENSE ---------------------------- 2000-Feb-08 Copyright 1996-2000 by David Turner, Robert Wilhelm, and Werner Lemberg Introduction ============ The FreeType Project is distributed in several archive packages; some of them may contain, in addition to the FreeType font engine, various tools and contributions which rely on, or relate to, the FreeType Project. This license applies to all files found in such packages, and which do not fall under their own explicit license. The license affects thus the FreeType font engine, the test programs, documentation and makefiles, at the very least. This license was inspired by the BSD, Artistic, and IJG (Independent JPEG Group) licenses, which all encourage inclusion and use of free software in commercial and freeware products alike. As a consequence, its main points are that: o We don't promise that this software works. However, we are be interested in any kind of bug reports. (`as is' distribution) o You can use this software for whatever you want, in parts or full form, without having to pay us. (`royalty-free' usage) o You may not pretend that you wrote this software. If you use it, or only parts of it, in a program, you must acknowledge somewhere in your documentation that you have used the FreeType code. (`credits') We specifically permit and encourage the inclusion of this software, with or without modifications, in commercial products. We disclaim all warranties covering The FreeType Project and assume no liability related to The FreeType Project. Legal Terms =========== 0. Definitions -------------- Throughout this license, the terms `package', `FreeType Project', and `FreeType archive' refer to the set of files originally distributed by the authors (David Turner, Robert Wilhelm, and Werner Lemberg) as the `FreeType Project', be they named as alpha, beta or final release. `You' refers to the licensee, or person using the project, where `using' is a generic term including compiling the project's source code as well as linking it to form a `program' or `executable'. This program is referred to as `a program using the FreeType engine'. This license applies to all files distributed in the original FreeType Project, including all source code, binaries and documentation, unless otherwise stated in the file in its original, unmodified form as distributed in the original archive. If you are unsure whether or not a particular file is covered by this license, you must contact us to verify this. The FreeType Project is copyright (C) 1996-2000 by David Turner, Robert Wilhelm, and Werner Lemberg. All rights reserved except as specified below. 1. No Warranty -------------- THE FREETYPE PROJECT IS PROVIDED `AS IS' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL ANY OF THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE, OF THE FREETYPE PROJECT. 2. Redistribution ----------------- This license grants a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual and irrevocable right and license to use, execute, perform, compile, display, copy, create derivative works of, distribute and sublicense the FreeType Project (in both source and object code forms) and derivative works thereof for any purpose; and to authorize others to exercise some or all of the rights granted herein, subject to the following conditions: o Redistribution of source code must retain this license file (`license.txt') unaltered; any additions, deletions or changes to the original files must be clearly indicated in accompanying documentation. The copyright notices of the unaltered, original files must be preserved in all copies of source files. o Redistribution in binary form must provide a disclaimer that states that the software is based in part of the work of the FreeType Team, in the distribution documentation. We also encourage you to put an URL to the FreeType web page in your documentation, though this isn't mandatory. These conditions apply to any software derived from or based on the FreeType Project, not just the unmodified files. If you use our work, you must acknowledge us. However, no fee need be paid to us. 3. Advertising -------------- Neither the FreeType authors and contributors nor you shall use the name of the other for commercial, advertising, or promotional purposes without specific prior written permission. We suggest, but do not require, that you use one or more of the following phrases to refer to this software in your documentation or advertising materials: `FreeType Project', `FreeType Engine', `FreeType library', or `FreeType Distribution'. As you have not signed this license, you are not required to accept it. However, as the FreeType Project is copyrighted material, only this license, or another one contracted with the authors, grants you the right to use, distribute, and modify it. Therefore, by using, distributing, or modifying the FreeType Project, you indicate that you understand and accept all the terms of this license. 4. Contacts ----------- There are two mailing lists related to FreeType: o freetype@freetype.org Discusses general use and applications of FreeType, as well as future and wanted additions to the library and distribution. If you are looking for support, start in this list if you haven't found anything to help you in the documentation. o devel@freetype.org Discusses bugs, as well as engine internals, design issues, specific licenses, porting, etc. o http://www.freetype.org Holds the current FreeType web page, which will allow you to download our latest development version and read online documentation. You can also contact us individually at: David Turner Robert Wilhelm Werner Lemberg --- end of license.txt --- @endnode @node SYSREQ "System Requirements" @{B}Requirements@{UB} OS3.0 or higher Separate archives are available with optimized versions for 68020, '030, '040, '060, as well as generic 68000 series CPU's. @endnode @node INSTALL "Installation" @{B}Installation@{UB} Install-ttflib is a standard installer script, just double click the icon. If you prefer a manual installation, here is a breakdown of the primary components: File Installation instructions ------------ ------------------------------------------------------ ttf.library copy to your LIBS: drawer ttfmanager copy to your favorite tool drawer (i.e. sys:utilities) ttfinstall " " " " " " (optional) ttflist " " " " " " (optional) ttfcp " " " " " " (optional) Bitline " " " " " " (optional) ftview " " " " " " (optional) @endnode @node USAGE "Using ttf.library" @{B}Usage@{UB} The following tools are available: @{" ttfmanager " link TTFMNGR} make truetype fonts available to system @{" ttfinstall " link TTFINST} alternate (CLI) tool to install fonts @{" ttflist " link TTFLIST} list names and other details from font files @{" ttfcp " link TTFCP } codepage tool for non ECMA-Latin1 usage @{" Bitline " link BITLINE} create bitmap versions of an outline font @{" ftview " link FTVIEW } preview a font @endnode @node TTFMNGR "Using ttfmanager" @{B}ttfmanager@{UB} To use a truetype font, it must first be installed to some part of the system FONTS: drawer. Installation is a bit different than with the compugraphic intellifont program. First, @{B}outlines@{UB} (the actual truetype font files) @{B}are NOT copied@{UB} to the font directory. Instead only the ".font" and ".otag" files are created in the selected directory, and those reference the outlines at the same locations from which they were installed. This makes it much easier to use large font libraries directly from CD-ROM, for example. The font files used by the bullet.library in some cases are actually modified by the installation process, making the copying a requirement. In contrast, ttf.library uses unmodified files, so there is no reason to restrict your choices in disk space management. If you really want a "_ttfoutlines" directory in FONTS:, create it, and copy your font files there before the installation. The second major difference is that the fonts may be installed to any drawer, not just a FONTS: component. (Note that to USE a font in many programs, the drawer must be assigned to FONTS:, but this allows you to selectively add the required font path components as needed.) This allows for a rotating assignment for FONTS: which is practically required with any large font collection. (Image how long it would take to load the standard system font requester if you had 6000 fonts actually available!) Also see: @{" Quick Instructions " link TTFMAN_QUICK} @{" Main Window " link TTFMAN_MAIN} @{" Options Window " link TTFMAN_OPTS} @{" Preview Window " link TTFMAN_PREVIEW} @{" Mapping Test Window " link TTFMAN_TEST} @{" Information Window " link TTFMAN_INFO} @{" Family Setup Window " link TTFMAN_FAMILY} @{" Keyboard Controls " link TTFMAN_KEY} @{" Workbench Options " link TTFMAN_WB} @{" Shell Options " link TTFMAN_CLI} @endnode @node TTFMAN_QUICK "Quick Font Installation" @{B}Quick Instructions@{UB} To install truetype fonts, enter a source directory (where the ttf files are located) in the source directory box. Clicking the 'set' button to the right will bring up a standard file requester to allow you to choose the directory. A list of the internal names of all installable truetype fonts in the source directory will be generated in the Available Fonts list. Set the Destination Drawer in a similar fashion. To install a single font, click on it in the Available Fonts list. If you desire, you can change the name in the Font Name box. Then click the 'Install' button. To install all of the fonts in the Available Fonts list, click on the 'Install All' button. All fonts installed this way will get default names and options. Please note that ttfmanager will OVERWRITE the .font and .otag files if they already exist, thus installing two fonts with the name 'CoolNewFont' will result in only one available font. @endnode @node TTFMAN_MAIN "ttfmanager Main Window" @{B}ttfmanager Main Window@{UB} ttfmanager features a multi-window interface, providing only as much as you decide you want to see. The main window provides the most basic functions, selecting and installing truetype fonts. Closing the main window exits ttfmanager. Available Fonts Shows all the available fonts in the Font Source directory. To select a font for further processing, click on it in this list. Font Source The location of the actual font file. The Set button will bring up a standard file requester, from which a suitable directory can be chosen. This gadget can also accept a wildcard pattern to match only specific files. For example, CD0:A#?.ttf will restrict the files shown in the Available Fonts list to only those fonts where the filename starts with 'A' and ends in ".ttf". See @{"Workbench Options" link TTFMAN_WB} to set a default value for this field. Font Destination The directory into which the .font and .otag files which allow a font to be used by the system will be placed by Install. The Set button allows choosing this from a standard file requestor. See @{"Workbench Options" link TTFMAN_WB} to set a default value for this field. New Font Name ttfmanager will fabricate a name for a font from information within the font file itself, and place it here. To change the name before installing, overtype it here. Install Installs the currently selected truetype font as an Amiga font named as specified in New Font Name, in the directory specified by Font Destination, using any options specified in the options window. Install All Installs all the fonts in the Available Fonts list into the Font Destination directory. All fonts will be given default names and options. Preview Opens the @{"Preview" link TTFMAN_PREVIEW} window. Info Opens the @{"Font Information" link TTFMAN_INFO} window. Options Opens the @{"Options" link TTFMAN_OPTS} window. The message area across the bottom of the window displays any status or error messages. @endnode @node TTFMAN_OPTS "ttfmanager Options Window" @{B}ttfmanager Options Window@{UB} The options window provides access to virtually all of the information used in creation of the .otag file which describes a font to the system. Most of the time, the default settings should be adequate, but for 'problem' fonts, changing some of these settings may be required. Encodings Displays all encoding tables available in the currently selected font. ttfmanager will attempt to identify an appropriate unicode table. If the chosen table is incorrect, click on the desired one to change it. Selected/Raw/Offset If desired, you may choose to bypass the encoding table and access the glyphs of a font directly. The raw option maps glyphs in order, beginning at the specified Offset, to ASCII printable characters only (values from 33 to 126.) This is intended for use with dingbat and clipart fonts, or for accessing otherwise unreachable glyphs in large fonts for artistic purposes only. Code Page/Use/Set This cluster of gadgets allows a specific codepage to be associated with a specific font. In the string entry gadget, specify the full path of the desired codepage definition file. The Set button brings up a standard file requestor which can be used to select a file. For more information on the codepage definition format, see @{"ttfcp" link TTFCP}. The Use gadget turns the font specific codepage on and off. If on, the needed codepage information is stored directly in the .otag file created by an Install operation, so the source codepage file can be moved or deleted after the install with no impact on the operation of the fonts. The .otag codepage, if specified, overrides the default one, either built-in or set with ttfcp. Note that these options are NOT reset by selecting a new face from the Available Fonts list, so, by setting the codepage once, a series of fonts can be installed using it. New Font Name This is a second copy of the field of the same name on the @{"main window" link TTFMAN_MAIN}, placed here for convenience sake. Note that you can create multiple Amiga fonts from a single truetype file, each with its own options, but remember to give each a unique name here. (It is strongly recommended to press the 'enter' key to complete the entry of a new name.) Space Width Controls the advance width used for the space character. This also serves as the advance width for all glyphs if the font is declared as Fixed Width. Mapping The following attributes are used by the diskfont.library, or similar font mappers, to determine the attributes of the outline font. The default setting are usually adequate, but if you feel that ttfmanager has misidentified a font, they may be changed. The quality of the default settings is directly related to the quality of the information provided in the font, which in turn depends on the designer's attention to detail. Slant Style - Controls Italic attribute Weight - Controls the Bold attribute Width - Controls the Extended (wide) attribute Serif - Seems to be a comment(?) Spacing - Controls Monospaced (fixed pitch) attribute Sizes A list of sizes which will be listed for this font in the system available fonts list. Use the Add, Del, and size entry gadget to modify this list. See @{"Workbench Options" link TTFMAN_WB} to change the defaults used here. Metric Source Perhaps the most visually significant switch on this screen. A truetype font typically contains no fewer than four distinct sets of information indicating the amount of space glyphs in the font will occupy. This information is critical to the proper operation of ttf.library, especially when used through the diskfont.library mechanisms. Unfortunately, these numbers are inconsistently used by different programs and designers. By default, ttf.library will fit a fonts entire bounding box into the amiga sized box, which for screen fonts is typically 'size' pixels high. If a font has qlyphs (even ones you may not use) that extend the bounding box significantly from the needs of the more typical glyphs, the resulting font may be much too small. For this problem, the following options are available: Bound Box - uses the global font bounding box as the basis for size calculations. This is the default, and is correct for all but a few fonts. This is the most consistently reliable metric found in a real world sample of hundreds of fonts. Raw EM - uses the em size directly This is equivalent to the previous version's 'Stretch' option. It can give a giant boost to the visual size, but also can create significant problems. For uses that do not use diskfont.library, like word processors such as final writer, this can also be useful. Mac - uses Ascender and Descender values from the horizontal header. This metric is most often used by Apple systems. Typo - uses supposedly 'system independent' typographic values from the OS/2 table. The definition of this value seems to have a varied interpretation and is missing, or identical to the usWin value below in many fonts. usWin - uses the usWindow values from the OS/2 table. This value is a bounding box for latin-1 glyphs. It is also subject to wild variation in free and shareware fonts. Custom - uses the values entered in the yMax and yMin gadgets for calculations. These values are in font units, and may be directly entered, or generated using the Calculate button. The calculated value is the highest ascent and lowest decent from only the glyphs used by the active code page (either as specified for this font, or as system default.) Note that Preview will show the chosen size, but it may not properly illustrate any imperfections which may result. In particular, if the height is too small, a jumping baseline, where some glyphs sit some varying distance above or below the expected baseline may result. Choose wisely. For the curious, the shifting baselines are the result of the diskfont.library trying to fit the glyphs into the pixel height box. If the ascent is too high, the bit map is pushed down, resulting in a low baseline. If the descent is too low, the bit map is moved up. Interestingly, ttf.library does not explicitly tell diskfont.library how to locate the baseline, as it infers it instead from the glyph descriptions. Test Opens the @{"Mapping Test" link TTFMAN_TEST} window. Info Opens the @{"Font Information" link TTFMAN_INFO} window. Family Opens the @{"Family" link TTFMAN_FAMILY} window. Preview Opens the @{"Preview" link TTFMAN_PREVIEW} window. Install Installs the currently selected truetype font as an Amiga font named as specified in New Font Name, in the directory specified by Font Destination (on the @{"main window" link TTFMAN_MAIN}) using any specified options. The message area across the bottom of the window displays any status or error messages. @endnode @node TTFMAN_PREVIEW "ttfmanager Preview Window" @{B}ttfmanager Preview Window@{UB} This optional window will display a sample of the currently selected font. Resizing the window will redisplay the sample in a size determined by the new window size. See @{"Workbench Options" link TTFMAN_WB} to set the default string used for the preview. Preview also has several @{" keyboard control " link TTFMAN_KEY} options: ESC or DEL - clears the current preview string Backspace - remove the last character from the preview string any character - adds the character to the preview string Cursor Left - Apply kerning to preview display Cursor Right - Turn off kerning in preview display @endnode @node TTFMAN_KEY "ttfmanager Keyboard Controls" @{B}ttfmanager Keyboard Controls@{UB} The following keys are available in any ttfmanager window: Cursor Down - Select the next font from the Available Fonts list Cursor Up - Select the previous font from the Available Fonts list @endnode @node TTFMAN_TEST "ttfmanager Mapping Test Window" @{B}ttfmanager Mapping Test Window@{UB} This optional window displays the font on a 32 by 8 grid, applying all codepage and encoding selections made on the @{"Options" link TTFMAN_OPTS} window. The grid is square and can only be changed in size by a @{"tooltype" link TTFMAN_WB} setting. Some fonts which are wider than tall will look rather bad in this window. For more typical character fonts, however, it will aid in identifying non-defined positions in the character map, as well as other mapping anomalies. The default @{"MAPGRID" link TTFMAN_WB} size is 18 pixels, which will display on any hires workbench. If the window size needed to place the 32x8 grid at the specified MAPGRID size is larger than the actual display, it will be truncated to the top left corner that will fit. @endnode @node TTFMAN_INFO "ttfmanager Font Information Window" @{B}ttfmanager Font Information Window@{UB} This optional window shows Name and Copyright information, as well as various statistics and metrics from the currently selected font. @endnode @node TTFMAN_FAMILY "ttfmanager Family Setup Window" @{B}ttfmanager Family Setup Window@{UB} This optional window is used to associate alternate font files to be used when bold and/or italic attributes are requested when a font is opened. Each combination has a text entry gadget and set and clear buttons. @{B}Set@{UB} displays the main font list and waits for a selection. @{B}Clear@{UB} erases any entry for the attribute. Direct entry of the fully qualified filename of the desired font into the text gadget is possible, but not recommended. Keep the following in mind when using the family features: Family detection and fancy font manipulation do not work well together. Do not expect to use tools like PPaint's vector font with a font with family specifications. Due to the nature of the bullet interface specification, it can't work correctly. Family switching is not invoked by SetSoftStyle() so many places where font attributes are changed will not use the alternate font file. Styles specified with OpenDiskFont() work correctly. When installing, do not close the family window until after the install is complete. Closing the window clears the selections, and any fonts installed when the window is closed have families turned off. Attempting to change the Font Source directory when choosing family fonts will invalidate the base font specification. In other words, all the font files for a family should be in the same directory. @endnode @node TTFMAN_WB "ttfmanager Workbench options" @{B}ttfmanager Workbench options@{UB} ttfmanager supports the following ToolTypes in its icon: @{B}SOURCE@{UB} Specifies the initial Font Source in which to look for truetype font files. Example: SOURCE=Work:myfonts @{B}FONTS@{UB} Specifies the initial Font Destination, a directory in which the .otag and .font files for an installed truetype font will be placed. Example: FONTS=Sys:ttfonts @{B}SIZES@{UB} Specifies the default Sizes as seen on the options page. This specifies the font sizes which will be reported in the system AvailFonts list for use in font requestors. Up to 20 sizes may be specified in a comma separated list. Example: SIZES=10,12,16,24,32,48,64,72,98,122 @{B}PREVIEW@{UB} Specifies the string used for the Preview option Example: PREVIEW=Every Good Boy Does Fine @{B}MAPGRID@{UB} Specifies the pixel size for the Mapping Test option. Example: MAPGRID=20 Additional arguments, such as shift-clicked icons, will be used as the Font Source. For example, select a drawer on the workbench, hold down the shift key and double click the ttfmanager icon, and ttfmanager will use the drawer as the initial Font Source. Also, a project icon associated with a truetype font file could refer to ttfmanager as its default tool, invoking ttfmanager when clicked, which would set the Font Source to the single file. Note that the project file does not have to be a font file. Any ToolTypes in the project icon are evaluated as well. @endnode @node TTFMAN_CLI "ttfmanager Shell options" @{B}ttfmanager Shell options@{UB} The current command line interface will change soon FROM/A,TO/A,SIZES/F Example: ttfmanager work:coolnewfonts fonts: sizes=12,24,36,48 @endnode @node TTFINST "Using ttfinstall" @{B}ttfinstall@{UB} Note: @{"ttfmanager" link TTFMNGR} is now available and will perform font installation from the Workbench environment. This tool is included for those who want CLI and scripting power. For an overview of font installation, including differences from the system intellifont program, see @{"ttfmanager" link TTFMNGR}. The command line for installing a truetype font looks like the following: ttfinstall fontfile.ttf sys:fonts Note that 'fontfile.ttf' is the actual file to be installed, and 'sys:fonts' can be any existing directory. In addition, a file name pattern can be specified for 'fontfile.ttf', allowing the installation of several fonts at once. For example: ttfinstall cd0:funky/#?.ttf work:ttfonts Would install all the font found in the cd0:funky drawer to the ttfonts drawer on volume work: Once a truetype font is installed on the fonts: path, it should be possible to select that font from any decent font requester. Please note that ttfinstall will OVERWRITE the .font and .otag files if they already exist, thus installing two fonts with the name 'CoolNewFont' will result in only one available font. It is possible to rename both the .font and .otag files once they have been created, so multiple fonts with the same internal name can be used if you work at it. ttfmanager has an option to change the name when installing individual fonts. Note: switches EXACT, TYPO, and DESIGN are no longer valid. @endnode @node TTFLIST "Using ttflist" @{B}ttflist@{UB} ttflist works a lot like the normal system 'list' command, but is designed to display readable names along with the file name. Also, it will optionally provide a great deal of perhaps useful information from a font file. The command line would look like: ttflist [pattern] [all] [verbose] where: pattern is an optional amigados file pattern or drawer name. By default it is "#?.(ttf|ttc)" all is an optional switch to list matching drawer contents as well. Note that the pattern specified must match the drawer names to be searched. When all is specified the default pattern is "#?". verbose gives a lengthy, and probably ignorable, report for each font found. example: ttflist cd0: all @endnode @node TTFCP "Using ttfcp and alternate codepages" @{B}ttfcp and alternate codepages@{UB} ttfcp is a command line tool to install codepage tables that allow the use of ttf.library on systems which do not use the default ECMA Latin-1 character set. ttfcp uses simple text files to describe the mapping of the 256 possible Amiga character set positions to any unicode characters. The text file format is quite simple: - Each mapping line contains two numbers separated by space and/or tab characters. These numbers may be in decimal, octal, or hexadecimal. (decimal numbers must start with a digit 1-9, octal with a "0", and hexidecimal with "0x") The first number is the Amiga character set position being mapped, and must be between 0 and 255. The second number is the unicode character to be assigned to the position. - A "#" character begins a comment - any line without two valid numbers as the first non space items are ignored without warning - any character positions not mapped will be set to 0 Sample mapping file lines: --------------------------------- # full line comment 0x20 0x0020 32 32 # functionally identical to the previous line 325 0x0042 # this line would be ignored (index>255) 49 72659 # this line would be ignored (unicode>0xFFFF) 0xA1 0x040E # CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER SHORT U 0xB6 0x0386 # GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH TONOS ------------------------------------------------------------ Note: A variety of mapping tables suitable for use with ttfcp are available at ftp.unicode.org in Public/MAPPINGS. ttfcp translates the mapping table into a more efficient form for use by the library. The command line is: ttfcp mapfile [ENV] [TO outfile] where: mapfile is the required mapping file as described above. ENV is a switch which will cause the translated table to be placed in the "ttfcodepage" environment variable. (And copied to ENVARC:) TO file allows writing the translated table to "file" (This option is not very useful, as currently nothing else uses the created files.) example: ttfcp 8859-2.TXT ENV If neither ENV or TO options are specified, no translated table is written, but an normalized ascii version of the input is displayed. To enable alternate codepage support: 1) obtain or create a mapping file 2) use ttfcp with the ENV option to install the mapping file These steps need only be performed once. The next use of the ttf.library will begin using the new codepage mapping. To remove codepage mapping delete the file "ttfcodepage" from ENV: and ENVARC:. For codepage support to work correctly, the fonts used must contain the glyphs needed to represent the characters of the chosen codepage. Also, the font must have a suitable unicode encoding table. You can check the results of the code page and encoding selections with the @{"Test" link TTFMAN_TEST} button on the @{"Options" link TTFMAN_OPTS} page. By default, ttf.library will use straight Unicode translations. The codepage definitions only affect the first 256 character positions. If you need full unicode support, either the system codepage or the font specific codepage will need to provide a straight conversion (i.e. ISO-8859-1). @endnode @node BITLINE "Using Bitline" @{B}Bitline@{UB} Bitline is a small shell utility which allows you to convert Amiga outline fonts to Amiga Bitmap fonts. Bitline works with the diskfont.library, so any font format your system can use can be converted. Bitline is an adaptation of Bitline 0.5 by Georg Steger, and is being distributed with permission from Georg. Thanks Georg! Bitline can only be used from shell. It has the following argument template: FONTNAME/A,SIZES/N/M/A FONTNAME: Path of source outline font. You must specify the font contents file (the one that ends with '.font'.) The ".font" suffix is optional, and the entire FONTS: assign will be searched if no directory is specified. example: "fonts:foboz.font" SIZES : One or more font sizes you want to have created. For example, Bitline foboz 10 20 30 40 would creates bitmaps at 10, 20, 30 and 40 sizes from the font 'Fonts:foboz.font' @{B}Warning@{UB} - this is the first public release of this version of Bitline. Do use caution, and please report any problems. @{B}Legal Note@{UB} - fonts are usually copyrighted entities, and the use thereof may be limited by license or other agreements. It is the users responsibility to verify that the use of this utility does not violate the terms of such license. @endnode @node FTVIEW "Using ftview" @{B}ftview@{UB} ftview is a truetype font display program from the FreeType project test suite. Its command line format is: ftview [-g] [-r res] pointsize fontfile ... where -g is an optional grey scale (smoothing) rendering. Smoothing looks very wonderful, but is not available through ttf.library. Also note that ftview opens on the default public screen, and if that screen does not have sufficient available or matching pen colors, it may look worse. The -g option uses five distinct grey levels. -r res specifies an optional resolution to use in rendering the qlyphs of the font. 'res' is in Dots Per Inch. Note this doesn't change the display resolution only the value used for font rendering. pointsize is a required argument specifying the point size to display. fontfile is one or more truetype font files to view Example: ftview 30 flyingp.ttf While the font is displayed, options to change many rendering characteristics are available by keystroke or standard amiga menu selections. @endnode @node LIMITS "Limits and known problems" @{B}Limits, warnings@{UB} Portions of this software are new, and have had minimal testing. The performance of this software has been heavily monitored on the development machine with enforcer, mungwall, poolwatch and other tools, however, it is still unproven. Please use caution, and use at your own risk. A few features of the bullet library standard have not yet been implemented (algorithmic emboldening) as they are not required for proper font operation in many circumstances. Programs that depend on these unimplemented features, or on undocumented features of the bullet.library may not work as expected with ttf.library. @{B}Application Notes@{UB} PersonalPaint Without 'Keep Ratio' selected, there are several quirks noted using ttf.library with the PPaint Vector Text tool. Specifically, rotations approaching 90 degree angles do not display. Also, when the rotation angle and the natural diagonal angle of the text box are quite different (such as a 45 degree rotation in a short, wide box,) the aspect of the glyphs can become distorted. No specific cause in ttf.library has been identified. For the technically curious, the vector text tool specifies a fixed point size and the sin and cos for the rotation angle, and appears to attempt to find a perfect fit within the box by changing the dpi. Whatever formula it is using is not satisfied by the ttf returned values, and, in the case of the 90 degree rotations, the dpi are modulated to totally unworkable values (0x3FFF by 4, in one case.) FinalWriter Under some circumstances 'Justify All' formatting will be broken when printing. It appears that the justification is based on width and advance information from separate resolutions, with the width data taken from a small dpi, such as the screen, and the character advance info from the printing dpi. TrueType font hinting can change the width of a glyph to visually compensate at low resolutions. FinalWriter, unlike several other high end packages, does not ask for the bullet style width list, which would be resolution independent. @endnode @node CHANGES "Recent Change History" Changes in v0.8.3b Fix nasty crash/enforcer hit in ttfmanager only Changes in v0.8.3 Start of family support. Various small bugfixes. Changes in v0.8.2 Correct rendering of accents in some fonts Changes in v0.8.1 Many fonts which previously failed to work (missing OS/2 table, common in fonts from Mac sources) should now work. Unicode support fixed. SpaceWidth entry gadget added to ttf.manager options. CPU specific archives available for 68k series processors. Changes in v0.8.0 Full unicode support now enabled Many fonts which previously reported 'broken font - invalid reference' should now work. Dig out those broken fonts! Eliminate some needless memory copying in font loading. New mapping test window available on the Options window. Encoding selection will choose Win Unicode over Apple; fixes quite a few screwy fonts with bad Apple Unicode tables. Preview window no longer limited to 640x400. Changes in v0.7.9 add support for shear and rotation Changes in v0.7.8 fix buggy yMin gadget fix crash when specifying a random file as codepage definition add @{"bit map" link BITLINE} creation utility Changes in v0.7.7 adds options to select various or custom metrics to determine the height factor used to scale fonts to the proper size. In particular, this should make the M$ euro fonts usable (again). See @{"Options" link TTFMAN_OPTS} and @{"FAQ" link FAQ} for more information. variety of small bug fixes Changes in v0.7.5 eliminate potential crash when a font file could not be accessed kerning support enabled note that only one level of kerning is supported, and bullet api calls specifying either 'Design' or 'Text' kerning will result in the same kerning value. corrected width list calculation (apparently broken since 0.7) ttfmanager adds some keyboard support, especially in preview Changes in v0.7.3 should now support infamous win symbol encoding added 'stretch' option for larger glyphs at small sizes applied the most current freetype patches Changes in v0.7.2 plugged a nasty memory leak in the library font specific codepage support enabled Changes in v0.7.1 ttfmanager - several cosmetic changes ttflist - now reports some kerning table info ttf.library - fixed a problem with baseline shift on some characters at smaller sizes (especially with diacritical marks) - some changes in advance width calculations Changes in v0.7 Reinstall Warning - some important things have changed in the font installation, and all fonts installed with any previous version must be re-installed. (Sorry, but this should be the last time.) ttfmanager - preview, font information and options windows added - several changes in the .otag files produced by installing, adding a complete set of font attribute mappings, fixing the space width calculation. ttf.library - More speed! Typically 1/3 faster on a 040/25MHz. - The library now handles internally the correction between Amiga font size and actual em size, instead of relying on diskfont.library to do the job. This opens the way for several future enhancements. Changes in v0.6.3 ttf.library now supports a system wide alternate codepage Added ttfcp, a codepage installation tool. Changes in v0.6.2 Only the ttf.library has changed in this version. The quest for perfection continues - the character advance calculations are virtually identical to that common M$ OS engine. An issue with non-glyph widths (i.e. the space character will be fixed in the next installer version. Source of mystery crashes (of other tasks) found and fixed. Changes in v0.6 Re-examined the character advance calculations to improve spacing at smaller sizes. Modified the font install routines to calculate the extremes of the ascent and descent by default. Problem fonts (baseline shifts or clipped glyphs) should be re-installed with the new ttfmanager or ttfinstall version. Added a fake version number to ttf.library for WordWorth. Changes in v0.5 Added ttfmanager and Install-ttflib. Re-examined linkages, often resulting in smaller file sizes. Changes in v0.4 WidthLists are now supported. Subtle changes to returns of non-existent glyphs to be more compatible with bullet, and make smaller (memory wise) fonts when called by diskfont.library. ttfinstall - correct advance width problem with monospaced fonts Changes in v0.3 Sets many more tags in otag file to make some programs much happier (FinalWriter, to name one.) As a result, ALL FONTS installed with v0.2 or earlier MUST BE RE-INSTALLED. Sorry, but the results are usually worth it. Mimic bullet.library in handling of glyphless codes, such as a space. Widths are calculated more appropriately, resulting in better display under many conditions. Several other peculiar, but un-enumerated, bugs were squashed. @endnode @node FUTURE "The future of ttf.library" @{B}Future@{UB} Still many improvements possible for ttfmanager. Improve family support. Add library support for algorithmic emboldening Examining possibilities of using the forthcoming FreeType 2 engine. @endnode @node FAQ "Frequently Asked Question" @{B}FAQ@{UB} Can/will it get faster? Well, you should have seen it in the early days! Actually, I do keep looking at ways to speed things up, but TrueType rendering is a computationally intensive task, and it places heavy demands on slower processors. Faster processors and plenty of memory help a lot. I'll keep at it if you'll upgrade ;) Why are the fonts so small or have a so much space underneath? Microsoft's core fonts, pan-european versions, have a very unusual characteristic which has made the display less than pleasing under ttf.library version 0.7 and above. First, thanks go to Pavel Cizek for having the patience to help me see and understand the problem. The fonts have a run of line drawing glyphs which distort the global bounding box (a virtual box which can surround ANY glyph in the font.) Since version 0.7, this size has been the basis for translating the font into Amiga sizes. It should be noted, that the decision to use this metric for the basis was made for several reasons, one being that it is the most reliable metric above all others in a wide variety of fonts examined in great detail. This unusual feature escaped the testing. Metropol, which I used for many Latin-2 tests, does not have any such problem. Sorry. To allow these fonts, or any others which may have similar problems, there are now several new options available. In fact, this is the main reason for V0.7.7. A quick guide to installing one of these fonts: Select the desired font. Open the options window. Select a metric source of 'Custom'. Make sure the correct code page is set (either as the system default, or for this font.) Click calculate, and two new numbers should be displayed for yMax and yMin. Install. Repeat these steps, including the 'Calculate' step, for each font which displays similar symptoms. Can we make bitmaps, please? A very frequently requested enhancement is for bitmap font generation. A version of Georg Steger's @{"Bitline" link BITLINE} is now included. How about a PPC version? I do not have the resources to generate a PPC version at this time, however, as of version 0.8.3, source code is available, and hopefully, someone will be willing to tackle this project. Why are the fonts so tiny? 8 point soandso.font looks bad. On a PC I can use 7 point foboz, but it is just little squiggles on my amiga. Etc, etc. A quick lesson of fonts and terms is in order. In more traditional typography, a point is a standard unit of measure, approximately 1/72 of an inch. A point size refers to the size of an imaginary box surrounding the letter 'M', know as the em square. The size of this box in 1/72 inch units is the point size. When Windoze defined its version of point size, it invented a new concept, the virtual display inch (I'm not kidding!) which is "approximately 30 to 40 percent larger" If you consider that the declared resolution of a typical Win display is 96DPI square, you'll find that the math works out to the em square point measurement is approximately the pixel height count of the letter M. The Amiga however uses 'points' to specify the entire height of the font, not just the letter M. There is no provision, through diskfont.library for a glyph to fall outside of a 'point' high bitmap. As a consequence, a box which will hold the 'M' won't hold a 'Ç' or an 'È' or any other characters. The needed room must come from somewhere, and this means that the sizes must be scaled to fit. Since ttf.library is at the bottom of the chain, the apparently inflated point size must be specified. As a result, requests for 8 point glyphs will usually result in total garbage, as 3-4 'points' get used for any needed ascenders and descenders, leaving little to reflect the characters. 10 is sometimes recognizeable, and 12 starts to be useful for most fonts. To match an Amiga point size exactly to those of another platform, examine the highest ascender, lowest descender and the letter 'M' on the other platform. The letter 'M' should be approximately the point size pixels tall. Add the additional pixel heights of the high and low extremes to that point height, and you should have a close value for a corresponding Amiga size. What can I do to make my browser look like a PC? You can match the font sizes used by default in MSIE or Mozilla on a Winbox. There will be differences in the layout by the browser, but the letters in the words could be made to match in many ways. The biggest problem is in finding the correct sizes to specify, approximate values of which are presented below. You will need to obtain the TimeNewRoman and CourierNew font families. Approximate matching fonts/sizes are as follows: H1 TimesNewRomanBold/36 H2 TimesNewRomanBold/28 H3 TimesNewRomanBold/20 H4 TimesNewRomanBold/18 H5 TimesNewRomanBold/14 H6 TimesNewRomanBold/12 FONT SIZE=1 TimesNewRoman/12 FONT SIZE=2 TimesNewRoman/15 FONT SIZE=3 TimesNewRoman/18 FONT SIZE=4 TimesNewRoman/20 FONT SIZE=5 TimesNewRoman/27 FONT SIZE=6 TimesNewRoman/35 FONT SIZE=7 TimesNewRoman/53 Preformated CourierNew/15 Another potentially useful browser trick is to set a codepage to eliminate the dreaded no such character box that appears often where quote marks and apostrophes should appear. Although I think that any web author that allows such rot to appear on a page (Including Amiga, Inc!) should at least be publicly chastised, the fact remains that these artifacts are widespread. It seems that M$ 'improved' (in its opinion) the ISO 8859-1 standard to create the 1252 codepage. (For more info, see ftp.unicode.org. for mapping tables.) It seems that range from 0x80 to 0x9F, which is non-printing in 8859-1 (a REAL standard) is heavily and arbitrarily populated in CP1252, adding left and right single and double quotes, the new Euro currency symbol, and other things. Be sure and check out Matthew Sealey's Web Fonts tutorial on setting up fonts for Vaporware's Voyager at: http://www.kittycat.co.uk/computing/webfonts/ What is this strange version number on ttf.library? WordWorth wants to open Version 2, and ttf.library is not even to version 1.0 yet. This is a bug in WordWorth. It has no reason to specify a library version at all when opening the library. This is likely a holdover from a very early bullet.library, but it is still WRONG! For the time being, I have faked the version in the library header to pass this test. Version 0.7 appears as version 10.7 to the system. Any future versions will continue to be offset by 10, as long as required. @endnode