Type 1 (PostScript) fonts in font lists
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@vectoradmin
Strange! As this is how things look on my MacBook Air (M1 on Big Sur 1.1, latest VS RC1):
As you can see, not Type 1 symbols (as on Windows), but as if these were TrueTypes. All these fonts come from old Adobe sources and they validate with all green in Font Book. They also operate perfectly in Adobe Photoshop 2021 (latest M1 build):
As can be seen, they also get their Adode font symbol in Photoshop.
Note that I do not have any font manager on my computer. Could this explain this?
On the other hand, like @b77, I have experienced same kind of rendering errors also with fonts marked as TrueTypes. I do not have practically much else installed on this machine than what came with it, so all fonts should be ok on this system.
Another thing about fonts, but not restricted to any font technology: i have not managed to get font metrics based kerning work with any font, only optical kerning works. Manual kerning also works somehow erroneously, and I think it should always be defined between characters (no characters selected). That's how it works in most graphic apps that I know (e.g. Adobe apps, Quark, Affinity, etc.).
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@Arde There is a bug when detecting some installed fonts, an example was sent by @b77. (fix in the next build)
There is no need for font managers to add extra fonts to VS (without installing to the system).
Place these fonts in some user folder, and in the Text -> Font Manager menu of VS select the Add Folder button and confirm in the Font Manager.Then when selecting fonts, in the top right corner, instead of Installed Fonts select the name of the folder. That should list the fonts in this folder (this will also workaround the earlier bug).
Font metrics based kerning should work, but it may depend on the font file if VS can read those. Some fonts use TTF kerning, others use OpenType positioning as kerning. Both are supported but there might be some bug there. If there is a font file you could send me I can look into that (shared files are deleted after the bug is fixed).
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If I use Font Manager (of VS) and specify the folder where I have all "User" fonts (the place where Font Book automatically places all user-installed fonts: <Home>/Libarary/Fonts), the Type 1 fonts do not get listed amongst other fonts in this location when chosen in the Fonts list.
As for kerning with metrics, at least all fonts belonging to Monotype Helvetica Now show this problem:
The same font is correctly metric kerned in Photoshop:
A free font from this family can be downloaded from Monotype at:
https://hello.monotype.com/Helvetica-Now-Download.htmlAs regards this font, I do not seem to be able to expose any of the 10 stylistics sets belonging to this super family (it consists of 48 fonts):
Is there some specific way to get the stylistic sets (also known as stylistic alternates) showing?
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As an additional information: metric-based kerning does seem to work with many fonts, e.g. Seravek and Source Sans. Helvetica Now is OpenType PS flavor font so you might want to check that the kerning problem is not related to PS flavor of OT fonts.
When testing this feature, I experienced once again the ghost selection problem which I have experienced multiple times in VectorStyler. The selection box of any object is offset (typically down and left from the object) and the problem stays until the
app is restarteddocument is reopened.
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@Arde Looks like the kerning is not loaded correctly from this font. Some of the stylistic alternates can be accessed using the Glyphs panel (in the Show field select access all alternates).
For some reason the Typography panel (of VS) does not show all these.
I open a bug on these issues (and on Type 1 kerning access from AFM files).
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@vectoradmin said in Type 1 (PostScript) fonts in font lists:
open a bug on these issues (and on Type 1 kerning access from AFM files)
Thanks, but note that the issue with metric based kerning applies probably also PS flavor OpenTypes (which might basically of course still use .AFM based kerning pairs...)
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@Arde The font issues have been fixed in the new build.
(old) Type 1 (PFB) fonts can only be used correctly when added with the internal font manager of VS (i.e. will not show up in the system). if the afm file is also copied into macOS /Fonts folder then it should work.
(new) Type 1 (OTF) fonts do not require AFM files. These are opentype fonts with the glyph shapes stored in Adobe format.
The kerning handling has been fixed for these fonts.
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@vectoradmin said in Type 1 (PostScript) fonts in font lists:
(old) Type 1 (PFB) fonts can only be used correctly when added with the internal font manager of VS (i.e. will not show up in the system). if the afm file is also copied into macOS /Fonts folder then it should work.
I have tried to add them using the VS internal font manager, both by indicatiing the folder location (home > Library > Fonts), or trying to pick individual Type 1 files, but none of the Type 1 files work correctly on my system (BigSur 11.1 and M1 version of VS).
I even placed the original AFM files from Adobe in the same folder but it does not help. These fonts are from Adobe FontFolio 8.
They have been installed with Font Book and as said still work without problems with Adobe Photoshop 2021, QuarkXPress 2018 and Affinity apps (where they are only partially supported and do not support metrics based kerning).On Adobe, Quark and system kerning with Type 1 works just fine (and does not require AFM files):
On Windows Type 1 fonts seem to work ok with VS, including kerning, so I have them in Windows\Fonts and they operate just fine (no need to use VS Font Manager on Windows).
This is not a big issue but I think it would be a good competitive value if you could have full support for Type 1 as there are still people who have old PS fonts installed on their computers.
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@vectoradmin said in Type 1 (PostScript) fonts in font lists:
(new) Type 1 (OTF) fonts do not require AFM files. These are opentype fonts with the glyph shapes stored in Adobe format.
The kerning handling has been fixed for these fonts.I could not get metrics based kerning working with Helvetica Now fonts which I have in PostScript OpenType flavor. I have the latest RC installed. I tested this on macOS Big Sur 11.1 (and M1 version of the app).
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@Arde This is how it looks for me: https://recordit.co/FsboJMPPGw
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@Arde the previous case was with Helvetica Now Text font.
Here is the screenshot with Helvetica Now Display Regular.(the fonts were installed into macos, not with VS font manager).
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@vectoradmin said in Type 1 (PostScript) fonts in font lists:
@Arde the previous case was with Helvetica Now Text font.
Here is the screenshot with Helvetica Now Display Regular.
(the fonts were installed into macos, not with VS font manager).This happens with any of the 48 fonts belonging to Helvetica Now family (it consist of Display, Text and Micro basic families and then several weights in straight and italic style from each). Here is a comparison of using the same font in VectorStyler and Affinity Publisher:
In addition, when I export this page to PDF, I get a completely empty page, yet all fonts are embedded (I'll send it in email for your examination).
Can you confirm that you get metric kerning with the PS flavor (and not TrueType flavor) of this font on Big Sur 11.1 M1 version of VectorStyler? (The font comes probably in both flavors and it may be that the error only happens with the PS flavor...)
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@Arde Looks like I have the TrueType flavor of this font, downloaded from the link provided earlier.
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@Arde The issue with kerning was identified. Fix will be in the next build.
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@vectoradmin The new build fixes the OpenType metric use issues.
