Limited use of fonts on Mac OSX?

Henk Lame..

Limited use of fonts on Mac OSX?

in Integration and Hardware • 3 months ago

Hi,

I noticed a strange font problem. I need to use Univers 75 (Univers Black) in a program. But when I use:

MyFont = loadFont ("UniversLTStd-Black-48.vlw");

It loads the Univers Black but it displays Univers Light (aka Univers 45). And when I replace that program line by for instance:

MyFont = loadFont ("UniversLTStd-BoldObl-48.vlw");

It loads UniversLTStd-BoldObl but it displays Univers Bold (aka Univers 65). And that is not the Italic version which I asked for.

In general it seems that Processing loads the total Univers family but it only displays Univers 45 and 65 versions.

I converted a few of the Univers.ttf fonts to Univers.otf but the otf format is not recognized by the Create Font Tool.

Why is this? These fonts are legal. They are from the Adobe Font Library and are copyrighted: Copyright © 1987, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2002 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. © 1981, 1999, 2002 Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. All rights reserved.

By the way I used the PFont.list () method to check if the fonts are available and compatible for createFont (). And they are. But maybe there are different rules for loadFont ()?

[545] "UniversLTStd"

[546] "UniversLTStd-Black"

[547] "UniversLTStd-BlackEx"

[548] "UniversLTStd-BlackExObl"

[549] "UniversLTStd-BlackObl"

[550] "UniversLTStd-Bold"

[551] "UniversLTStd-BoldCn"

[552] "UniversLTStd-BoldCnObl"

[553] "UniversLTStd-BoldEx"

[554] "UniversLTStd-BoldExObl"

[555] "UniversLTStd-BoldObl"

[556] "UniversLTStd-Cn"

[557] "UniversLTStd-CnObl"

[558] "UniversLTStd-Ex"

[559] "UniversLTStd-ExObl"

[560] "UniversLTStd-Light"

[561] "UniversLTStd-LightCn"

[562] "UniversLTStd-LightCnObl"

[563] "UniversLTStd-LightObl"

[564] "UniversLTStd-LightUltraCn"

[565] "UniversLTStd-Obl"

[566] "UniversLTStd-ThinUltraCn"

[567] "UniversLTStd-UltraCn"

[568] "UniversLTStd-XBlack"

[569] "UniversLTStd-XBlackEx"

[570] "UniversLTStd-XBlackExObl"

[571] "UniversLTStd-XBlackObl"

Greetings,

Henk

Replies(8)

PhiLho

Re: Limited use of fonts on Mac OSX?

3 months ago

loadFont() doesn't change the font used to display text. You have to use textFont() to activate the font.
VLW fonts are generated from the font you specify and are bitmap versions of this font.
PFont.list() lists the fonts available for the createFont() function instead. createFont() works differently from loadFont().

Henk Lame..

Re: Limited use of fonts on Mac OSX?

3 months ago

Hi PhiLho,

Thank you for your reply. I am aware of your remarks. But maybe I did not explain the problem clearly.

My point is that the it seems that Processing (in OSX?) only gives me the Univers 45 and the Univers 65 versions. It skippes all other fonts of the Univers. Here is an example of some of the fonts which I bought and are available on my Mac:


Univers LT Std 45 Light	[none]	Univers LT Std 45 Light
Univers LT Std 45 Light	Italic	Univers LT Std 45 Light Oblique
Univers LT Std 45 Light	Bold	Univers LT Std 65 Bold
Univers LT Std 45 Light	Bold, Italic	Univers LT Std 65 Bold Oblique

Univers LT Std 47 Cn Lt	[none]	Univers LT Std 47 Light Condensed
Univers LT Std 47 Cn Lt	Italic	Univers LT Std 47 Light Condensed Oblique
Univers LT Std 47 Cn Lt	Bold	Univers LT Std 67 Bold Condensed
Univers LT Std 47 Cn Lt	Bold, Italic	Univers LT Std 67 Bold Condensed Oblique

Univers LT Std 49 Light UltraCn	[none]	Univers LT Std 49 Light Ultra Condensed

Univers LT Std 53 Extended	[none]	Univers LT Std 53 Extended
Univers LT Std 53 Extended	Italic	Univers LT Std 53 Extended Oblique
Univers LT Std 53 Extended	Bold	Univers LT Std 63 Bold Extended
Univers LT Std 53 Extended	Bold, Italic	Univers LT Std 63 Bold Extended Oblique

Univers LT Std 55	[none]	Univers LT Std 55 Roman
Univers LT Std 55	Italic	Univers LT Std 55 Oblique
Univers LT Std 55	Bold	Univers LT Std 75 Black
Univers LT Std 55	Bold, Italic	Univers LT Std 75 Black Oblique

Univers LT Std 57 Cn	[none]	Univers LT Std 57 Condensed
Univers LT Std 57 Cn	Italic	Univers LT Std 57 Condensed Oblique

Univers LT Std 59 UltraCn	[none]	Univers LT Std 59 Ultra Condensed

Univers LT Std 73 Black Ext	[none]	Univers LT Std 73 Black Extended
Univers LT Std 73 Black Ext	Italic	Univers LT Std 73 Black Extended Oblique

All of them are being replaced by or by Univers 65 or by Univers 45. Why can‘t I use the full range in Processing?

PhiLho

Re: Limited use of fonts on Mac OSX?

3 months ago

" maybe I did not explain the problem clearly"
Maybe... My answer tried to address the problem as it appeared from your first message, without supposition about your level of knowledge... And sometime people overlook simple things.

When you run the Create font tool, do you see these fonts as distinct? Processing should generate them as they are displayed in the tool, I think. Basically, it sees fonts as Java sees them. It renders them on a PGraphics, then save it as VLW file. The Java system can have some subtle issues with advanced TTF features.
Do you see the same issues if you use createFont(), ie. using the fonts directly off the system? The downside of createFont() is that it works only on computers with the font installed, unless you put the .ttf file in the data folder, which must be allowed by the font's license ("for redistribution / embedding").

Henk Lame..

Re: Limited use of fonts on Mac OSX?

3 months ago

When I run the Create Font Tool I see this in the Create Font tool window:

Select Displays

UniversLTStd Univers Light

UniversLTStd-Black Univers Light

UniversLTStd-BlackEx Univers Light

UniversLTStd-BlackExObl Univers Light

UniversLTStd-BlackObl Univers Light

UniversLTStd-Bold Univers Bold

UniversLTStd-BoldCn Univers Bold

UniversLTStd-BoldCnObl Univers Bold

UniversLTStd-BoldEx Univers Bold

UniversLTStd-BoldExObl Univers Bold

UniversLTStd-BoldObl Univers Bold

UniversLTStd-Cn Univers Light

UniversLTStd-CnObl Univers Light

UniversLTStd-Ex Univers Light

UniversLTStd-ExObl Univers Light

UniversLTStd-Light Univers Light

UniversLTStd-LightCn Univers Light

UniversLTStd-LightCnObl Univers Light

UniversLTStd-LightObl Univers Light

UniversLTStd-LightUltraCn Univers Light

UniversLTStd-Obl Univers Light

UniversLTStd-ThinUltraCn Univers Light

UniversLTStd-UltraCn Univers Light

UniversLTStd-XBlack Univers Light

UniversLTStd-XBlackEx Univers Light

UniversLTStd-XBlackExObl Univers Light

UniversLTStd-XBlackObl Univers Light

When I use createFont () I get the same results as in the list above.

PhiLho

Re: Limited use of fonts on Mac OSX?

3 months ago

I mean, the Create font tool shows a preview of the selected font. Are they conforming to what you expect in this preview?

Henk Lame..

Re: Limited use of fonts on Mac OSX?

3 months ago

No. Instead of 27 variations of the Univers Font Family Processing gives me only 2 of them. It just replaces all the variations.

PhiLho

Re: Limited use of fonts on Mac OSX?

3 months ago

So it is Java failing to see the fonts as distinct. Perhaps these Adobe fonts use an advanced feature. I don't recall the name right now, but I know they are able to generate variations on a font from a base template. I fear you have to use a simpler font.

Henk Lame..

Re: Limited use of fonts on Mac OSX?

3 months ago

You might be right that Java is failing to see the fonts as distinct.

I made a mistake. In previous posts I mentioned Univers 45. I think that should be Univers 55 :)

A simpler font? Univers fonts have generally all the same shape. So I assume that the font-data to create them is also generally the same. To get an impression here is an overview of the Univers Font Family.

Univers

I don’t think that Univers 75 Black is more complex than Univers 65 Bold or Univers 55 Roman. But Univers 65 Bold and Univers 55 Roman are working fine in Processing.

Top Reply