fonts in X: post script or true type?

T

themacko

Barking at the moon.
I'm basically a moron, but is there any noticable difference between the two? They'll mostly be used in Photoshop/Illustrator.
 
Postcript fonts are basically Adobe's age old font files (most of professional designers will use Postscript simply because most typefaces are covered in Postscript on the Mac) and Truetype as far as I can remember is Microshafts font file type.

The physical difference: Postcript come in 2 files, the printer font and the screen font (this used to course a lot of problems for the uninitiated (using a font with one of the missing files etc.)) -- Truetype comes as one file. But as I said, about 99% of he worlds classic and well-used typefaces are in Postcript on the Mac, it's a lot harder finding those decent fonts in Truetype on the Mac (trust me, I know.)

Hope this helps.;)
 
IIRC, TrueType was developed as a joint project between Apple and Micro$oft.
While PS fonts are generally easier to find, it has been my experience that freeware fonts are more often available in TT format (but that could be just a function of the sites I go to).
 
because most PC users would rather (and do) use freeware/shareware fonts. Mac users traditionally being of the design industry need (and demand) those expensive, well-cut typefaces!;)
 
I like how OS X can read all of Windows TTF fonts as well. Can't say that about Windows (Probably cause Mac fonts have no extension so Windows can't see what file it is! Hehehe) So you get all of the availavle Mac fonts as well as all the Windows fonts in the world. That's damn cool!

Easier than downloading a Win TTF to mac Font convertor. And more reliable.
 
Also, Postscript used to be pixel fonts, which means letters are saved as pixel maps, like a bitmap. So once you scale a font, you better hope a pixel map for the size you want exists, else the text tool has to calculate the new size which will look chunky because pixel "stairs" will appear, no matter how good any anti-aliasing is (which again make them blurry). TrueType saves the fonts as outlines, which means they only save a mathematical function to describe the fonts outlines. Once the font is scaled, all the text tool has to do is change the parameters of the function and redraw the "new" letter. So you can get ANY size you want in exact the same quality. The only problem then arises when it is sent to a RIP, where it has to be rasterized. Expensive fonts have a good hinting here so serifs or stuff like that stay sharp once the text is translated into a pixel map (which the printer needs since it can only print in pixels (or small dots)).

The fonts in MacOS X are definitely outline fonts, allthough you still can use Postscript fonts of course. Allthough you should be cauteous when installing the same font as Truetype and Postscript, since the onscreen display will be truetype but the printer will most likely use the postscript file, but I think you know that.
 
For some reason "my" good old TTF fonts haven't worked on Mac OS X so I had to convert them to the Mac format.

A nice way of doing that is TransType 2.0, a still uncarboized but handy application from fontlab.com. The only hatch: The demo only works for three days. So hurry up once you have installed it!
 
Well, IIRC you can't use TTF fonts. TTF is the Microsoft format, if I am not mistaken. Sure you have to convert them into Type 1 fonts. But I am not sure, so please correct me if I am wrong!
 
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