Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!gate.oxy.edu!nrc.com!kosman!kevin From: kevin@kosman.UUCP (Kevin O'Gorman) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re: Making fonts Keywords: font, scanner, tiff Message-ID: <1312@kosman.UUCP> Date: 22 Mar 91 17:19:48 GMT References: Organization: K.O.'s Manor - Vital Computer Systems, Oxnard, CA 93035 Lines: 30 gasior@khazad-dum.rutgers.edu (Eric Gasior) writes: >I am wonering if there is some way to convert scanned images into a postscript >font. I want to do this on an MSDOS machine or on a Mac if the font can be >transferred. Before anyone complains about licensing and copyrights, I want >to do this from copies of medieval and Renaissance books and from copies >of ancient (Greek, Hebrew, Egyptian, Babylonian) inscriptions. Sure there is. There are two approaches I can think of: 1) Convert your scanned image into the Postscript 'imagemask' operation (method left as an exercise for the student) and incorporate the data and the 'imagemask' into a Type 3 font. ('Image' would work, but it's illegal in a character that uses the font cache.) 2) Convert the scanned image into an outline with some sort of a tracing program (How about Illustrator) then it can be part of either a Type 1 or a Type 3 font program. Some of the conversion can be done by printing the characters in a document, and sending the document to a disk file instead of the printer. Then there's the tedious task of unscrambling the FontPrep stuff, but that's just work. If you want an automatic way of doing these things, good luck! However, I wouldn't be surprised if some parts are already available in one or more font creation tools now on the market. -- Kevin O'Gorman ( kevin@kosman.UUCP, kevin%kosman.uucp@nrc.com ) voice: 805-984-8042 Vital Computer Systems, 5115 Beachcomber, Oxnard, CA 93035 Non-Disclaimer: my boss is me, and he stands behind everything I say.