Converting Calamus Fonts to PageStream Unfortunately, the way that Calamus and PageStream handle their fonts is dissimilar. The most important difference is that Calamus allows overlapping of objects and PageStream does not! See Fig 3. for an example of this. Both plus signs would print properly in Calamus but the overlapped plus would print with a white square in the center from PageStream! These overlapping characters must be adjusted in order to print properly from PageStream! You will find a font editing program essential to complete a conversion. Calamus does not use Screen fonts as PageStream requires, you will also need to create these to complete the conversion. There isn't a PageStream editor available yet! There will likely be one soon, but not yet! Fonts are currently being created for PageStream by using PFONT.PRG or Font Design Partner program, and then are Converted to PageStream by using the FONTEDIT.PRG. These editors were originally designed for creating fonts for PageStream's predecessor "Publishing Partner". PFONT.PRG is a public domain program created by Softlogik and can be found on most on-line services such as GEnie and Comp-U-Serve. Font Design Partner was originally marketed by a third party but now Softlogik owns the rights to it. It can be ordered from Softlogik or Atari dealers may still have copies of it. Font Design Partner is the preferable editor as it adds many features and can automatically generate screen fonts from the dot matrix fonts. The FONTEDIT.PRG is a public domain program from Softlogik and is designed to allow conversion of Publishing Partner fonts (or Fontverter.PFT files) to be converted to PageStream format. Again this program is available on the on-line services. Make sure you have the newest version, or you will have trouble creating postscript fonts. Note: this program works with monochrome monitors only! Before starting a conversion, you may wish to decide on a Font identification number. Calamus doesn't use them but PageStream requires each font to have a unique 4 digit number. If you give two or more fonts the same ID number, only the first one will work! For this reason you may wish to consult the lists available in the on-line services so you do not duplicate numbers. If you plan to distribute your font either commercially or public domain, you should get an official registration number for the font. It doesn't cost anything except a call to Softlogik! Other PageStream owners will not thank you for creating a font that screws up their set-up with conflicting ID #s! Although the operation of the font editor program are not covered in this manual, here is a brief walk through to create a PageStream font from a Calamus .CFN file. Please refer to the specific instructions of Font Design Partner, PageStream, and FONTEDIT.PRG as needed! Fontverting a PageStream font from a.CFN file: 1.) After loading Fontverter select .CFN to .PFT from the menu. (leave the defaults alone for now) 2.) Select DO IT! and enter the CFN file you wish to convert when prompted. 3.) Select YES from the "DO YOU WISH TO VIEW" box. As you view the font, watch for overlapping objects. If their are too many, you might wish to try another font. It will take a long time to fix a font that has overlapping objects in every character! You can press Esc to exit the View mode. 4.) Assuming you have a font you wish to convert, after viewing click on OK to write the .PFT file. 5.) Exit Fontverter and Load the Font Design Partner (or PFONT.PRG). Load the .PFT file you just created and step through the characters modifying any that overlap. Save the resulting .PFT file. If you have Font Design Partner, add fill points to each character and auto-generate a monochrome screen font. save this .FNT file also. 6.) Exit and load in FONTEDIT.PRG. Select IMPORT PP .FNT and enter your newly created screen font (if you have Font Design Partner). Then follow the prompts and FONTEDIT.PRG will create a .12H screen font and a .FM font metrics file. Now select IMPORT PP .PFT and choose your newly created .PFT file. FONTEDIT.PRG will now generate a .DMF dot matrix font file. If you are using a postscript laser you will also want to select EXPORT POSTSCRIPT, and FONTEDIT.PRG will generate .PS and .PSF files. 7. THATS IT! move the files to PageStream and See how your new font works! TroubleShooting: The most common areas of trouble are caused by conflicting ID numbers or not setting them properly! Check to make sure that all the font files have the same ID #! Do this by loading the 12H, FM, DMF and PS files into FONTEDIT.PRG and select SET and then INFO for each one! They should all have the same identification number. If you are experiencing the bottoms of letters cut off, you may need to decrease the vertical offset in FONTVERTER, select PUBLISHING PArtner from the options menu and pick a smaller number. You should be able to see this problem in Font Design Partner or PFONT.PRG as you view "g ,j,y" or other characters with descenders. If you cant see the bottom of the letter on the screen, it won't be on the print-out either! If this doesn't solve the problem then try lowering the Baseline in Font Design Partner or PFONT.PRG! Some Notes on FONTEDIT.PRG: To learn more about this program and how PageStream fonts are designed, load a genuine PageStream font into the FONTEDIT.PRG and select EDIT DMF, now as you step through each character you can see approximately how they will print. Press CTRL-S and the character will un-fill, press CTRL-F and it will re-fill. Esc will take you to a screen which will show you all the 256 characters possible, With the mouse select the capital A with an accent above it. Now select SHOW TRANSLATED from the menu. This will show you the composition characters. By pressing CTRL-T a box appears that allows you to enter which of 4 characters and their respective x,y positions will make up that character! This allows the foreign characters to be created by combining the regular letters with the foreign accent marks! By selecting SHOW FM WIDTH under screen fonts from the VIEW menu's you can see the character width and adjust the screen font accordingly. You can also select it while viewing the dot matrix fonts. Converting PageStream Fonts to Calamus Converting from PageStream to Calamus isn't quite as involved as the other way around. A basic knowledge of the Calamus Font Editor is assumed in this explaination. The Calamus Font Editor can be loaded and run with Fontverter with no problems, making it easy to switch back and forth without leaving Fontverter. Fontverting a Calamus font from a .DMF file: 1). After loading Fontverter select .DMF to .CFN from the menu. leave the defaults alone for now. 2). Select DO IT! and enter the .DMF file you wish to convert. 3). Select YES from the "DO YOU WISH TO VIEW" box. Once you are sure you selected the proper font, you can press to exit the view mode if you wish. 4). Select OK if you wish to convert the font you just viewed, and select a filename for the font. The original name with a changed extension is the default. 5). Go select the Calamus Font Editor from the Desk Accessory menu. Load the font you just converted into the Editor. 6). First thing you want to do is fill in the FONT NAME, and the ORIGINAL creator if you didn't design the font. 7). Select the Uppercase 'E' from the Character selection screen, and then go to the Guideline screen. Select the 'Show Background Character' icon, and set the baseline, descent line, top line, quad lines, etc. to match the font. 8). Click on the recalculate em square icon, choose new and no change and click on OK. 9). Now go through each character and set the Kerning info as per the Editor Manual. 10). The last step is to go through each character and by viewing the character in the kerning mode, change the direction of any sub-paths so the characters fill properly. Refer to page 21 of the Calamus Font Editor manual for more info on rotating paths. Before you save the font, don't forget to click on the 'BIT IMAGE' box and create a Bit Image of the font name, so you can see it in the Calamus menu. You will also need to experiment with the additional space setting on the front panel. Save the font, and you should have a finished Calamus Font!!! As mentioned earlier, this is only a rough run-through. Feel free to experiment with the settings in the To Calamus... dialog box in Fontverter, and also to experiment with the em square sizing on the Editor. This is a very powerful tool in the editor, as many effects can be accomplished with it. You can create condensed, or extended fonts easily, or even change the printing size if you find it prints too small or too large. Be aware that if you change any settings in the em square, you will have to go back and reset the kerning information for ALL of the characters. TroubleShooting: I have made every effort to make the conversions as error free as possible, but one can never tell. Fontverter has been tested on a wide variety of fonts. The only problem that could crop up is the Calamus Font Editor appearing to lock up as you scroll through the character selection screens. This is caused by what I decided to call "the Lone Goto Syndrome". The Calamus font editor will not except a character that has ANY open paths. If you find the editor locking up, watch which character it was getting ready to draw. That is the problem character. Go to the original Publishing Partner version of the font in question, (since there is not a PageStream editor), step through the objects in the character, and you will see either a path that never included a close path command, or a extra GOTO that doesn't go anywhere. Delete this GOTO or close the offending path, reconvert the font to PageStream, and Fontvert the font again. Fontverter looks very carefully for Lone Gotos and paths that are not closed during conversion, but it possible for one to slip by. (A VERY slim chance but anything is possible!!!) Figure 1.Figure 3.FontVerterby Don Turnock910121114131516