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                 Converting Macintosh Screen Fonts

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The Macintosh world has the largest collection of typefaces I know. It also
has screen fonts to match. Since the Mac universe conforms to some kind of
standard (unlike some other operating systems) for fonts, it makes much more
sense to use their fonts rather than fonts from MS-DOS.

So, we need screen fonts to display type on screen and we need UnpackFNT
and ConvertFNT to use them. Here's how we do it:

1) First, obtain some screen fonts. These are available from your service
bureau if they deal with Macintosh. They're also available from Adobe
Systems and other distributors of typefaces. They must be in a "Suitcase",
created with Font/DA Mover V3.8 or better, on the Macintosh. Suitcases right
off the distribution disks will also work.

2) Get them to your Amiga. That's covered in a separate chapter.

3) Unpack the suitcase or suitcases. This is done with UnpackFNT from the
CLI or AmigaShell:

1.SuitcaseDisk:> UnpackFNT suitcasename

The contents of the suitcase file are then dumped to a directory in T:
called "UnpackedFonts". The names of the fonts have spaces removed so
they will match any .metric files you might make with ConvertAFM.

4) Now go to that directory:

1.SuitcaseDisk:> CD T:UnpackedFonts

and use ConvertFNT to make them into Amiga fonts:

1.RAM DISK:T/UnpackedFonts> ConvertFNT fontname.size

which will create a new Amiga font from this, and write it to your FONTS:
directory, ready for immediate use. You can also rename the fonts before you
convert them, which may be a good idea since Adobe Systems has some crazy
naming schemes.

You can convert the entire contents of T:UnpackedFonts by using the SPAT
script, available from Workbench 1.3 or 2.x:

1.RAM DISK:T/UnpackedFonts> SPAT ConvertFNT #?

but you have to make sure there's enough room on your FONTS: disk.

5) The point size order might be a bit off, so it's a good idea to run
FixFonts when you're finished:

1.RAM DISK:T/UnpackedFonts> FixFonts

                        Tips for Font Conversion

1) You can unpack several suitcases before converting if you wish. Then
convert the whole lot with SPAT. T:UnpackedFonts will remain until you
decide to delete it.

2) UnpackFNT takes memory as much as the suitcase's size, so if your
suitcases are HUGE you may want to re-assign T: to some other place before
using UnpackFNT (Default is RAM:T in WB 1.3 and 2.x)

3) Rename the font files so their names will match any .metric files you'll
create with ConvertAFM. The font name and .metric names must match for
Professional Page to recognize them.

4) Unlike commercial products, UnpackFNT and ConvertFNT won't make .metric
files. Copy over some AFMs and use ConvertAFM to make .metric files.

5) Many type packages' suitcases have multiple weights or italic fonts and
such. This was the cheater's way out of allowing for multiple weights of
type on the Macintosh (and why many Mac users spend money on Adobe Type
Reunion. :-) My advice is: keep all the non-italic fonts and erase the
italic fonts before converting with SPAT, then pair the different weights
with .metric files that have Plain and Italic information. This is described
in detail in "Creating .metric files.doc" and makes handling multiple weights
of type much easier!

6) Fonts converted this way are usable with any Amiga program that uses
screen fonts, not just Professional Page. The notable exception is
Excellence! 2.0 by MSS: if the font has many missing characters it'll crash
Excellence!. This is because those dummies at MSS wrote their own font draw
routines and neglected the possibility of missing characters. Look for the
updrade to Excellence! (WB 2.x compatible) or try a different word processor.
Professional Page, DPaint IV, the ol' Notepad, etc. all work with fonts
converted this way.

7) UnpackFNT reads both pure resource files and MacBinary files, so choose
the file transfer method you're comfortable with (I prefer MacBinary.)

8) Older font converters (IE: MacFont from FF #138) cannot handle newer font
suitcases; primarily those with NFNT resources. UnpackFNT handles them with
ease. In fact, ConvertFNT is from FF #138 and works with NFNTs unpacked with
UnpackFNT (The font format itself is no different.) My respects to Rico
Mariani for breaking the font barrier in the first place!

9) Suitcases infected with Macintosh viruses won't hamper UnpackFNT or
ConvertFNT; the unpacker ignores all resources except FOND, FONT, or NFNT.
If there are any leftover files in T:, they're probably virus resources and
they wouldn't hurt an Amiga anyway.

10) You can unpack different resource types by re-compiling my source code;
include #defines for other resource types and include extra CASE statements
(Refer to the Inside Macintosh texts for such data, and this tip was meant
for programmers only, in case you haven't guessed.)

11) With some experimenting you can unpack different resource files (IE: SND
resources) but you'll have to search through T: to find them afterwards.
UnpackFNT was never meant to recognize anything but fonts but if you are
bored one day, give it a try.

And that's it. Time to steal fonts from the rich folk.