Hi,

"William Skaggs" writes:

I would like to add some information about fonts to gimp-help-2,

You have read http://gimp.org/unix/fonts.html, haven't you?

I would also suggest not to duplicate that information in gimp-help-2 but simply to link to this page. If there's info missing, it should probably be added there.

Here is what I know: In Linux, you can add a Truetype or Freetype font by putting it in your ~/.fonts directory or your .gimp-2.0/fonts directory.

I am sorry, but what is a FreeType font? You probably mean OpenType?!

Here is what I would like to know:

1) Can you use other types of fonts in GIMP? Are there any types for which special things need to be done?

You can use any font that FreeType2 can handle. By default, FreeType2 supports the following font formats:

* TrueType fonts (and collections) * Type 1 fonts
* CID-keyed Type 1 fonts
* CFF fonts
* OpenType fonts (both TrueType and CFF variants) * SFNT-based bitmap fonts
* X11 PCF fonts
* Windows FNT fonts
* BDF fonts (including anti-aliased ones) * PFR fonts
* Type42 fonts (limited support)

(see http://www.freetype.org/freetype2/index.html#features).

3) How do you add fonts in Windows, and what types of fonts can GIMP use there?

The same code is used to render fonts on Windows so the same information applies here. Actually we should move http://gimp.org/unix/fonts.html out of the unix directory.

4) If you want to create special characters (i.e., non-ascii) with the Text tool, what is the right (and/or easiest) way to do it?

Use a character picker tool like gucharmap. gucharmap can also install a GTK+ input module so it is directly available from the right-click menu in the GIMP text editor.

Sven

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 10:47:52 -0700, William Skaggs wrote:

3) How do you add fonts in Windows, and what types of fonts can GIMP use there?

The easiest way is to drag the file onto the Fonts directory and let the shell do its magic. Unless you've done something creative, it's probably in its default location of C:\windows\fonts or C:\winnt\fonts. Sometimes double-clicking on a font will install it as well as display it; sometimes it only displays it. I don't know what the pattern is.

I would imagine that GIMP can use any type of font on Windows that FreeType can handle, although figuring out how to install fonts that Windows can't handle natively is left as an exercise for the reader.

The support Windows has varies by version; all that GIMP runs on support at least TrueType, Windows FON, and Windows FNT. 2000 and later support Type 1 and OpenType. ME supports OpenType. I don't know about Type 1.

To install a Type 1 file, you need both the .pfb and .pfm. Drag the one that gets an icon into the fonts folder. The other one doesn't strictly need to be in the same directory when you drag the file, since it uses some kind of search algorithm to find it if it's not, but I'm not sure what the algorithm is, and only know that it does this because I've accidentally put the other file in the wrong directory.

Rockwalrus

Nathan Summers schrieb:

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 10:47:52 -0700, William Skaggs wrote:

3) How do you add fonts in Windows, and what types of fonts can GIMP use there?

The easiest way is to drag the file onto the Fonts directory and let the shell do its magic. Unless you've done something creative, it's probably in its default location of C:\windows\fonts or C:\winnt\fonts. Sometimes double-clicking on a font will install it as well as display it; sometimes it only displays it. I don't know what the pattern is.

Fonts files that can be installed have an "Install" entry in their context menu, too. Additionally, copy&paste of fonts files works as well.

I would imagine that GIMP can use any type of font on Windows that FreeType can handle, although figuring out how to install fonts that Windows can't handle natively is left as an exercise for the reader.

I hope that the docs will describe that arbitrary other font directories can be added in GIMP's preferences.

HTH, Michael

Hi,

Nathan Summers writes:

3) How do you add fonts in Windows, and what types of fonts can GIMP use there?

The easiest way is to drag the file onto the Fonts directory and let the shell do its magic. Unless you've done something creative, it's probably in its default location of C:\windows\fonts or C:\winnt\fonts. Sometimes double-clicking on a font will install it as well as display it; sometimes it only displays it. I don't know what the pattern is.

I would imagine that GIMP can use any type of font on Windows that FreeType can handle, although figuring out how to install fonts that Windows can't handle natively is left as an exercise for the reader.

The support Windows has varies by version; all that GIMP runs on support at least TrueType, Windows FON, and Windows FNT. 2000 and later support Type 1 and OpenType. ME supports OpenType. I don't know about Type 1.

To install a Type 1 file, you need both the .pfb and .pfm. Drag the one that gets an icon into the fonts folder. The other one doesn't strictly need to be in the same directory when you drag the file, since it uses some kind of search algorithm to find it if it's not, but I'm not sure what the algorithm is, and only know that it does this because I've accidentally put the other file in the wrong directory.

The information given above may be appropriate for adding fonts to your win32 system but it is irrelevant for GIMP on Win32. Please read my other mail in this very thread.

Sven

On 11 Sep 2004 09:28:54 +0200, Sven Neumann wrote:

The information given above may be appropriate for adding fonts to your win32 system but it is irrelevant for GIMP on Win32. Please read my other mail in this very thread.

That's funny. Works for me. I'd call the method I use to install fonts that I use in GIMP on Win32 very relevant. I don't do anything that is gimp-specific. Please see my other mail in this very thread.

Rockwalrus

Sven Neumann writes:
> The information given above may be appropriate for adding fonts to > your win32 system but it is irrelevant for GIMP on Win32.

On Win32, fontconfig by default uses the Windows fonts directory, i.e. the same fonts that Windows uses itself.

--tml

Hi,

Nathan Summers writes:

The information given above may be appropriate for adding fonts to your win32 system but it is irrelevant for GIMP on Win32. Please read my other mail in this very thread.

That's funny. Works for me. I'd call the method I use to install fonts that I use in GIMP on Win32 very relevant. I don't do anything that is gimp-specific. Please see my other mail in this very thread.

If it works, it works because fontconfig on Win32 is by default setup to pick the fonts from the same directories that the operating systems expects them. That is of course intentional but doesn't change the fact that GIMP on Win32 doesn't care about whether fonts are installed for the win32 operating system or not. All it cares about is whether fontconfig sees them. So what you've written about how to install fonts is rather misleading because it makes people believe that GIMP would request the system fonts which it doesn't.

Sven