font issue

[emily]

Hello,

I have a question for anyone.
I am new to Lightwave, I am coming from a 3d Studio background and I have some questions with this software.
One that I am needing to figure out is how to load fonts into modeler.
When I do, it keeps telling me that they are not valid.

I just do not get it.
Can anyone help me?

Thank you in advance.

E

[Beamtracer]

Hi Emily. Lightwave 7.5 takes TrueType or Type-1 fonts. Other font formats won't work.

Also, if you're using LW6, I seem to remember it only accepted one type of font... can't remember which one.

Do a test. When you install Lightwave it should install some fonts. Check if these fonts work (they should), and compare that with other fonts you already have.

My answer relates to Lightwave on OS X. It maybe different on OS9 (not many people use that for LW any more).

[jdavidbakr]

In my opinion, one of the lamest user interfaces Lightwave has to offer. Both Mac and Windows have a font list available through the system, why can't it just look there for the fonts? I always build my text in Illustrator, save it as a super-old .eps version, and then import that into Modeler. The text tool has always been way too cumbersome for me.

Perhaps someone who has have more pleasure with it will help you further... :)

[drclare]

Yeah, i feel the same way. I use flash and export text as an illustrator file for import into modeller. The text tool is a pain in the but.

[Beamtracer]

Originally posted by jdavidbakr
Both Mac and Windows have a font list available through the system, why can't it just look there for the fonts? I asked the same question a year or two ago in the old Newtek forums. Arnie Cachelin, who helped create Lightwave 7.5, indicated that while it may be easy for some text application to display system fonts, it's a difficult thing to get a 3D program doing the same thing.

[emily]

thank you everyone for all of your comments.

I will definitly try that illustrator idea.

Best,

Emily

[jdavidbakr]

I asked the same question a year or two ago in the old Newtek forums. Arnie Cachelin, who helped create Lightwave 7.5, indicated that while it may be easy for some text application to display system fonts, it's a difficult thing to get a 3D program doing the same thing.
I can accept that to a degree... sure, you can't necesarilly use the system calls to actually draw the text, but at least you know where the fonts are _located_ (although it's not quite as straightforward in OS X as it was in 9)

[eblu]

I think I completely disagree with arnie's statement.
Its not the 3-dness of LW thats stopping them, its the crossplatformness.
os X can basically give you an eps shape on the fly, from fonts and glyphs, with very few calls, but since LW is "platform agnostic" its very difficult to get that kind of capability on both platforms. And since both versions must behave the same, a relatively easy to implement feature gets ignored.

but i also think that the point is moot. LW is a terrible app to use for text layout. I would do it in Illustrator even if they made the effort to integrate fonts.

[Darth Mole]

I haven't had a rant for a while so I'm gonna lash out on LW's font handling which is unbelievably rubbish.

It can't tell which fonts it can't read, never remembers the damn font list, and crashes out on me all the time. I don't see why it needs any cross-platformness - once the font is in a model or scene file, then you can swap platforms.

I hope the Mac engineers get on the case wirth this - especially with Panther's slick new font-handling.

Once again: rubbish.

(Ah, that's better.)

[Beamtracer]

I found Arnie's original quote from about a year and a half ago...
http://forums.newtek.com/discus/messages/2/16890.html
Originally posted by Arnie Cachelin, February 04, 2002
Most app.s just use system routines for displaying the fonts, LW needs to convert them into their constituent curves. It caches the ones you need/choose. Under OSX, it is very simple to display text on screen and change its font or color, italicize it, etc. instantly. Obtaining the curves for the fonts is a lot trickier, and once that is done, the font is gone, all one has is curves.

[eblu]

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/ApplicationKit/ObjC_classic/Classes/NSBezierPath.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000339/CHDCEDFI

the documentation, in cocoa, on the 1 line approach to adding a glyph to a bezier path. this path directly corresponds to display postscript (why does that sound familiar?), which is interchangeable with EPS.
took me 20 minutes to find. OS X Can do it easily.

depending upon how aggressive the developer, you could EASILY do text like Photoshop 3 or Photoshop 7. Personally I would just be happy if Newtek figured out how to poll the os for loaded fonts, which isn't even a little difficult.

don't hold yer breath waiting for a better font engine in LW, bc Windows cant do it, as easily, and that breaks the cross platformness of LW.

[WizCraker]

Just remember Type-1 is PSFonts, so if you have alot of Adobe fonts you can still load them.

[mlinde]

Good Morning All.

I'm working on a flying logo, and I have the Adobe (actual Adobe-branded) PostScript font I want to use, but Modeler will not add it to the font list. I'm a bit baffled because this typeface has been in my library since 1993, and I KNOW it's postscript so it has to be type 1, since that was the only version of postscript font available in 1993. Anybody got any ideas? I guess I can do the illegal thing and try to convert it via Fontographer in OS 9, but this issue appears to affect ALL my Adobe PS fonts. I can, however, import the Newtek default fonts. Is it something about how the OS is registering the fonts maybe? Just looking for ideas here...

[Julian Johnson]

Hi Michael,

After 6.5 for OSX (I think), which could only load Mac Type 1 Fonts, all the subsequent OSX iterations could only load Truetype Fonts or PC Type 1s. For some reason, support for Mac formatted Type 1 fonts was dropped....they definitely need to be converted before Modeler can read them. The Newtek postscript fonts on the CD are PC Type 1s...

- Julian

[mlinde]

Hi Julian. Do you suppose this is worthy of being a bug? I have close to $7000 in typefaces that are completely inaccessible to Lightwave. Makes me think I can call it a bug.

[eblu]

i think the entire font engine in LW is a bug. Mlinde, can you lay it out in Illustrator or freehand? and then save a Illus 5.5 eps, and work it that way.

[mlinde]

I could do that (and I probably will have to) but I guess for me the point is that the font engine needs help, especially if it doesn't recognize Mac-formatted Postscript fonts.

[Julian Johnson]

Hi Michael,

I would love to see OSX Lightwave support old style 'Mac' Type 1s alongside 'PC' Type 1s. When you try and load fonts that were previously accessible in OS9 and OSX6.5 and they fail, it certainly looks like a bug. Until I realised that Newtek had switched support from Mac Type 1s to PC Type 1s I thought it was a bug. At the very least it's a significant omission :-)

Julian