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Thomas Phinney
Inspiring
February 26, 2002
Question

FAQ: Multiple master fonts on OS X

  • February 26, 2002
  • 81 replies
  • 19194 views
(This notice has been updated repeatedly to discuss: OS X 10.2, Adobe app bugs with 10.2 support, "cocoa" applications; Adobe phasing out MM font sales; Adobe discontinuing tech support for MM fonts. Last update: 23 Sep 2005.)

With versions 10.0 and 10.1, Mac OS X's native support for Type 1 and OpenType initially failed to include support for multiple master Type 1 fonts. This problem is fixed in OS X version 10.2 and later for applications using the "carbon" APIs, but not for applications using "cocoa" APIs. The two most common "cocoa" applications are TextEdit and Keynote.

Note that applications running in "Classic" mode are unaffected. They still need ATM for supporting Type 1 fonts, including multiple master fonts.

There is a workaround for some Adobe applications, such as InDesign 2, Illustrator 10 and Photoshop 7. You can rely on the native font imaging support in these applications, which is largely independent of the OS. Just put the fonts in the the Fonts folder in the application's folder, or the Application Support/Adobe/Fonts folder.

Additionally, the above-mentioned Adobe applications may have problems accessing all multiple master instances, when accessing the MM fonts which are installed at the system level, even in Mac OS X 10.2 and later. In some cases, this may be worked around by installing the fonts in the application's own fonts folder or the Application Support folder as described above.

PHASING OUT MULTIPLE MASTER FONTS

Adobe stopped making new MM and Type 1 fonts in 1999, and there is no equivalent to MM in the newer OpenType format. From late 2002 to mid 2003, Adobe phased out sales of multiple master fonts. As of this writing, they can only be bought from Adobe as part of Font Folio 9, which is still available for people who need compatibility with older fonts. The current version of Font Folio is Font Folio OpenType Edition, which shipped in August 2003.

At the end of 2004, Adobe stopped offering tech support for MM fonts, excepting for people with Font folio 9.
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    T
    Thomas PhinneyAuthor
    Inspiring
    December 13, 2003
    I believe the latest version of TransType does just this, actually.

    T
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    Neil_Keller
    Known Participant
    December 13, 2003
    john,

    As multiple master fonts are also Type 1 fonts, their popularity is fading as new-technology cross-platform OpenType builds momentum.

    So, I wouldn't hold my breath for any new standalone utility for them to be developed. I don't know if there is currently such a utility around.

    Neil
    _
    _johnswhitehead_
    Participant
    December 12, 2003
    I always loved the theory of MM fonts but the practical implementation always seemed to disappoint (problems with print firms' rips etc). In the end, I just used the supplied instances and changed custom instances to the nearest standard one. So the loss of the ability to customize is no big deal for me. My question is this: why can't Adobe, or some enterprising third party, provide a utility that breaks the individual instances out into separate Type 1 fonts. After all, as someone pointed out above, MM is just Type 1 on steroids, so it can't be a huge big deal. I'd willingly pay for such a utility. Sure, I'd far rather have the Open Type versions, but the expense involved is prohibitive.

    Best

    J
    T
    Thomas PhinneyAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 23, 2003
    I'm a little confused by associating the age of this thread with a FontBook problem. FontBook has only been shipping for a month or two, no?

    It may be that Apple has chosen not to support MM fonts in FontBook. This would be sad but not too shocking, since Adobe phased out sales of MM fonts between about 6-12 months ago. I have added a note about this to the top message in the thread, and will be asking Apple about FontBook.

    Regards,

    T
    _
    _Shirley_Sanderson_
    Participant
    November 21, 2003
    I just discovered this thread today since I was having absolutely no success in having Panther's (10.3.1) Font Book see Tekton MM. I then discovered that in spite of Font Book's "blindness", MS Word had no trouble seeing the font which was installed in Users/Library/Fonts. It was a different story with my Adobe CS apps: none of them recognize Tekton MM. It was discouraging to find that this thread has been going for more than a year and there is still no workaround for this problem. I tried putting the font in Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts and it didn't resolve the problem. Is there anything new? Any kind of workaround?

    Shirley Sanderson
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    Neil_Keller
    Known Participant
    November 6, 2003
    I believe MacOS X 2.5 and later offer best support. But do a search. Thomas Phinney posted some info about that.

    Neil
    W
    wkathym
    Participating Frequently
    November 3, 2003
    Hello,
    I've spent about an hour looking at every single post on MM fonts and OS X. My problem doesn't seem to be listed - if we created an MM instance in OS 9 (Myriad MM 500wt 600wd), why can't I see it in OS X (I see all the primary instances fine)? And why does one other custom instance show up, but then a bunch of instances we didnt create show up? Very strange.

    By the way, I've put Myriad MM in the Application > Adobe etc., directory. Didn't work at all when I put Myriad MM in the InDesign Fonts support directory.

    I know that I can't create MM instances in OS X, but can OS X read instances that were custom created in 9?

    I am trying to convert our Quark master pages to InDesign; unfortunately, we have a custom-created instance of Myriad MM on the cover of a magazine.

    Kathy
    MichaelKazlow
    MichaelKazlow
    Legend
    November 6, 2003
    Kathy,
    I do not think that OS X.0-X.2 supports MM fonts. I don't know about
    X.3.

    ...Mike
    _
    _Kirk_Lamb_
    Participating Frequently
    June 30, 2003
    P.S. to my last message: My MM fonts are not installed in Suitcase. They are placed in the Library>Application Support>Adobe>Fonts folder. This solution has worked well for me. All MM fonts appear, with all instances intact, in all Adobe applications.

    Kirk
    _
    _Kirk_Lamb_
    Participating Frequently
    June 30, 2003
    I am looking for some insight to the following issue:

    Why does InDesign takes so long (20-35 seconds) to Save a document containing MM fonts, when a similar document containing no MM fonts saves in a few seconds?

    I am running OS X v.10.2.6, and using Suitcase v.10.2.1 and InDesign v.2.0.2

    Kirk
    T
    Thomas PhinneyAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 31, 2003
    Neil's quite right. However, if you did want to convert existing fonts, you could use FontLab to do it. http://www.fontlab.com.

    However, there are some extra complexities that make it non-trivial to do. You might want to download the demo version of FontLab and noodle around with it to understand the issues.

    T
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