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_dave_ingraham_
Participating Frequently
November 14, 2008
Question

Switching a font from Type 1 to TrueType. Will they be different?

  • November 14, 2008
  • 5 replies
  • 4232 views
Hi all,
My company's corporate font is Univers, and for the past 8 years we have been using a Type 1 version for all our literature and materials. I recently was given a new workstation (HP EliteBook 8730w) and the video driver doesn't like Type 1 fonts. There's no telling how long it will take for HP and NVidia to come up with a new driver, so we're thinking about buying a the TrueType version of Univers so I can still do my job.

My biggest concern is that I have numerous brochures (built in InDesign) that go through regular updates. Are there any issues that I should be aware of if we do switch to the TrueType version? Is there a chance that the fonts will be different enough to throw off my layouts and force me to re-format every printed piece that I have to update? Is there a chance that InDesign won't recognize the TT version as being the same font?

Thanks in advance,
Dave
    This topic has been closed for replies.

    5 replies

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    _dave_ingraham_Author
    Participating Frequently
    December 16, 2008
    Yes it was. And contrary to personal experiences from a few years ago, the tech support from HP on this was excellent. Once I got to tier 2 support, they were very responsive and I had direct phone/email access to my support rep. For having to deal with HP *and* NVidia, this was resolved rather quickly.

    http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?128@@.59b61a73
    T
    Thomas Phinney
    Inspiring
    December 15, 2008
    The underlying problem for the original poster was resolved in another thread.

    --- start of email from HP ---

    Good news. Nvidia has identified the problem and provided a fix. The way it was explained to me, Windows expects the device driver to be a certain size (maximum). In this case, the nvidia driver is slightly larger than expected. A simply registry entry will resolve the issue in WinXP (the issue doesn't occur in Vista).

    To resolve the problem, do the following:

    Open the registry editor (regedit)

    Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

    Add a new REG_DWORD entry called SessionImageSize with a value (decimal) of 20

    Reboot

    The Type 1 fonts should now open/install without any problems.

    --- End of HP email ---
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    _Alienontherun_
    Participant
    December 12, 2008
    Hi Herb,

    Could you tell me if I can rename one the fonts and install them both?

    A
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    _Herb_V_B_
    Participating Frequently
    December 12, 2008
    > Allen, while running, asked:

    > Could you tell me if I can rename one of the fonts and install
    them both?

    Yes - but you have to change the INTERNAL font names, not just the
    external FILE name, which except for the extension (if Windows)
    carries no meaning. In general, it takes a font editor such as FontLab
    or Fontographer. You can use FontCreator to change the fontnames for
    truetype fonts only. It has a free trial available.

    If it's a member of a family, with bold, italic, etc. variants, you'd
    need to change all members of the family and keep the relationships
    intact.

    - Herb
    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Legend
    December 12, 2008
    On behalf of Adobe, I would strongly recommend that you not hack around like this with fonts. Solve the real problem. Don't use a workaround that will could cause more problems than it will solve.

    - Dov
    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
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    _dave_ingraham_Author
    Participating Frequently
    November 14, 2008
    Thanks Herb. Hopefully HP will come through with a new driver. However, if they don't and we do end up buying the TT version, I will make sure to remove the T1 versions before installing the TT and just keep a close eye on my documents when/if I need to revise them.
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    _Herb_V_B_
    Participating Frequently
    November 14, 2008
    A number of things here.

    Primarily, you can't have two different versions of the same font
    installed at the same time.

    ANY two different versions of the same typeface, regardless of format,
    even if from the same vendor, may not be identical, and may result in
    reflow differences as a minimum.

    There are also intrinsic differences in the fonts themselves. The
    mathematics of the way the shapes are created are different between T1
    and TT. The two formats use different techniques for hinting. The
    rendering engines that interpret the font to display on a screen or
    convert them for placing ink on the printed page are also different.

    Most of the time, these differences can only be seen under close
    analysis; sometimes however, they are significant.

    When you DO get the correct driver, you have to be careful not to
    install two different fonts with the same name ... any OS WILL get
    confused, with unpredictable results.

    - Herb
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