Exact OT match for PC Type1 Adobe Garamond?

[Guest]

I need to replace Adobe Garamond PC Type1 fonts (used in an IDCS4 document) with OT fonts. What would be an exact match? I need to avoid reflow.

FWIW, I need small caps in addition to the standard family members.

TIA,

Marlene

[MiguelSousa]

Marlene,

The best replacement is Adobe Garamond Pro, but I don't think you'll get an exact match, since according to the Type 1 to OpenType Font Conversion FAQ page this is one of the families "affected by noticeable changes in design or spacing".

The small caps are integrated in the OpenType version of some of the fonts.

[MiguelSousa]

By the way, the Regular, Bold, Italic and Bold Italic fonts of Adobe Garamond Pro were bundled with InDesign CS4.

[Guest]

I've got Adobe Garamond Pro, so that's not a problem. But if it's not an exact match for Adobe Garamond Type 1, I still have the original problem.

New question: If my PC IDCS4 InDesign file is opened on a Mac and my Type1 Adobe Garamond is replaced with a Mac Type1 Adobe Garamond, will the text reflow?

Thanks,

Marlene

[MiguelSousa]

I expect the text to not reflow, since the PC and Mac versions of the Type 1 font are supposed to be compatible, but I can't say for sure.

[Thomas Phinney]

For the most part, the text should not reflow between PC and Mac in that case. BUT I can think of things that cause a small but real chance of reflow.

Notably: PostScript Type 1 fonts for each platform only store kerning for glyphs that are encoded on that platform. Among others, this affects the fi and fl ligatures, which are present but unencoded in the PC font. If for example they kern against some previous letter, well, the Windows version of the Type 1 font won't have that, but the Mac version will.

As I recall, InDesign may not recheck the text for reflow unless provoked in some way. Not sure if the platform-font diff will trigger that, by itself. Even if it does, some tiny difference in kerning for one thing like this *probably* won't reflow in any given, single case. If you have a novel-length document, though, I'd be checking carefully.

[steve10100]

Adobe OpenType Converter

As far as I am aware, Adobe’s license agreement allows for the conversion of its PC-PS-Type 1 fonts to OpenType-format. Adobe developed its own easy to use tiny Windows app for that very purpose. It goes by the name of "Adobe OpenType Converter.exe". You will need both the respective *.pfb and *.pfm files of the fonts you wish to convert. Since you will be using your original font data it is likely that metrics and kerning will remain unchanged thus avoiding reflow. You can try googling for the converter app or send me a PM if you need further help.

[Thomas Phinney]

Adobe did indeed develop that utility—I was working at Adobe at the time, so I remember it. But my recollection is that it was never released externally. If I am correct, it would mean that said tool can't be (legally) redistributed.

Adobe folks, am I mistaken?