Subject: REVIEW: TypeSMITH version 2.02
From: [email-masked] (Dylan McNamee)
Date: 13 May 1994 02:49:06 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	TypeSMITH version 2.02

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	TypeSMITH is an outline font editor.  It can edit and produce
industry standard PostScript fonts (type 1 and type 3 format), Soft-Logik
fonts, Compugraphic fonts, and Amiga bitmap fonts.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		Soft-Logik Publishing Corp.
	Address:	11131F S. Towne Sq.
			St. Louis, MO 63123

	Telephone:	(314)894-8608

	E-mail:		[email-masked]

LIST PRICE

	TypeSMITH 2.0 retail price $199.95 (US).  Soft-Logik customers pay
$125 (for a limited time, $110).

	Upgrade from 2.01 to 2.02 is free.  A patch has been uploaded to
Aminet in the file /pub/aminet/biz/patch/ts202pch.lha.

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

		2 MB RAM required.
		512K Chip RAM works. 1 MB or more Chip RAM recommended.

		Supports 68020 or greater processors, hard drives, and
		PostScript printers (among other things).

	SOFTWARE

		AmigaDOS 2.0 or greater.

COPY PROTECTION

	None.  Hard drive installable.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	Amiga 2500/30, 1 MB Chip RAM, 6 MB Fast RAM.
	AmigaDOS 2.1.

INSTALLATION

	Installation proceeded without any problems by following the included
instructions.

REVIEW

	This is a MAJOR upgrade to TypeSMITH 2.01, almost as big as the
difference between TypeSMITH 1 and TypeSMITH 2.  I'll review the whole
program, trying to highlight the differences between 2.01 and 2.02, while
still making sense to folks that don't own any version of TypeSMITH (yet).

	If you need to produce a high-quality outline font on the Amiga, I
believe TypeSMITH is the only choice.  Fortunately, it's a very respectable
program, and it keeps getting better.  Much like Fontographer on the
Macintosh, this program lets users create their own publication-quality
fonts that will print without "jaggies" on high resolution printers.  It
also lets users tweak an existing font to add a character, modify a
character, or whatever.  Its drawing tools are sufficient to create almost
any kind of figure, and TypeSMITH can export character shapes as IFF DR2D
drawings for use with other Amiga programs.

	I've used it to create a PostScript font of my handwriting (it
actually looks uncannily real...) as well as to create a more normal text
font.  For the handwriting font, I wrote an alphabet on paper, scanned it
(on a PC), and read the file into DPAINT 4 where I saved each letter as an
IFF brush.  TypeSMITH was able to read each bitmap, scale it appropriately,
and put it in the background (in grey) to be traced over.  It has an
"autotrace" feature that makes the tracing task much easier.  (You still
have to do significant touch-up, but it saves a lot of mouse-work.)

	TypeSMITH has always been able to edit PostScript fonts, but version
2.02 makes this even easier by being able to read PFA format as well as PFB
format fonts.  (Previously, PFA files had to be converted with the "dl2pfb"
program.)  Using this feature, I've been able to examine all the fonts on
the new Bitstream 500 fonts CDROM (windows version, only $30) as well as the
other PostScript fonts I own.

	Among the new features in 2.02 is the ability to edit the character
widths from the edit window, which is really nice.  Also, points can be
moved with fine precision now by clicking on them and pressing arrow keys
with the shift key.

	All in all, the program has a very well-tuned feel to it.

DOCUMENTATION

	I'm not much of a documentation reader, and with TypeSMITH, I didn't
have to resort to reading the documentation much, except to figure out how
"composite" characters work, and how they're edited (it's a bit tricky).
All my experiences with the documentation have been fine.

BUGS

	This release fixes a number of bugs that were in version 2.01.
Being a beta tester for them, if there were any bugs I experienced, I would
have told them already, and they would have been fixed.  :)

VENDOR SUPPORT

	The fact that such a major update to TypeSMITH is available for free
on the net (as well as the recent announcement in c.s.a.announce) is clear
evidence of Soft-Logik's continuing commitment to the Amiga.  I think
they're good folks.  I am a beta tester for them (hence the quick review of
this brand new release) and have been impressed with the company from all
sides.

CONCLUSIONS

	I give it a solid 4.5 stars out of 5.  Not that I can think of
anything lacking, but if the program continues to improve, I'll need room in
the rankings to accommodate.

	In light of the strong support Soft-Logik is giving the Amiga, and
that this is such a strong program, I'd highly recommend buying it if you do
anything with desktop publishing or even just have an interest in fonts.

Dylan McNamee, [email-masked]

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