True Type Fonts!!!

[weberandtinnen]

The TTF that I want to use is loaded in the "Window Font Folder", but does not show up in the "Text Style" dialogue box in AutoCAD. I have noticed that several TTF's do not show up in AutoCAD. Has anyone run into this issue. I am using AutoCAD 2009.

[fathibaali]

HELLO
TRY AUTOCAD 2011

[bb]

Did you try reinstalling them? (windows/fonts file pulldown menu) I also had a situation where the font was corrupt on one machine but not another. The date and byte count were the same but I copied the font from the good machine and overwrote the problem machine and it fixed the issue.

[jaberwok]

The TTF that I want to use is loaded in the "Window Font Folder", but does not show up in the "Text Style" dialogue box in AutoCAD. I have noticed that several TTF's do not show up in AutoCAD. Has anyone run into this issue. I am using AutoCAD 2009.

IIRC, if you have an shx file and a ttf file with the same name, only the shx will show in the Style selection box.

[weberandtinnen]

I do not think that the font is corrupted because it shows up properly in my clients titleblock. I took "Jaberwok's" suggestion and moved the "romand.shx" font to the recycle bin and restarted AutCAD. No luck there. I am trying to make the titleblock "Sheet Set" aware and created a new "Text Style" to match theirs, but the "RomanD.ttf" font that I want to use does not show up in the pull down; romand.shx shows up. So I am still having an issue.

Thanks

[Capt. Computer Crasher]

I do not think that the font is corrupted because it shows up properly in my clients titleblock. I took "Jaberwok's" suggestion and moved the "romand.shx" font to the recycle bin and restarted AutCAD. No luck there. I am trying to make the titleblock "Sheet Set" aware and created a new "Text Style" to match theirs, but the "RomanD.ttf" font that I want to use does not show up in the pull down; romand.shx shows up. So I am still having an issue.

Thanks

I have recently discovered in dealing with TTF's is not only do you have to place it in you Windows Font File you ALSO (like with most windows updates) have to reboot your computer before it will show. So try to reboot and see if that works.

[weberandtinnen]

I just rebooted the machine, with no success. The font that I want to use is not the only"ttf" that does not show up in the AutoCAD list. Any other suggestions?

Thanks Gang!

[jaberwok]

I do not think that the font is corrupted because it shows up properly in my clients titleblock. I took "Jaberwok's" suggestion and moved the "romand.shx" font to the recycle bin and restarted AutCAD. No luck there. I am trying to make the titleblock "Sheet Set" aware and created a new "Text Style" to match theirs, but the "RomanD.ttf" font that I want to use does not show up in the pull down; romand.shx shows up. So I am still having an issue.

Thanks

Don't be tempted to rename the ROMAND__.ttf file by deleting the 2 trailing underscores (as I have just done). Windows now reports it as an invalid file.

The ttf files supplied with acad are intended for use in the mtext editor (which ONLY uses ttf files) as temporary substitutes for their shx files.

[bb]

from help:
The In-Place Text Editor can display only fonts that are recognized by Microsoft Windows. Because SHX fonts are not recognized by Windows, a TrueType equivalent is supplied in the In-Place Text Editor when you select an SHX or any other non-TrueType font for editing.

Here is what I got when I tried to create from command line (using -style)

Specify full font name or font filename (TTF or SHX) <txt>: romand__.ttf
Font reserved for display of SHX font in MTEXT dialog.

[weberandtinnen]

I would not even think about renaming a file at this point in time. The machine might start to smoke! :-) I went onto our other CAD station to see what came up in the "Text Styles" dialogue box. Some fonts are the same and some aren't. I really do not understand how I could be having this kind of problem if AutoCAD looks at both the "Windows" and "AutoCAD" font folders. Very frustrating at this point in time. I would use a different font, but the client is retentive about their titleblock, which I do not blame them for being.

[cadtag]

If this is a TTF shipped by Autodesk with a companion shx -- it will never appear as a ttf available for use in AutoCAD. Acad is evidently hardwired to ignore the TTF files on that list of shipped fonts,and will only recognize the shx versions.

There are some very good reasons for this.... beginning with the TTF definitions,and moving into why the TTF version of files such as Romans.shx were developed and supplied.

firstly -- there's never going to be a direct correlation between TTF and SHX. SHX fonts are stroke-based fonts. The font definition includes the length and direction of the individual lines that make up the characters. Increasing the size of the font clearly shows the angular changes of deflection in the lines that make up the character. There are NO filled shx fonts, just ones that have enough linework to blob over the wuite space between the lines.

With Pen plotters, (which are what shx fonts were developed to work with) that's a good design. the thickness of the pen tip would release an approriate amount of ink out to fill the spaces and smooth the angle changes into more reasonable curves. Ink flows - pixels don't.

TruType on the other hand, is an OUTLINE definition -- the font defines the outside limits of the inked area, and fills inside that outline with additional dark pixels. TTF can also include anti-aliasing & hinting for various sizes, and is a better choice for pixel based hardcopy devices, as almost everything purchased today is. It's not possible to exactly match an outline definition to a stroke definition, anymore than it is to match an ideogram to a vowel.

Now, the reason as to why Adesk supplied the TTF fonts that match the shipped SHX fonts is due to the MText Editor. That editor uses the windows subsytems to display the text being edited, and Windows knows nothing about shx fonts. w/o the ttf equivalents, the text displayed in MTEDIT would have only a passing resemblance to what would appear on the paper.

hope that helps clarify what you are seeing.

[jaberwok]

Back to basics - what are you trying to achieve?
If no-one can use romand.ttf in their title-block then your client's title-block uses romand.shx or something completely different. [/Monty Python :-) )

[weberandtinnen]

Great explanation! The problem I am having, is I am not able to assign "RomanD.TTF" to the "Attribute" that I am making for the titileblock. I can assign "romand.shx", but the problem is that they are similar, but the by its nature, the .shx font does not have any fill, which is why I want to use the .TTF. If I am using straight Mtext, then RomanD.TTF will work. Does that make sense?

[jaberwok]

Great explanation! The problem I am having, is I am not able to assign "RomanD.TTF" to the "Attribute" that I am making for the titileblock. I can assign "romand.shx", but the problem is that they are similar, but the by its nature, the .shx font does not have any fill, which is why I want to use the .TTF. If I am using straight Mtext, then RomanD.TTF will work. Does that make sense?

Okay. The attribute text appears as an outline but shx fonts were designed for use with ctb plotting where the pen number (often related to colour) controlled the width of plotted lines. The duplex fonts (the "D" in "RomanD") were intended to produce the effect of wider strokes, not of outlined text. So, what you need to do is assign a lineweight that will "fill" the gap in the text when plotted.

[weberandtinnen]

So...that is the only way to solve this issue? What I don't understand is, I can use the "RomanD.ttf" with "Mtext" while writing notes, which show up solid. However, if I try to create an attribute, it won't work. The only option is to use "romand.shx". Is my understanding correct? If so, why does it not work when an "Attribute" is created, but works with "Mtext"? Do I just need to chalk it up to the way AutoCAD's code is written? Forgive my ignorance.

[cadtag]

MText editor should use RomandD.ttf only in the editor -- when you save and close the editor, the MTEXT object should display and print with RomanD.shx.

AFAIK - there's no way to choose the RomanD.ttf in the mtext editor pulldown list of available fonts. All I see there is the shx version. Are you actually seeing the ttf icon nect to the Romand name in the editor? and if so, what editor are you using?

[weberandtinnen]

Your are right!! When I to some lines of "Mtext", I do not see "RomanD.TTF". The titleblock that my client sent me has text in the titleblock that is "RomanD.TTF". I am not sure how they did this.

Wait a minute!! I think the titleblock was converted from Revit Architecture. I will check my version of Revit Structure to see if that could be it.

Does that sound plausible?

[Ed Jobe]

You can also use formatting codes in mtext that override the text style.