On 23 May 2000 00:33:30 -0400, fla### [at] mailev1netnetnetcom
(FlameStrike) wrote:

>I've just been trying to render a logo image for a web-site I'm working on, 
>but the true-type font I'm using for the text is producing unusual symbols 
>when rendered, though the text shows up normally using Moray to model the 
>image.

Not sure if this is exactly your problem, but I found that some new
releases of standard true-type fonts are broken insofar as PovRay 3.1g
is concerned.

For instance, my Windows 98 came with an Arial.ttf that works with
PovRay, but a newer Arial.ttf downloaded from Microsoft's update site
is unusable. Both fonts claim to be version 2.76 from Monotype Corp,
but the older working file is 148kb while the newer file is 267 kb -
almost double the size.

I seem to recall the newer versions were represented as being improved
for the Web -- better screen representation when seen through a
browser. So far only PovRay is choking on them.

The fonts I was troubled with are:

	Arial, Arialbd, Arialbi, Ariali
	Cour, Courbd, Courbi, Couri
	Times, Timesbd, Timesbi, Timesi

but different fonts might still suffer the same problem.

I copied the older versions of those fonts into a folder under my
PovRay folder, and added that font folder to the library path. In case
you have not edited the library path yet, just add something like this
near the bottom of the file F:\PovRay\renderer\PovRay.ini.

	Library_Path=F:\PovRay\LocalFonts
	Library_Path=C:\Windows\Fonts

(Obviously, your LocalFonts folder might be on a different drive...)

Then you can ask for a font like "Arial.ttf" (i.e. without a path) and
PovRay will use whatever fonts are found in the LocalFonts folder
before it looks in the Windows Fonts folder.

Solved my problem.

Of course, the suggestion to use a height-field is also well worth
considering. A jagged effect, difficult to do any other way, can be
had by using a fairly small bitmap, and for higher resolution (larger)
bitmaps you can prepare the image by smoothing black lettering into a
white or gray background to produce a nicely rounded 3D effect. But
you know that already.

Best of luck,
Rstudio

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