The Digital Identity - TRUE Digital Master Art

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fonts

FORMAT COMPARISON

FONTS

GRAPHIC FILES

Usable in virtually all applications. Easy access and sizing through the Character Menu. As true outlines, can drive computer-controlled processes (engraving, vinyl-cutting). Can include options: alternate symbols (e.g., ®, ), color separation with trapping, knockouts.

Unwieldy, non-straightforward access, sizing, and import into non-graphic applications. All file types must be updated before they can be used in computer- controlled processes, and all need specialized software to make allowed variations.

Print quicker than any other format, and speed can be increased by storing a PostScript® font in the printer's memory or hard disk.

Scanned images take longest to print, with other graphic files between fonts and scans.

Offer the best output because they can be "hinted," and because they are rasterized with finer lines than graphic files.

Scans print well only if they have been scanned at the printer's resolution and the size of output.
Graphic files output well, but are rasterized heavier than fonts, especially on low resolution devices.

Output on any device, at that device's resolution. ATM (Adobe Type Manager (R)) may be needed to output to non-PostScript devices.

Scans print on any printer, at their scanned resolution (not the printer's). EPS files must be printed on a PostScript printer, unless a conversion program is used. Other graphics can usually print on any printer.

Take the least amount of space, since they are stored as system resources.

Scans, especially multi-bit ones, take the most space. Graphic files are next, partially because they include a screen image. Variations of all of them must be stored in separate files, which occupy more disk space.

Only line art can be made into a font; no true gradated colors. Although fonts are monotoned, they can be separated into multiple keystrokes that register on top of each other as the first step of color separation.

Any image can be made into a scan, and almost any into an EPS file (which may include a scan) or other graphic. All of them can be colorized, but must have separate files for each variation.