Typecast is a font development environment for OpenType font technology. Developments include:
* An outline editor for both TrueType and PostScript outlines
* TrueType hinting engine
* PostScript hinting engine
* Hinting debuggers
* Font conversion utilities
* Font handling libraries for use in wider application development
Parts of the Typecast libraries are used in the Apache Batik project, for conversion from TrueType to SVG fonts. Further contributions will be made to Batik - particularly in the areas of PostScript outlines and font hinting.
OpenType fonts come in a small range of file format flavours. Typecast supports the following:
* ttf - The basic TrueType font file
* otf - Essentially the same as ttf, but usually contain a PostScript
outline rather than a TrueType outline
* ttc - TrueType Collection file. This is a collection of fonts that share
some common tables. Often utilised by far eastern fonts to make more
efficient use of shared components
* dfont - A Macintosh Font Suitcase resource file, with the resources in
the data fork - as utilised by MacOS X
* svg - Scalable Vector Graphics font data
No import file formats are supported as yet, but traditional PostScript Type 1 and Compact Font Format (CFF) font import are under development.
Current outline support is for TrueType outlines. But of course, PostScript outlines are on the development roadmap.
Partial support is in place for the Advanced Typographic Tables, specifically the GPOS and GSUB tables. All advanced tables will be implemented in the ongoing development.