t1python - A Type1 Font Renderer for Python

This interface to a Type1 font rendering engine allows Python programs access to a large number of fonts which have not been so readily usable before.

The interface provides access to the "t1lib" library by Rainer Menzner. The rasterizer is based on the work which IBM contributed to the X Consortium for inclusion in the X11 distribution. More information on the detailed lineage of the rasterizer is included in the t1lib manual. (X11 is not required to use the underlying C code or the Python extensions.)

Most aspects of the underlying t1lib have been exposed to the Python layer. The exceptions are the functions which support the rasterization of Type1 fonts directly into X11 bitmaps and pixmaps; these are not needed from Python. An object-oriented layer written in Python makes using the primitives a bit easier, and an additional module supports the conversion of t1lib glyphs to Python Imaging Library (PIL) Image objects, and allows for use of the fonts with PIL's ImageDraw class.

Release 0.9.1

After not keeping with the 0.8 or 0.9 releases of t1lib, t1python will return shortly after the release of t1lib 0.9.1; expect it to arrive in early July (1999). It will be available from this page, and will contain support for all the new functions in t1lib, including the outline support.

I plan on producing new documentation after the release is out.

Release 0.7

This release contains almost no changes to the interfaces from Python, but has been updated to reflect changes to the most recent version of t1lib. The version number has been synchronized with that of t1lib to indicate their relative stability.

The source code is distributed with t1lib, so no separate distribution is required. Build t1lib, and then switch to the t1python/ directory provided, and follow the build instructions included in the README file there.

Information about the release:

• README -- including the build instructions.
• LICENSE -- remarkably like Python's.

Online Documentation (Old)

• t1lib -- the public interface to the base capabilities.
• t1Imaging -- integration interface for use with the Python Imaging Library.

For questions, comments and bug reports, send mail to image-sig@python.org.

This package was written by Fred L. Drake, Jr.; send mail to fdrake@acm.org if you find it useful, or if you have questions about it.