Hello,
I’m currently writing my final degree thesis on dynamic typefaces. I'm interesting myself in MM and some things looks really obscure to me.
I read some discussions about the subject (on MMFonts and AAT format) here : http://typedrawers.com/discussion/758/aat-in-decline-who-develops-aat-featuresAnd Here : http://typedrawers.com/discussion/631/selling-opentype-features-as-separate-fonts/p1
It seems that these formats are more or less dying (or already dead). I don’t understand if the MMFont of Adobe is still supported in the Opentype format, or if only works with Type 1. Does someone know about it?
About the AAT, the documentation talk about “gear” table and “Core Text” says it “provides support for multiple master fonts, font variations, font cascading, and font linking” but it seems that nobody ever used it, except Apple, and no program seems to generate this kind of format.
Or maybe am I wrong? Is it possible to build an MMaster AAT with two UFO master, or two TTF for example?
And, if it is possible, is there a way to use it? Or should I build an app from myself with Cocoa and Core text to do it?
Same question for MMFont. I know I can easily generate these from Fontlab, but I couldn’t find any way to test it, except to emulate an old classic Mac system with Adobe Type Manager on it.
I don’t really understand why MM Fonts (PST1 seems to be dead so AAT) are not more used. The idea of MM has an amazing potential, but for now it failed to rise up each time. The lack of tools to produce and use it seems the major obstacle to me. Maybe someone has some information about it?
Thanks,
Baptiste