Tolken's Tengwar font (for Windows 3.1)
Dan Smith
Hello World, I'm in the process of trying to construct a Windows 3.1
true-type font based on the "Tengwar" alphabet, used by the elves in
J. R. R. Tolken's series; "The Lord of the Rings". I'd like the font
to be very usable, so I'd like some advice from those of you who are
knowledgeable on both building true-type fonts and the "The Lord of
the Rings" series.
1) Am I wasting my time ? Has someone already built a "Tengwar"
true-type font for Windows 3.1 ? If so, is it shareware or
freeware ? Can I get a copy ?
2) The "Tengwar" alphabet was not originally designed for use with
English or a standard PC keyboard. Any Ideas on how to assign the
font characters to keys on the keyboard ? (Example: where should
the "sh" letter go, or the "ch" letter ?) Right now I'm leaning
toward creating two fonts. The first would contain all of the
Tengwar letters, even if they're not used in English, laid out in
a some-what regular pattern on the keyboard, but having no
corrilation with the letters on the keyboard. The second font
would be specific to the standard PC keyboard, with the tengwar
letter for "d" located at the "d" key, etc ...
3) Vowels in the "Tengwar" alphabet are dots, dashes and slashes that
are placed above the letters. Normally vowels are placed above the
next consonent, but the software that I'm using (fontmonger) seems
to have a problem doing this. I can, however, create the vowels so
that they appear above the previous consonent. Can anyone help ?
I do plan on uploading these fonts to one of the internet ftp servers
when I'm finished. If you have any tips, hints or suggestions; please
email me directly (my news server has been erradic lately). I will
post a summery of responses. - Thanks in advance.
=====================================================================
Daniel S. Smith - Daniel...@DGC.ceo.dg.com
[ Opinions expressed are not those of my employer, they're mine! ]
=====================================================================
... No one expects the Spanish Inquisition !!!
Michael Gruebsch
In article <1993Sep8.1...@webo.dg.com>, Daniel...@DGC.ceo.dg.com (Dan Smith) writes:
> =====================================================================
> Hello World, I'm in the process of trying to construct a Windows 3.1
> true-type font based on the "Tengwar" alphabet, used by the elves in
> J. R. R. Tolken's series; "The Lord of the Rings". I'd like the font
> to be very usable, so I'd like some advice from those of you who are
> knowledgeable on both building true-type fonts and the "The Lord of
> the Rings" series.
>
> 1) Am I wasting my time ? Has someone already built a "Tengwar"
> true-type font for Windows 3.1 ? If so, is it shareware or
> freeware ? Can I get a copy ?
>
> =====================================================================
> Daniel S. Smith - Daniel...@DGC.ceo.dg.com
> [ Opinions expressed are not those of my employer, they're mine! ]
> =====================================================================
Hi, there is a truetyoe-font called "tengwargandalf.cpt.hqx" for the
Mac (see below!). You may get it from:
host: mac.archive.umich.edu
dir: mac/system.extensions/font/truetype
name: tengwargandalf.cpt.hqx
or
host: puffin.doc.ic.ac.uk
dir: /packages/mac/umich/system.extensions/font/truetype
name: tengwargandalf.hqx.Z (?)
To convert the Mac-Truetype-Format into Windows 3.1 read the section
"MS-DOS" in the Faq of the newsgroup "comp.fonts"
Hope I could help you
Michael
(m...@rz.uni-jena.de)
Lee Larson
(Dan Smith) wrote:
>=====================================================================
>Hello World, I'm in the process of trying to construct a Windows 3.1
>true-type font based on the "Tengwar" alphabet, used by the elves in
>J. R. R. Tolken's series; "The Lord of the Rings". I'd like the font
>to be very usable, so I'd like some advice from those of you who are
>knowledgeable on both building true-type fonts and the "The Lord of
>the Rings" series.
>
>1) Am I wasting my time ? Has someone already built a "Tengwar"
> true-type font for Windows 3.1 ? If so, is it shareware or
> freeware ? Can I get a copy ?
There is already an Adobe Type 1 font called Tengwar and another called
Elvish, which I believe are based upon Tolkien's alphabet. They have been
around for years on the Macintosh (which I use), but could easily be
converted to either Type 1 or TrueType format for Windows. I've never used
them, but if you checked some of the Mac sites, you'd probably see them.
(Try 36.44.0.6, the info-mac site at Stanford, for example.) An Archie
search would probably turn them up also.
Lee Larson // lmla...@ulkyvx.louisville.edu \\ (502)588-6826
Department of Mathematics, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292
Stan Brown
>
>Hi, there is a truetyoe-font called "tengwargandalf.cpt.hqx" for the
>Mac (see below!). You may get it from:
> host: mac.archive.umich.edu
> dir: mac/system.extensions/font/truetype
> name: tengwargandalf.cpt.hqx
>or
> host: puffin.doc.ic.ac.uk
> dir: /packages/mac/umich/system.extensions/font/truetype
> name: tengwargandalf.hqx.Z (?)
>To convert the Mac-Truetype-Format into Windows 3.1 read the section
>"MS-DOS" in the Faq of the newsgroup "comp.fonts"
I have a DOS machine but no Mac. I tried retrieving the file, but
couldn't figure out how to unpack it from whatever archive format it was
in. (Not having a Mac, I also don't have any Mac-based de-archiving
software.) So I couldn't get the Mac Truyetype version and thus was
unable to test the conversion instructions.
Could some kind soul who has the necessary hardware and the necessary
archivers and de-archivers do the conversion and put it into a ZIP file
a publicly accessible site?
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems br...@Ncoast.ORG
Can't find FAQ lists? ftp to 'rtfm.mit.edu' and look in /pub/usenet
(or email me >>> with valid reply-to address <<< for instructions).
Jeffrey Bob Berthiaume
Here's the gist of what I said...
cd /D_D/incoming/FONTS
get tengwar.zip
(after typing "bin", of course ;)
This is the Windows 3.1 Truetype file, no conversion necessary. Enjoy!
Morbid Man
Denis Gordon
>From: mor...@cs.utexas.edu (Jeffrey Bob Berthiaume)
>Subject: Re: Tolken's Tengwar font (for Windows 3.1)
>Date: 9 Sep 1993 10:39:45 -0500
>cd /D_D/incoming/FONTS
>get tengwar.zip
> Morbid Man
Got it. Tried it. Looks great!
Only one small problem though. In the tengwar.txt file you mention the of the
OPTION key to get effects like doubled letters. This is obviously meant for
Mac users. Could you please tell us what key combination to use instead for
MS-Windows.
Thanks
Denis
---
Denis Gordon internet: de...@apollo.dcc.govt.nz
Network Administrator phone: +64-3-474-3566
Dunedin City Council
Dunedin,New Zealand DUNEDIN. it's all right here.
~~~~~
Jeffrey Bob Berthiaume
>>I tried e-mailing, but it didn't work (bounced, and I got it back).
>>Here's the gist of what I said...
>>ftp greyhawk.stanford.edu
>>cd /D_D/incoming/FONTS
>>get tengwar.zip
>>(after typing "bin", of course ;)
>>This is the Windows 3.1 Truetype file, no conversion necessary. Enjoy!
>> Morbid Man
>Got it. Tried it. Looks great!
>Only one small problem though. In the tengwar.txt file you mention the of the
>OPTION key to get effects like doubled letters. This is obviously meant for
>Mac users. Could you please tell us what key combination to use instead for
>MS-Windows.
because I haven't messed with it. Try loading the font using the
Charmap application (under the Accessories program group) and see what
the extended characters are mapped as.
Morbid Man
Costas Krallis SV1XV
>
>I have a DOS machine but no Mac. I tried retrieving the file, but
>couldn't figure out how to unpack it from whatever archive format it was
>in. (Not having a Mac, I also don't have any Mac-based de-archiving
>software.) So I couldn't get the Mac Truyetype version and thus was
>unable to test the conversion instructions.
>
>Could some kind soul who has the necessary hardware and the necessary
>archivers and de-archivers do the conversion and put it into a ZIP file
>a publicly accessible site?
>
>--
>Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems br...@Ncoast.ORG
>
--
Dr. K. Krallis
Research Engineer,
Metallurgy lab.
National Technical University,
Athens, Greece
Internet: kra...@ntua.gr
kkra...@leon.nrcps.ariadne-t.gr
Packet Radio: SV1XV @ SV1UY.ATH.GRC.EU
*****************************************************************
"It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, Master Warden, and
those who have not swords can still die upon them."
J.R.R. Tolkien - "The Return of the King"
*****************************************************************
Nathaniel Mills Johnston
usually set above a consonantal letter. In languages such as
Quenya, in which most words ended in a vowel, the _tehta_ was
placed above the preceding consonant; in those such as
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sindarin, in which most words ended in a consonant, it was
placed above the following consonant."
-J.R.R. Tolkien
LoTR, Appendix E
p. 399
Perhaps this may be of help: there is a justification for
putting vowels over the previous consonant. When you do create
a font, I'd be eternally grateful if you'd E-mail me a copy.
Thanks!
--
What's taking the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority so long???
In the dark, see past our eyes, || Nate Johnston
Pursuit of truth, no matter where it lies|| nm...@virginia.edu
-Metallica ||
Wendell Martin
Second, I'm not sure it can be done. Depending on how many Tengwar
features you plan to implement, the total number of chars can easily
exceed 255. Unless TrueType has some features I'm unaware of, each char
must be totally defined, no overtypes are possible (unless using the
shareware COMPOSE program [maybe?]). The fact that vowels go over
following consonants, plus the "tilde" nasal, plus the under-placed
"weak vowel"... Unless you simplify (via vowel carriers) you're gonna
run out of chars.
Third, there is no established "English-mode." Tolkien himself said
that his front-page examples were a hybrid, and the examples given in
the front of _The Silmarilion_ have problems. A solution to this would
be to just use an extension of the Tengwar ordering found in TRorK,
rather than try to map to the keyboard (users would use the
char-map applet in Win 3.1 to pick the chars they wanted).
Well, good luck.
Wendell
Jason Mulligan
wrote:
L> There is already an Adobe Type 1 font called Tengwar and another
L> called
L> Elvish, which I believe are based upon Tolkien's alphabet. They have
L> been
L> around for years on the Macintosh (which I use), but could easily be
L> converted to either Type 1 or TrueType format for Windows. I've never
L> used
L> them, but if you checked some of the Mac sites, you'd probably see
L> them.
L> (Try 36.44.0.6, the info-mac site at Stanford, for example.) An Archie
L> search would probably turn them up also.
Well, thats the version Im after. You see, poor 'lil ol me has a Amiga, and
so I would love to get my hands on a Type 1 version. I wish someone could
email it to me (hint, hint), as I dont have access to FTP. All I have is
the TT version, and that is about as useful to me as you-know-what :-)
-- Via DLG Pro v0.995
--Jason Mulligan
Speed kills - Use WINDOWS!
Jason_m...@camelot.apana.org.au