Using Bruce Rogers' Centaur fonts

[T***@adobeforums.com]

Hello All:

First off, I would like to apologize for the cross post. I originally had this in the CS forum, and was advised to ask you guys (and gals).

Here is my problem....

I recently purchased the Centaur Family pack and the Centaur Expert Volume fonts for use with InDesign (sorry, they were the Monotype foundry...I'm a student and they were half the price of the Adobe set). Also, for what it's worth, I purchased the TrueType fonts. There existed no Open Type for the expert set, which is what I get into below.

When I open up InDesign to use Centaur, they are installed under three separate fonts:

(1) Centaur MT -- w/ regular, italic, bold, and bold italic

(2) Centaur Expert MT -- w/ regular, italic, bold, and bold italic and the regular weight includes proper Small caps

(3) Centaur Swash MT -- w/ regular, italic, bold, and bold italic

Ok, actually there is a fourth, (4) Centaur MT Alt --- but as far as I can tell, it only has alternative versions of two or three characters.

Well, my problem is this, since the Expert set is only the extra glyphs (small caps, old style figures, etc.) and does *not* have the full alphabet included, it seems that for every instance I have to switch the font, back an forth between (1) and (2) if I want the entire copy set with the "expert" glyphs. Where here I define "expert" as Expert Glyphs PLUS the regular Alphabet.

The BIG question:

Is there a way to create my own permanent font style so that InDesign will always know to look for the expert glyphs as the first alternative, then to the regular set of fonts for the standard alphabet characters? I'm not very very good with font maps and Unicode so I'm being cautious here. Also, if there is a good reference text for getting the most out of fonts and CS2 someone can suggest, I would be eternally greatfull, or at least very happy.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I purchased these fonts for considerable cash (well, for a student anyway) and would hate to see Bruce Rogers' magnum opus go to waste.

Thanks so much for your time.

Cheers,

tyler

[T***@adobeforums.com]

The only way of doing what you want is to use OpenType.

There is no separate Expert Set font in the OpenType version because it's not necessary. Everything is built into one font, including the small caps, ligatures and alternates. Standard ligatures (including ffi and ffl) will just work automatically. The small caps and oldstyle figures are then just accessed by formatting.

I'm a little confused by your comments on pricing, as it seems like you've already spent more money than you would have by just buying OpenType, at least for Adobe's version. Maybe Monotype will allow you to trade in, or give you a refund.

Monotype's "Centaur family pack," in Type 1 or TrueType, is $79.20, with the additional "Expert Volume" at $44.00, for a total of $123.30, plus more if you had to pay extra for the TrueType version too.

Adobe's OpenType version is Centaur Std, which is $99 at <http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/P/P_1312.html>; it includes all the glyphs formerly found in the Centaur Expert package <http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/P/P_333.html>

Monotype's Centaur Pro package is $169 and can be found here: <http://www.fonts.com/findfonts/detail.htm?pid=431927&grab_id=0&page_id=55591&query=Centaur&SCOPE=Fonts>

Monotype's usage of the word "Pro" seems to differ from Adobe's - in Adobe parlance it refers to additional language support, not extra typographic functionality.

Regards,

T

[T***@adobeforums.com]

Hi Thomas:

Thanks for your informative reply. I had no idea the full expert glyphs were included in the Open Type version. I wish that was made more clear to me as I would have purchased just the one set. I will look into contacting Monotype and asking to switch font types, but I suspect "caveat emptor" will be their response.

With regards to the pricing, as I thought I was only getting the regular set without the expert glyphs, I thought the extra cost for the Open Type version was just because it was a new standard.

Oh well, a harsh lesson learned for my first font purchase....

Thanks again,

t.

[T***@adobeforums.com]

Sorry, Tyler. If it was Adobe, I could put a customer service manager in touch with you and get it taken care of. Good luck with Monotype - let us know how things work out.

(Note: these are "User to User" forums, so you should not generally expect a response from an Adobe person. I just have a funny idea of how to spend my spare time, is all.)

Cheers,

T

Thomas Phinney
Product Manager
Fonts & Global Typography
Adobe Systems