RE: Writing Japanese using ConTeXt

["Tim 't Hart" <tim@t-hart.com>]

Hello Hans and Matt,

> >Can PDFTeX handle TTC files? I know ttf2afm/ttf2pk can process them, but
> >I have tried 2 or 3 times to include a Japanese TTC font directly in a
> >PDFTeX document, but was never able to make it work.
> 
> dunno, maybe dvipdfmx can

I don't think PDFTeX can use TTC fonts. I use PDFTeX for DVI output and use
dvipdfmx for PDF. Map files for dvipdfmx support fonts inside a TrueType
Collection. TTF2TFM also supports the extra fonts inside a TTC by using the
-f switch.

For example, msmincho.ttc contains MS-Mincho and MS-PMincho:
ttf2tfm msmincho.ttc msmin@Unicode@  (will make TFM for MS-Mincho)
ttf2tfm msmincho.ttc -f 1 mspmin@Unicode@ (will make TFM for MS-PMincho)

The map file for dvipdfmx will then look like:
msmin@Unicode@ Identity-H :0:msmincho.ttc  (for MS-Mincho)
mspmin@Unicode@ Identity-H :1:msmincho.ttc (for MS-PMincho)	

> >Well, it can be done in stages. I think that any serious attempt to
> >support Japanese in ConTeXt should encompass all common encodings. But
> >I don't see anything wrong with starting out Unicode-only.
> 
> in that case some range mapping should be defined; proper test files, etc

Right now I'm working on a home page which contains information about where
to find Japanese fonts and how to install them for ConTeXt/dvipdfmx. I will
also add some example files of what is already possible in ConTeXt. I'll
post the URL soon. 

My best,
Tim