Many graphical design , print , and publication master have one thousand of face stored on their hard drives , and handle them is essential . Extensis Suitcase Fusion 1.0 is designed to treat OS X ’s font complexness , but it ’s also substance abuser - friendly .
Suitcase Fusion 1.0 combines the front end of Suitcase with the font intelligence operation of Font Reserve , a competing font manager that Extensis acquire in 2003 . If you ’re upgrading from Suitcase X1 or Font Reserve 3 , Fusion will spell your existing fonts and font sets .
A huge number of graphic designers have used Suitcase for many year so its interface is not only intimate , it had been developed to suit their specific need . Extensis has preserved and meliorate this port for Fusion .
Font Reserve was modernise from the earth up to match the needs of publishing and prepress professionals who want exact identification of every version of every font , and rock - satisfying , honest performance . Font Reserve accomplished this exploit with three tricks : imitate all your fonts into a database name the Font Vault ; key every fount down to the flake floor ; and building cud - In for popular innovation applications that add a tiny snatch of computer code to each written document to identify the exact version of every face used . The Vault will go for only one copy of any font , which prevents problem get by duplicates . And , because the fonts are no longer scattered across your hard drives or web , it ca n’t lose track of them . Suitcase Fusion adopt all of these technologies .
Because the Vault is a novel concept for graphic designers , who are used to having unmediated access to their font files , some may be reluctant to use it . To oblige them , Suitcase Fusion can also manage your font without copying them into the Vault .
Better auto-activation
If you open a document that uses inactive baptismal font , Fusion can automatically activate them . In addition , Fusion has particular plug - ins for QuarkXPress , Adobe InDesign , and Adobe Illustrator that tolerate it to automobile - touch off the exact rendering of each font used , rather than guessing . Without those plug - ins font managers are basically gauge as to which edition of a case was used . These plug - ins can also inactivate fonts when you end the document or quit the software .
While Fusion does display a list of auto - activated fonts , it does n’t show which app requested the font . This data would be helpful because I was often surprised and bewilder at the fonts that were auto - activate . In addition , I ’d like to see a fireplug - in that automobile - activates case for Adobe Photoshop . And I ’m eager to see a host version of Fusion , which Extensis tell is in the works .
What’s new
When you impart fonts to Fusion , they are broken down to single styles . This let spinal fusion activate individual font style for a text file , which apply few system resource and avoids case-by-case font engagement that may occur by spark off integral font suitcases . This also lets you apply harmonized fonts . ( Harmonized fonts are a product of an old utility called Font Harmony that was democratic among designers . It let you change a font suitcase so that its font styles would collapse into the primary font name in Font menus . This produce short Font menus , as well as the power to apply a Bold or Italic style to a font by using keyboard statement . )
Fusion ’s Font Sense , a utility program that reckon at font metrics , institution dates , and kern pair to precisely key fonts , now tracks fount in PDF files that were create by InDesign and Illustrator , as well as in EPS files export from Illustrator . When you place those PDF or EPS files into a text file in QuarkXPress , InDesign , or Illustrator , Fusion can spark the correct face .
Fusion also feature a truly utilitarian database that relegate fonts from many commercial metalworks into categories such as Script , Decorative , Oldstyle , Transitional , or Sans Serif . This makes it easy to compare , for illustration , Script fonts . you may also add your own keywords to fonts , which can be helpful for keep on data track of which node own specific baptistry .
In improver to creating your own font bent for projection , guest , or any other purpose , Fusion now lets you create program - specific hardening that activate and deactivate baptistry whenever the program program is found or throw in . you could cuddle set within sets , and even make false name of Set to situation within sets — when you deepen the original set , the alias updates as well .
Safety first
Because system of rules font sometimes contravene with preferred fonts in a publishing workflow , Fusion lets you safely deactivate or overthrow them with your own fonts . And because font files sometimes get damaged and collections get scattered , Fusion include a written matter of Morrison SoftDesign ’s FontDoctor ( ) , which can diagnose , reparation , and organize your font collection into family - based folder .
The interface
baptismal font can be heel as traveling bag , typeface family , or case-by-case styles , and can include columns showing each font ’s metalworks , version , file size , kern info , and classification . you may sort any of these by clicking its chromatography column head . receive a font is easy : you could either type the first few letters of its name or keyword into the QuickFind field , or use Fusion ’s Find feature of speech to combine multiple criterion , such as metalworks , type , and classification .
A Preview windowpane displays a sample of any fonts you select , including inactivate face . It can expose your own string of text ( useful for opt a title baptismal font ) , or text in paragraph , falls , or ABC123 format . you’re able to also choose the size of it of the show type .
One well-to-do way to create a font set is to dredge a booklet of font from the screen background onto the Suitcase Fusion windowpane . Conversely , you’re able to drag a font set from the Suitcase Fusion windowpane onto the desktop to create a booklet take a copy of those fonts . The agile way of life to actuate or deactivate baptistry hardening is from a tilt that appears when you click and view as Fusion ’s Dock icon .
If you hold down the Command winder while drag face onto either the Suitcase Fusion icon in the Dock , or into its open windowpane , those fonts will be temporarily spark off and all other dynamic fonts will be deactivated . This trick is tremendously useful for prepress religious service bureaus that necessitate to be certain that only the customer ’s fonts are active .
Performance
In my tryout , I chose to not use the Vault , or else leaving my baptismal font in their original locating . It took about 20 minutes to migrate more than 10,000 fonts and 30 set from Suitcase X1 to Fusion on my 1.67GHz G4 PowerBook . I noticed that font preview and lists of duplicate case displayed much more quickly than they did in Suitcase X1 .
While I care to think that I keep my font collection pristine , the include FontDoctor public utility ferret out several refutable font , and flagged parts missing from PostScript font pairs . Performing this clean - up task before importing fonts into Suitcase Fusion was of the essence to avert potential problem during font activating or auto - activation .
Macworld’s buying advice
Suitcase Fusion 1.0 is a powerful and up to font coach for originative professionals , and well worth the upgrade cost . live Suitcase users will benefit from the stability of the Font Vault , while Font Reserve drug user have an entirely new interface to explore . New users , however , may require to compare features and interfaces with Insider Software ’s compete production FontAgent Pro 3 ( ) before deciding .
[ Jay Nelson has been the editor and newspaper publisher ofDesign Tools Monthlyfor 13 days . ]
