VOLT and OTMaster

[Jimibooks]

I'm curious if anyone is now using OTMaster (DTL) who used to use VOLT. Any comments or comparisons available? Apart from the "free" VOLT vs. $$ OTMaster, what about functionality? Do people generally like OTMaster? Any limitations that are a concern? I'm interested in indpendent opinions. . . . Thanks!

[tiro_hudson]

I use OTMaster, but not for OpenType Layout work. One of OTMaster's many functions is to compile Adobe FDK format OTL features, and since it supports the new FDK 2.5 syntax it can be used for the same kinds of complex work that one used to need VOLT for. But it still requires one to work with FDK syntax, which is not something I enjoy doing, and I don't see switching from VOLT to any FDK-based system, whether it is OTMaster or future version of FontLab with FDK 2.5 support. I can imagine using OTMaster for this kind of work if I were batch processing a large number of fonts with identical layout features, but since this is not usually how I work, I don't see a benefit to using this tool as opposed to VOLT.

What I am currently using OTMaster for is VOLT post-processing of discreet font table data, e.g. updates to the OS/2 usMaxContext field or to the name table version string. It is a very nice tool, and I suspect as I use it more I may find other uses for it.

[tiro_hudson]

PS: Heading off-topic for this thread, but since I mentioned batch processing:

One of my wish-list items is for the VOLT font compiler to be addressable from a command line so that one could batch combine fonts with .vtp project files, compile, save and ship them.

[blokland]

'[...] Apart from the "free" VOLT vs. $$ OTMaster, what about functionality? [...] I'm interested in independent opinions [...]'

Hardly considered to be independent, I will give you my opinion and some info on the functionality of OTM.

OTM is a versatile and very powerful tool and it depends on one's workflow which functionality is particularly useful. I will give just a few examples here.

Glyphs and tables can for instance be added and/or edited. For those who use the AFDKO for adding the OpenType Layout features to fonts generated for instance with FLS, it could be a good alternative because importing the features is a piece of cake (features that are not covered by the character set are simply removed).

Although far from being an expert in this area, at the end of the Robothon conference last Friday I demoed importing GPOS features in an Arabic font and subsequently the numerical editing of the mark positioning in the GPOS/GSUB Viewer.

See also the OTM web page. Sideways related, perhaps this Typophile topic is also interesting to read in this context.

By the way, Microsoft generously offers VOLT for free but the Euro 255 for OTM is a real bargain if one only takes the development costs into account.

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