Font anomaly

[David Ward]

Somewhere between updating Finale and updating the OS, I got this strange (see screenshots) anomaly with the square pausa from Opus Special Extra font. I found the correct symbol via FontBook and was able to copy and paste it back into my Finale file, so no lasting damage.

However, does anyone know why this might have happened?

Also, is this something one needs to check in detail after every update?

[David Ward]

Some additional info:

The file was created in 2012 in F 2010. It was edited in late 2013 in F 2014 from which a PDF was created which does not have the anomaly. I've since opened it in F 25.3 for minor editing, and that is when the anomaly has appeared.

[BuonTempi]

Without seeing the document, it's hard to know exactly what happened. If the font was still active on your system, but the articulation lost its attribution to the correct font, then that's curious.

There was a "fix" made to Mac font stylings recently, which has meant that font attributes sometimes have to be "re-applied" in older documents. But this usually applies to Bold and Italic Styles, rather than music fonts.

[David Ward]

This is seriously peculiar.

I've just opened the original F 2010 file on an old iMac running OS 10.6.8. The same anomaly shows there too, but it quite definitely was not present when the file was last opened in F 2010, and there are prints from PDFs from that time to show so. Also, just a couple of weeks ago, I had a copy printed that was taken from a PDF made from the file opened in late 2013 in Finale 2014 (on a more up-to-date MacMini), and that doesn't show anything wrong either.

I can think of no rational explanation!

[MikeHalloran]

This is seriously peculiar.

Not really.

http://forum.makemusic.com/default.aspx?f=6&m=76346

http://forum.makemusic.com/default.aspx?f=6&m=427613

[N Grossingink]

David, reading the links referenced by Mike Halloran reminded me of a little detail. Make sure your Opus Special Extra font is included in the MacSymbolFonts.txt file.

N.

[Jay Emmes]

Could it be an ID conflict of fonts? Try font validation (Font Book app, select all fonts [cmd-A], File>Validate Fonts).

[David Ward]

… … Make sure your Opus Special Extra font is included in the MacSymbolFonts.txt file.

Interesting: Opus Special is listed, but not Opus Special Extra.

However, things may not be as simple as that might seem. Two newer computers running OS 10.12.4, and two older ones running 10.6.8 all have exactly the same list in MacSymbolFonts.txt (ie without Opus Extra Special being listed). Putting the original F 2010 file on a USB memory stick, it opens without the anomaly on a 2008 MacBook, but with the anomaly on a 2007 iMac (and also on the two newer computers). I can detect absolutely no difference in the MacSymbolFonts.txt, nor anything else Opus font related, between the 2008 MacBook and the 2007 iMac. The only specific difference I can think of is that the iMac is still habitually connected to my home network, and through it to the internet, while the 2008 MacBook has not been used for about nine months.

Is it remotely possible that something that has come down-line since then might have changed the Opus Special Extra without my realizing? If so, whatever it is has also affected Opus Special Extra on my two main work computers (desktop and laptop) both running the current ‘secure’ OS.

[David Ward]

Could it be an ID conflict of fonts? Try font validation (Font Book app, select all fonts [cmd-A], File>Validate Fonts).

549 passed, 12 minor problems ‘proceed with caution’, but all the Opus fonts passed. (And with one exception all the ‘problem’ fonts are turned off.)

[MikeHalloran]

Most font files have problem flags. Apple expects fonts to have upper, lower and numeric characters. Those that don't have 'problems'. If the font is
actually corrupted, that's a different error.

Fonts compiled before 2011 can have problems running in 64bit OS. You aren't going to know this by looking at them.

Check your Users folder and see if any old versions are hiding there. If so, remove them. Fonts aren't supposed to install there anymore and later installers don't always clean out the old versions.

Worst case. Find copies that postdate 2012. Clean out all the old versions and remove from your system (make backup copies, of course). Now, install those pot-2012 versions. If not a Sibelius user, download the demo. You can just click on the fonts and hit the install button—ignore the red flag.

Last year, I cleared up problems with Encore and Finale by cleaning out versions of fonts going back to 1998.

[BuonTempi]

Fonts compiled before 2011 can have problems running in 64bit OS.

There is significant evidence that suggests this is not true without some sort of clarification.

OS X continues to support Type 1 PostScript fonts, TrueType fonts, OpenType fonts, and others. As long as the font conforms to the specification of the font format, then it doesn't matter when it was made. The font spec for Type 1 fonts, on Adobe's website, has not been updated since 1990. The one for OpenType (CFF) is dated 2003.

OS X has had a 64-bit kernel since 2009, which suggests there would have been two years of font problems for all and sundry.
Fonts are not compiled: they are a data file. The bit-edness of the OS is utterly irrelevant to reading the data they contain.

Of itself, the datestamp on a font file means very little. I've just downloaded Opus from Sibelius's website, and the fonts are dated 2013, though they are BIT-IDENTICAL with the version I already have, dated 2010.

It's possible that you might mean something completely different to what you've actually said, perhaps that some version of OS X around 2011 had a bug with reading some fonts into 64-bit apps, but that's an entirely different statement. (Which would also need substantiating.)

In many years of working in print production, I have never seen a problem caused by a font being "too old".

Apple expects fonts to have upper, lower and numeric characters.

Apple bundles many fonts that don't have upper and lower characters (or other glyphs in the A-z positions), such as Zapf Dingbats and Symbol. And many of the non-Western Script fonts. Again, it's possible you might mean something slightly different.

[MikeHalloran]

Hmmmm.... your contention that, because you don't know about something must mean that I am wrong is getting old. Google is your friend.

[BuonTempi]

Google is your friend.

The only thing I can find remotely connected is that FontLab released its Intel-native software for Mac in 2011, with some improved Unicode OTF encodings. Is that what you think is the cause?
Alternatively, Type 1 fonts were no longer supported on Windows 8 64-bit, which was released in 2012. Is it possible that's what you mean?

Otherwise, try as I might, I cannot find anything to support your claim, interesting as it is. I have hundreds of fonts that date before 2011, so if there is a problem with them, I want to know. What did font manufacturers do to their fonts after 2011 to make them work on 64-bit systems?

You make the claim - you supply the evidence.