MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) today announced a major upgrade of its industry-standard type utility, Adobe Type Manager(R) Deluxe (ATM(R)) version 4.0 for Macintosh(R), Power Macintosh(R) and Windows 95(R). For the first time, ATM Deluxe gives users access to easy-to-use font management within the utility. Users can group fonts into convenient sets, activate and deactivate sets and fonts as needed, and view and print samples of fonts installed on their system. ATM Deluxe now adds support for Type I and TrueType(R) font management. In addition, ATM Deluxe for Windows 95 now supports Adobe's font substitution technology. The new CD-ROM Version 4.0 is expected to be available for Macintosh, Power Macintosh and Windows 95 platforms during the third quarter of 1996. ATM Deluxe will have a special introductory price of $49.95 for the first 90 days after shipping. After that date, the suggested retail price will be $99.95.
"The ATM Deluxe 4.0 features will appeal to a broad spectrum of Adobe's customers," said Brian Heuckroth, senior product marketing manager for Adobe Type Products. "Anyone who has installed an application that bundles lots of fonts, such an Adobe PageMaker or Microsoft(R) Office, will appreciate the value of font management. Font smoothing will improve the appearance of online presentations. Overall, this is a landmark release."
ATM Deluxe offers font smoothing for improving screen appearance of type, allows users to create multiple master instances from within the utility, exports font sets to other users, even across platforms, and performs font substitution when documents require fonts that aren't installed on their computer. As with previous versions of ATM, the new Deluxe version ensures that fonts look good on-screen and in print, even on non-PostScript(R) printers. The new font management capabilities enable users to quickly and easily organize both Type I and TrueType fonts by grouping fonts into convenient user-defined sets that can be activated and deactivated at any time. This eliminates the need for having all fonts installed at once, thereby optimizing system and application software performance.
Drag & Drop Font Management
ATM Deluxe includes powerful, yet easy-to-use font management capabilities for both Type I and TrueType fonts. Users can create custom font sets by simply dragging and dropping typefaces to a new or existing set. ATM Deluxe also lets users turn on and off sets and individual fonts as needed.
Automatic Font Activation
The new ATM Deluxe font activation capabilities let users turn installed fonts on and off manually, without requiring them to uninstall the font from their system. From within ATM Deluxe, users can activate or deactivate individual fonts, or entire fonts, simplifying font menus and conserving system resources. The new auto-activation feature performs this function automatically by turning on an installed font. ATM Deluxe then either deactivates these fonts after they are no longer needed or leaves them activated until the computer is restarted.
View and Print Font Samples Users can view a sample of a single font simply by double-clicking the font name. They can view multiple font samples or print an index for an entire font set quickly and easily. The Macintosh version will also analyze and report damaged fonts or font suitcases.
TrueType Support
ATM Deluxe now adds support for TrueType fonts, so users can manage both Type I and TrueType fonts conveniently within ATM Deluxe.
Font Smoothing
Font smoothing, also called "anti-aliasing," makes type took better on-screen by interpolating colors for pixels that fall along border areas of the character. Font smoothing works with most applications that display Type I fonts, particularly improving the on-screen appearance of script and serif faces. It is well-suited for type in online documents, including presentations.
Automatic Font Substitution
If a user opens a document that contains fonts that are not on the computer, ATM Deluxe refers to its font database to create a substitution font using Adobe's multiple master technology. This substitution font approximates the missing font, preserving line and page breaks in the document.
Free Fonts and Software Included on CD-ROM ATM Deluxe comes with 30 Adobe Original bonus fonts, including the popular Minion(R) Condensed, Myriad(R), Utopia(R) and Tekton(R) multiple master families, as well as specialized display fonts such as Lithos(R) and Nueva(TM). In addition to these bonus fonts, ATM Deluxe includes the Adobe Type On Call CD-ROM, which contains the entire Adobe Type Library of more than 2,100 typefaces, ready to buy when they're needed. The ATM Deluxe CD-ROM includes the latest version of the Adobe PostScript printer driver, Adobe Acrobat(R) Reader software, and special tryout versions of other Adobe products.
System Requirements
For the Windows 95 version of ATM Deluxe, minimum system requirements include an 80386 or greater microprocessor (80486 or greater recommended); Microsoft Windows 95; 8 MB of RAM; at least 8 MB of available hard-disk space; and a CD-ROM drive. For the Macintosh version of ATM Deluxe, minimum system requirements include 68020 (or later); System Software 7.0.1 or later; 8 MB or more of RAM; at least 7 MB of available hard-disk space; and a CD-ROM drive.
Price and Availability
Adobe Type Manager Deluxe for Windows 95, Power Macintosh and Macintosh will be available in the third quarter of 1996 from Adobe Authorized Resellers and directly from Adobe. A special introductory price for ATM Deluxe of $49.95 will be offered for the first 90 days after shipping. After 90 days, the suggested retail price will be $99.95. Floppy disk versions are available for both Windows 95 and the Macintosh for an additional $19.95; instructions for ordering are included with ATM Deluxe.