Multiple Master fonts

MM fonts on Macs running System 9 or earlier

ATM 3.0 and later support Multiple Master fonts. It comes with a small application called Font Creator which can be used to create new instances of Multiple Master fonts. This extra information is stored in one of the resources of the font.
On Macs fonts are stored in the Fonts folder, inside of the System folder. But if you are using a utility to access fonts, such as Suitcase or ATM Deluxe, fonts can be stored in any user definable directory, or folder on your computer.

MM fonts on Macs running OS X

Mac OS X didn’t support Multiple Master fonts until release 10.2.3. From that release onwards, it is possible to install Multiple Master fonts but there aren’t any tools to modify them.

MM fonts on Windows

MM fonts consist of 2 files: a file that carries the .pfb file extension and one with the .mmm extension which contains the font metrics data of the Multiple Master fonts.

On Windows computers the default directory for MM fonts is C:/psfonts.

Here is a summary on how various versions of Windows cope with these fonts:

• To use Multiple Master fonts under Windows ’95 and ’98, you need at least ATM 3.0. The ATM control panel can be used to create various instances of a Multiple Master font.
• Under Windows 2000, you need ATM (Lite or Deluxe) 4.1 (or later) to add support for Multiple Master fonts.
• More information on using Multiple Master fonts on Vista can be found on this page.

Outputting Multiple Master fonts

Unfortunately Multiple Master fonts can be quite difficult to output correctly. The main problem seems to be that when people send a job containing Multiple Master fonts to a printer or service bureau, they tend to include the original Multiple Master font but forget to include the instances they created of that Multiple Master font.

But even if you have the correct instances of a Multiple Master font, your system may still output text in Courier instead of the beloved Multiple Master font. In the days of System 7 or 8, switching PostScript drivers or deactivating the ‘unlimited downloadable fonts’ option in the Print-menu were well-knows tricks to fix issues with Multiple Master fonts.

The future of the Multiple Master technology

The Multiple Master technology was no run-away success. Only a limited number of fonts have ever been released, the majority of them coming from Adobe. Late 1999, Adobe announced that it would no longer develop Multiple Master fonts. This was partially done because the company wanted to focus on OpenType fonts but the lukewarm reception of the Multiple Master technology and the lack of applications that supported it probably also played a role in Adobe’s decision.

The company kept selling their existing catalog of Multiple Master fonts until early 2003. At the end of 2004, Adobe stopped offering tech support for those fonts, excepting for customers who owned their Font Folio 9 library.

Today Multiple Master technology can be considered ‘dead’ and superseded by OpenType. Fortunately a tool like Transtype Pro can convert MM instances to OpenType fonts.

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