The Thienen font series is a collection of type 1 fonts
generated by a tool written by Sandro Mazzucato
in 1995 in the context of his thesis at
the School of Computer Science at McGill
University. It was partially built on
preliminary work by Lucas Mikiszko in 1993,
an undergraduate student at McGill University at the
time. This tool, programmed in C,
takes a scanned bitmap of a font (with about
50 glyphs per page), finds the contours,
and creates a type 1 font. Points on the contours
are eliminated by a random search algorithm.
The contours try to follow the data judiciously,
yet within certain thresholds to be picked
by the user, the number of points on the outlines
is minimized (while still large). This tool is therefore
particularly suited for rough fonts and for
exact reproduction (as for scanned old texts,
old typewriter fonts, and brushed or special
effect fonts). No font editor was ever used in the design.
"SM" stands for Sandro Mazzucato.
We thank
Bruce W. Anderson for kindly providing us with
the Mac versions of our fonts.
Enjoy.
| BierbeekSM
|
 |
Bier means "beer". Where my larger-than-life father lived, surrounded by a peaceful frog
pond and a lovely garden. A brush font.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| BinkomSM
|
 |
Where my aunt has a cottage and my brother Wim got married.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| BostSM
|
 |
Ah, watching my brother Marc play soccer here on Sunday afternoons amongst the cowchips.
I use Bost once in a while on envelopes. It is quite legible.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| Bost-BoldSM
|
 |
To get Bold versions, we only have to change one parameter
in the software. Note that we make the bitmap bolder and recompute
the outlines.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| Bost-NarrowSM
|
 |
A narrow version.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| BunsbeekSM
|
 |
Where my uncle Hector lived and died and his son Jos now runs a rustic farm.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| Bunsbeek-BoldSM
|
 |
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| GeteSM
|
 |
Pronounced "gay-at" in our dialect. The small river that meanders through Tienen. Muddy,
smelly, but we could not have lived without it.
This is a lovely old typewriter font from
a typewriter I found in our attic (probably a late 40s
model).
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| GlabbeekSM
|
 |
The village of my high school buddies, Holsbeek and Laermans. Just a stone's throw from
Bunsbeek, on the way to Aarschot, where my 300-pound uncle Jos
was a priest in a high school.
Glabbeek is based on a watercolor brush sample.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| GoetsenhovenSM
|
 |
The military airfield. Used to be surrounded by whorehouses.
My brother Marc did his military
service here in the officers' mess as a bartender. I almost got arrested when jogging
across the runway, but talked my way out of it.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| GrimdeSM
|
 |
The South side of Tienen. Smells of French fries and beer.
This is quite an ugly font.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| Grimde-BoldSM
|
 |
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| HoegaerdenSM
|
 |
The capital of the best beer in the world, the Grand Cru of Hoegaerden. Daily tasting. Try
also Witte, Verboden Vrucht, and Julius.
This font was a test.
I wrote the glyphs on a sheet as fast as I could,
probably in under 40 seconds. In the
scanner, and bingo, what would you expect?
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| Hoegaerden-BoldSM
|
 |
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| HoutemSM
|
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Birth place of my grandfather, Pepe. Everybody loved him in Tienen. At his funeral, the
church was too small.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| Houtem-BoldSM
|
 |
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| KumtichSM
|
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Not a nice place to live, but an essential part of Tienen.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| MeldertSM
|
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Memories of cycling up the steep hill in Meldert as a 10-year old.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| OV29SM
|
 |
All mailmen in Tienen know what OV29 is. It is the abbreviation used by the post office
for Oude Vestenstraat 29. That is where my old typewriter lives out its life in the attic.
I got it out again to get a sample for the OV29 and Gete typefaces.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| OorbeekSM
|
 |
Peaceful village until a highway was built on top of it.
Another unbalanced ugly font.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| OplinterSM
|
 |
Village of my co-student at the University of Leuven, Michel Germeys. My cousin Piet now
lives near Oplinter.
This font was obtained by drawing each stroke
twice.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| ThienenSM
|
 |
Ah, the old medieval city where I grew up and discovered a five-hundred year old skeleton
in my garden as a boy. The college, the church bells, the annual "Kermis", the juicy
dialect.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| VissenakenSM
|
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One of my family members is buried here, but I always forget which one.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| WaaibergSM
|
 |
Berg means hill or mountain. Not steep or long, but just good enough to get the legs
warmed up. The street of Jaak Merckx and Pa Jansen. Xavier Van Nuffel and I had our best
times in Pa Jansen's wine cellar, siphoning off 1952 Aloxe Corton bottles and replacing
the wine by cheap Algerian brew.
This font was a test to see how the outline detector
would handle the little spirals.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
| WommersomSM
|
 |
The smell of cows and pigs. Lots of flies and wasps in the summer.
Clearly, this font should only be used
on sausage labels.
|
PFA file |
PFB file |
AFM file |
PFM file |
TFM file |
ZIP file |
Mac TTF file |
|
