Can any of fontenc, inputenx, txfonts, mathptmx, newunicodechar support semi-bold?

Question

My amsbook document using the font packages fontenc, inputenx, txfonts, mathptmx, newunicodechar is nearly complete. / I don't want to introduce any more fonts at this stage. Can I achieve semi-bold on localized normal text with this setup, please?

To use semi-bold fonts, you need… a font that does have a semi-bold version and you have to declare it to LaTeX. I don't think TeX Gyre Termes that is used by default has a semi-bold version. — Bernard, Sep 08 '15 at 11:34
How is this different from the question you asked just a few days ago? — Sverre, Sep 08 '15 at 13:10
Although the answer given was absolutely correct, I personally, could not sensibly integrate the code into my "nearly complete" document. — keith77777, Sep 09 '15 at 12:41

Sverre · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-08T13:04:49.293

2

As far as I know, txfonts and mathptmx don't have semibold fonts. But many other fonts do. One example is:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{libertine}
\begin{document}
\textbf{Regular bold} and {\libertineSB{localized semibold}}.
\end{document}

EDIT: The semibold is of the same height as the bold type (or if you have super vision, it's actually ever so slightly taller for the character b).

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{libertine}
\begin{document}
\textbf{\the\fontcharht\font`b}

{\libertineSB{\the\fontcharht\font`b}}
\end{document}

edited Sep 08 '15 at 13:04

answered Sep 08 '15 at 11:32

Sverre

20,729

libertine works, but is it partly because it is inherently smaller? – keith77777 Sep 08 '15 at 12:10
@keith77777 i don't understand your question. It works because the font has a semibold version. – Sverre Sep 08 '15 at 12:15
not a big issue, but it is shorter in height. – keith77777 Sep 08 '15 at 12:56
@keith77777 No it's not. It's just an optional illusion. I'll add proof in a sec. – Sverre Sep 08 '15 at 13:03
Yes, you are correct, it is an optical illusion. – keith77777 Sep 08 '15 at 13:22
1

Your answer is good. – keith77777 Sep 08 '15 at 13:23
I’m sure the OP finished his document years ago, but worth noting that newtx supports a libertine package option. In a modern toolchain, you can use libertinus-otf, or the Libertinus Math in unicode-math with either Linux Libertine or Libertinus Serif Semibold. – Davislor Aug 05 '18 at 01:03

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 08 '15 at 11:36

First you need a font, which provides semi-bold. Because of mathptmx I assume, you want to have a semi-bold variant of Times? Usually, Times only comes with regular, bold, italics and bold italics.

A poor man's version can be created with package pdfrender. The glyphs of the outline font are additionally drawn with a configurable line width to get the impression of a semi-bold font.

However, the details are not so good as when a real semi-bold font is used. For example, the left stem of the N is even thicker than the bold version. Also the widths of the glyphs do not change.

Full example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage{pdfrender}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\newcommand{\pmsb}[1]{%
  \begingroup
    \pdfrender{
      TextRenderingMode=FillStroke,
      LineWidth=.17pt,
    }%
    #1%
  \endgroup
}

\begin{document}
\lipsum[2]
\pmsb{\lipsum[2]}
\textbf{\lipsum[2]}
\end{document}

Can any of fontenc, inputenx, txfonts, mathptmx, newunicodechar support semi-bold?

2 Answers2

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