Installing true type fonts in MiKTeX and cannot find source file

Question

I would like to use a TrueType font in pdfLatex. I am using MiKTeX 2.9.

I am following these instructions: http://www.radamir.com/tex/ttf-tex.htm (If there are updated instructions, please let me know.)

When I got to this step:

 Start=>Programs=>MiKTeX=>Maintenance=>Refresh Filename Database

I used these two instead

 Start, Programs, MiKTeX 2.9, Maintenance, Settings
   General, Refresh FNDB
 Start, Programs, MiKTeX 2.9, Maintenance (Admin), Settings (Admin)
   General, Refresh FNDB

Now I am at this step:

 tex testfont
 dvips testfont.dvi

And I get this error:

C:\download\fontTest>tex testfont
This is TeX, Version 3.1415926 (MiKTeX 2.9 64-bit)
("C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\tex\plain\base\testfont.tex"

Name of the font to test = eckeys
Now type a test command (\help for help):)
*\table\eject\init
[1]
Name of the font to test = eckeysb
Now type a test command (\help for help):
*\table\eject\init
[2]
Name of the font to test = eckeysi
Now type a test command (\help for help):
*\bye
[3]
Output written on testfont.dvi (3 pages, 21676 bytes).
Transcript written on testfont.log.

C:\download\fontTest>dvips testfont.dvi
This is dvips(k) 5.993 Copyright 2013 Radical Eye Software (www.radicaleye.com)
' TeX output 2014.11.29:0941' -> testfont.ps
Trying to make PK font reckeys at 600 DPI...
Running miktex-makemf.exe...
miktex-makemf: The reckeys source file could not be found.
Running ttf2pk.exe...
miktex-makepk: PK font reckeys could not be created.
dvips: Font reckeys not found; characters will be left blank.
Trying to make PK font reckeysb at 600 DPI...
Running miktex-makemf.exe...
miktex-makemf: The reckeysb source file could not be found.
Running ttf2pk.exe...
miktex-makepk: PK font reckeysb could not be created.
dvips: Font reckeysb not found; characters will be left blank.

.



[1] [2]
[3]

It appears that TeX can find the fonts because "tex testfont" will complain if I use a font name that does not exist. However, dvips and miktex-makepk cannot.

Would you please tell me how to proceed, or please point me to a newer document that explains how to use TrueType fonts in pdflatex?

Answer 1

Thanks cfr. Moving to XeLaTeX worked for me. I am using Windows 7. These are custom True Type fonts which I am required to use, and none of the built-in fonts matched in all characters.

First I clicked on the .ttf files so Windows would install them.

Then in my .tex file, I removed all the font lines that looked like this (which were needed for pdfLaTeX but caused XeLaTeX to hang)

\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[scaled]{uarial}
\renewcommand*\familydefault{\sfdefault}

Then I added the lines needed by XeLaTeX

\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{MyCustomFont}

Thanks for the tip of trying XeLaTeX. The instructions for installing a font on pdfLaTeX were very complicated. XeLaTeX was much simpler once I corrected the \usepackage lines shown above. XeLaTeX seems to work very well in creating a PDF with the correct True Type font.