NAME
mftrace - convert METAFONT format fonts into Type1 outline fonts
SYNOPSIS
mftrace [options] fontname
DESCRIPTION
mftrace is a program that can convert a METAFONT font into a Type1 font. It is simply called with the name of the font (without a ’.mf’ suffix) and produces a Type1 font file called either fontname.pfa or fontname.pfb depending on the command line options. With the help of fontforge(1) it can produce other font formats too.
For tracing the bitmap, mftrace either uses potrace(1) or autotrace(1) (the former preferred) if available; this can be overridden with the --autotrace and --potrace command line options.
OPTIONS
This program
follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options
starting with two dashes (’-’).
-k, --keep
Keep all output in directory ’mftrace.dir’.
--magnification=MAG
The magnification to use for the PFA file. The default is 1000. The larger the magnification, the more precise the PFA file will be. However, if the magnification is too large METAFONT can crash with overflow errors.
Sadly, many MF fonts contain resolution checks
if dots_per_inch * design_size > 1500:
This check is susceptible to overflow errors. Such code should be reported as a bug, and changed to
if dots_per_inch > (1500 / design_size):
--formats=FMT1,FMT2,...
Specify which formats to generate (default is pfa). Choices are: ’afm’, ’pfa’, ’pfb’, ’ttf’, ’svg’. Note that fontforge must be installed to generate any format except ’pfa’ or ’pfb’. For generating ’afm’ you need either fontforge or ghostscript.
--simplify
This passes the created Type1 font to fontforge to simplify and autohint it.
--gffile=FILE
Use generic font file FILE instead of running Metafont. (GF is the default output format of Metafont.)
-I DIR, --include=DIR
Add DIR to the current path for searching files.
--glyphs=LIST
Process only these glyphs. LIST is a comma separated list of decimal numbers or ranges, for example ’1-10,50,55,90-100’.
--tfmfile=FILE
Use FILE for the TFM file. (The default is to use fontname.tfm).
-e ENC, --encoding=ENC
Use encoding file ENC. Encoding files used by mftrace are basically in the GhostScript/dvips format, but you may use a special .notavail glyph name in order to tell mftrace not to process a specific glyph. If this option is not specified, mftrace tries to determine the encoding file automatically, from the encoding specified in the TFM file, the default being ’tex256.enc’.
--keep-trying
Try to continue if external programs called by mftrace fail. If METAFONT crashes with overflow errors, but nevertheless outputs a GF file, try to process its output as is (useful for some buggy fonts, see above). If potrace or autotrace fail to trace a specific character, first try it with a less smoothed curve, and if that fails, skip the character. By default, mftrace leaves a file ’trace-bug-font-char.pbm’ and stops the process with a request to file a bugreport.
--dos-kpath
Try to use MikTeX’s version of kpsewhich.
--potrace
Use potrace for tracing bitmaps. The default is to use potrace if it is found, otherwise to use autotrace.
--autotrace
Use autotrace for tracing bitmaps.
--no-afm
Don’t read the AFM file to find font information.
--noround
Do not round coordinates of control points to integer values (use with --grid). Disabled by default.
--grid=GRID
Set reciprocal grid size in em units multiplied by ratio magnification/1000. For example, ’--grid 10 --magnification 1000’ rounds coordinates of control points to 1/10th of the em unit. Useful simultaneously with the --noround option. Default GRID value is 1, i.e., round to integer. This option is only used with potrace.
-D,--define=SYMBOL=VALUE
Set the font info SYMBOL to the given VALUE. For example, -DFamilyName=Foo sets the font family name to Foo. mftrace tries to fill in sensible default values for the ’FontName’, ’FamilyName’, ’FullName’ and ’Weight’ fields.
-V, --verbose
Be verbose.
-h, --help
Show summary of options.
-v, --version
Show version of program.
-w, --warranty
Show warranty and copyright.
COPYRIGHT
You may
redistribute copies of mftrace under the terms of the GNU
General Public License
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>;. There is NO
WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
This manual page is copyright © 2005,2006,2007 Julian
Gilbey and is distributed under the GNU General Public
License too.
SEE ALSO
mf(1), autotrace(1), potrace(1), fontforge(1).
AUTHOR
mftrace was written by Han-Wen Nienhuys <hanwen [AT] xs4all.nl>. This manual page was originally written by Julian Gilbey <jdg [AT] debian.org> and has been revised by Werner Lemberg <wl [AT] gnu.org>.