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. For tracing the bitmap, mftrace
either uses potrace or autotrace (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, when 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 (formerly
called pfaedit) must be installed to generate any format
except pfa or pfb. For generating afm you need either
fontforge or ghostscript .
- --simplify
- This will pass the created Type1 font through fontforge
(formerly called pfaedit) to simplify and autohint it.
- --gffile=FILE
- Use generic font file FILE instead of running 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 will try 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/autotrace fails 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 will round coordinates of control
points to 1/10 of 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.
SEE ALSO
mf(1),
autotrace(1),
potrace(1),
fontforge(1).
AUTHOR
mftrace was written by Han-Wen Nienhuys
<hanwen@xs4all.nl>.
This manual page was originally written by Julian Gilbey
<jdg@debian.org> and has
been revised by Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.