1MFTRACE(1) General Commands Manual MFTRACE(1)
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6 mftrace - convert METAFONT format fonts into Type1 outline fonts
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9 mftrace [options] fontname
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12 mftrace is a program that can convert a METAFONT font into a Type1
13 font. It is simply called with the name of the font (without a `.mf'
14 suffix) and produces a Type1 font file called either fontname.pfa or
15 fontname.pfb depending on the command line options. With the help of
16 fontforge(1) it can produce other font formats too.
17 For tracing the bitmap, mftrace either uses potrace(1) or autotrace(1)
19 (the former preferred) if available; this can be overridden with the
20 --autotrace and --potrace command line options.
21
23 This program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
24 options starting with two dashes (`-').
25 -k, --keep
27 Keep all output in directory `mftrace.dir'.
28 --magnification=MAG
30 The magnification to use for the PFA file. The default is 1000.
31 The larger the magnification, the more precise the PFA file will
32 be. However, if the magnification is too large METAFONT can
33 crash with overflow errors.
34 Sadly, many MF fonts contain resolution checks
36 if dots_per_inch * design_size > 1500:
38 This check is susceptible to overflow errors. Such code should
40 be reported as a bug, and changed to
41 if dots_per_inch > (1500 / design_size):
43 --formats=FMT1,FMT2,...
45 Specify which formats to generate (default is pfa). Choices
46 are: `afm', `pfa', `pfb', `ttf', `svg'. Note that fontforge
47 (formerly called pfaedit) must be installed to generate any for‐
48 mat except `pfa' or `pfb'. For generating `afm' you need either
49 fontforge or ghostscript.
50 --simplify
52 This passes the created Type1 font to fontforge (formerly called
53 pfaedit) to simplify and autohint it.
54 --gffile=FILE
56 Use generic font file FILE instead of running Metafont. (GF is
57 the default output format of Metafont.)
58 -I DIR, --include=DIR
60 Add DIR to the current path for searching files.
61 --glyphs=LIST
63 Process only these glyphs. LIST is a comma separated list of
64 decimal numbers or ranges, for example `1-10,50,55,90-100'.
65 --tfmfile=FILE
67 Use FILE for the TFM file. (The default is to use
68 fontname.tfm).
69 -e ENC, --encoding=ENC
71 Use encoding file ENC. Encoding files used by mftrace are basi‐
72 cally in the GhostScript/dvips format, but you may use a special
73 .notavail glyph name in order to tell mftrace not to process a
74 specific glyph. If this option is not specified, mftrace tries
75 to determine the encoding file automatically, from the encoding
76 specified in the TFM file, the default being `tex256.enc'.
77 --keep-trying
79 Try to continue if external programs called by mftrace fail. If
80 METAFONT crashes with overflow errors, but nevertheless outputs
81 a GF file, try to process its output as is (useful for some
82 buggy fonts, see above). If potrace or autotrace fail to trace
83 a specific character, first try it with a less smoothed curve,
84 and if that fails, skip the character. By default, mftrace
85 leaves a file `trace-bug-font-char.pbm' and stops the process
86 with a request to file a bugreport.
87 --dos-kpath
89 Try to use MikTeX's version of kpsewhich.
90 --potrace
92 Use potrace for tracing bitmaps. The default is to use potrace
93 if it is found, otherwise to use autotrace.
94 --autotrace
96 Use autotrace for tracing bitmaps.
97 --no-afm
99 Don't read the AFM file to find font information.
100 --noround
102 Do not round coordinates of control points to integer values
103 (use with --grid). Disabled by default.
104 --grid=GRID
106 Set reciprocal grid size in em units multiplied by ratio magni‐
107 fication/1000. For example, `--grid 10 --magnification 1000'
108 rounds coordinates of control points to 1/10th of the em unit.
109 Useful simultaneously with the --noround option. Default GRID
110 value is 1, i.e., round to integer. This option is only used
111 with potrace.
112 -D,--define=SYMBOL=VALUE
114 Set the font info SYMBOL to the given VALUE. For example,
115 -DFamilyName=Foo sets the font family name to Foo. mftrace
116 tries to fill in sensible default values for the `FontName',
117 `FamilyName', `FullName' and `Weight' fields.
118 -V, --verbose
120 Be verbose.
121 -h, --help
123 Show summary of options.
124 -v, --version
126 Show version of program.
127 -w, --warranty
129 Show warranty and copyright.
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132 You may redistribute copies of mftrace under the terms of the GNU Gen‐
133 eral Public License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. There is
134 NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
135 This manual page is copyright © 2005,2006,2007 Julian Gilbey and is
136 distributed under the GNU General Public License too.
137
139 mf(1), autotrace(1), potrace(1), fontforge(1).
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142 mftrace was written by Han-Wen Nienhuys <hanwen@xs4all.nl>. This man‐
143 ual page was originally written by Julian Gilbey <jdg@debian.org> and
144 has been revised by Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
145 January 23, 2007 MFTRACE(1)