web2c: Font utilities available elsewhere
11.10 Font utilities available elsewhere
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The Web2c complement of font utilities merely implements a few basic
conversions. Many other more sophisticated font utilities exist; most
are in 'CTAN:/fonts/utilities' (for CTAN info, ⇒
(kpathsea)unixtex.ftp). Here are some of the most commonly-requested
items:
* AFM (Adobe font metric) to TFM conversion: ⇒(dvips)Invoking
afm2tfm, and 'CTAN:/fonts/utilities/afmtopl'.
* BDF (the X bitmap format) conversion:
<ftp://ftp.tug.org/tex/bdf.tar.gz>.
* Creating fonts using MetaPost: MetaType1.
<ftp://bop.eps.gda.pl/pub/metatype1>. This is used to create the
excellent Latin Modern font family ('CTAN:/fonts/lm'), which
extends Computer Modern to a vast repertoire of scripts.
* Editing of bitmap fonts: Xbfe from the GNU font utilities mentioned
below; the X BDF-editing programs available from
<ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/xfed.tar.Z> and
<ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/xfedor.tar.Z>; and finally, if your
fonts have only 128 characters, you can use the old 'gftopxl',
'pxtoch', and 'chtopx' programs from <ftp://ftp.tug.org/tex/web>.
* Editing of outline fonts: FontForge, <fontforge.sourceforge.net>.
This is a very elaborate program with support for many outline
formats (Type 1, OpenType, TrueType, ...), and many advanced font
editing features.
* PK bitmaps from PostScript outline fonts: gsftopk from the 'xdvi'
distribution. Alternatively, 'ps2pk', from
'CTAN:/fonts/utilities/ps2pk'.
* PostScript Type 1 font format conversion (i.e., between PFA and PFB
formats): <https://www.lcdf.org/type>.
* Tracing bitmaps to fitted outlines: Autotrace
(<http://autotrace.sourceforge.net>), Potrace
(<http://potrace.sourceforge.net>). For Metafont fonts, either of
the two programs 'mftrace' (<http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanwen/mftrace>)
or 'textrace' (<http://textrace.sourceforge.net>) make the job
easier.
* Virtual font creation: <https://ctan.org/pkg/fontinst>.
Info Catalog
web2c: vptovf invocation
web2c: Font utilities