(web2c.info)Font utilities available elsewhere

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10.10 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, *note
(kpathsea)unixtex.ftp::).  Here are some of the most commonly-requested
items:

   * AFM (Adobe font metric) to TFM conversion: Note: (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): <http://www.lcdf.org/type>.

   * Scanned image conversion: the (aging) GNU font utilities convert
     type specimen images to Metafont, PostScript, etc.:
     <http://www.gnu.org/software/fontutils/>.

   * 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: 'CTAN:/fonts/utilities/fontinst'.