MFTRACE(1)

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>.