NAME
mmpfb - creates single-master fonts from multiple master fonts
SYNOPSIS
mmpfb [OPTIONS...] font
DESCRIPTION
Mmpfb creates a normal, single-master PostScript font from a multiple
master font by interpolation. You pass it a PFB or PFA font and options
specifying the design point you want; it writes the resulting PFB or
PFA font to the standard output.
The fonts mmpfb creates are interpolated at a low level to remove
multiple master instructions from individual characters. Therefore,
they can be used by programs that don’t normally understand multiple
master fonts, like ps2pk(1).
Mmpfb supports fonts with intermediate masters, like Adobe Jenson and
Kepler. It can also create AMCP (Adobe Multiple Master Conversion
Program) files for use by mmafm(1); see --amcp-info below.
The font argument is either the name of a PFA or PFB font file, or a
PostScript font name. If you give a font name, mmpfb will find the
actual outline file using the PSRESOURCEPATH environment variable. This
colon-separated path is searched for ‘PSres.upr’ files, an Adobe method
for indexing PostScript resources.
You can also give the name of a multiple master font instance, like
‘MinionMM_367_400_12_’. Mmpfb will parse the font name and create that
instance for you. ‘PSres.upr’ files must be set up for this to work.
EXAMPLE
% mmpfb --weight=400 --width=600 MyriadMM.pfb > MyriadMM_400_600_.pfb
OPTIONS
Long options may be abbreviated to their unique prefixes.
--output=file, -o file
Send output to file instead of standard output.
--pfb, -b
Output a PFB font. This is the default.
--pfa, -a
Output a PFA font.
--amcp-info
Do not create a font; instead, output an AMCP file for use by
mmafm(1). A message is printed if the font doesn’t have
intermediate masters, in which case no AMCP file is necessary.
--weight=N, -w N
Set the weight axis to N.
--width=N, -W N
Set the width axis to N.
--optical-size=N, -O N
Set the optical size axis to N.
--style=N
Set the style axis to N.
--1=N (--2=N, --3=N, --4=N)
Set the first (second, third, fourth) axis to N.
--precision=N, -p N
Set the output precision to N. Higher values mean the control
points in the output font will be more exactly aligned; lower
values (1 or 2) create smaller output font files, and are close
enough for most purposes. A precision of N means that each point
will be within 1/N font units of the exact interpolated value. (A
font unit is generally 1/7200 inch for a 10-point font.) The
default is 5.
--subrs=N
Limit the output font to at most N subroutines. 256 is a good
value for N.
--no-minimize
Do not minimize the output font definition. By default, mmpfb
removes extra PostScript code and dictionary definitions from the
font. Supply the --no-minimize option to avoid this behavior.
TROUBLESHOOTING
The "IBM" Type 1 font interpreter shipped as part of the X font server
and ps2pk (among others) is inappropriately strict about PostScript
code embedded in a font. The --minimize option (now the default) fixes
this problem.
Some versions of Adobe Acrobat Distiller may report "Warning: unable to
embed font X. Invalid character outline data" when distilling an
instance generated by mmpfb. This is due to a limitation in the number
of font subroutines Distiller can accept. (Multiple master fonts, and
the single-master fonts generated by mmpfb, tend to have a lot of
subroutines.) Try limiting the number of subroutines in the generated
font with the --subrs option.
SEE ALSO
mmafm(1)
DIAGNOSTICS
reducing font to minimum number of subroutines (N)
You tried to reduce the number of subroutines to less than N using
the --subrs option, but the font needs at least N to function. The
output font will have N subroutines.
AUTHOR
Eddie Kohler, ekohler@gmail.com
The latest version is available from:
http://www.lcdf.org/type/
Thanks to Melissa O’Neill for suggestions and patient debugging.