Info: (mf2pt1) Introduction

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mf2pt1: Introduction

 
 1 Introduction
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 Metafont is a high-level, mathematically oriented language for producing
 fonts.  The Metafont interpreter produces device-dependent bitmaps,
 which render well at the target resolution on the target device, but
 poorly at other resolutions or on other devices.  Adobe's PostScript Type 1
 font format is the de facto font standard for printers these days.  It
 is a vector format, which implies that it scales better than bitmaps,
 and it delegates the device- and resolution-dependent tweaking from the
 font source to the target device's PostScript renderer.  However, Type 1
 fonts are extremely difficult to code by hand.  Usually, one uses a
 WYSIWYG program to design a Type 1 font.  Metafont, with its
 font-specific programming language, is an elegant alternative.  A font
 designer can write reusable subroutines for repeated features, such as
 serifs and accents.  He can define a font in terms of arbitrary
 parameters, such as "boldness" or "italicness", making it trivial to
 produce entire families of fonts from a single source (hence the "meta"
 in the name "Metafont").  Ideally, we would like to design a font using
 the Metafont language, but produce PostScript Type 1 output instead of
 bitmaps.
 
    'mf2pt1' helps bridge the gap between Metafont and Type 1 fonts.
 'mf2pt1' facilitates producing PostScript Type 1 fonts from a Metafont
 source file.  It is _not_, as the name may imply, an automatic converter
 of arbitrary Metafont fonts to Type 1 format.  'mf2pt1' imposes a number
 of restrictions on the Metafont input.  If these restrictions are met,
 'mf2pt1' will produce valid Type 1 output.
mf2pt1: Introduction

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