7.7 FONTCONV

Name

fontconv - Font Conversion Utility

Synopsis

fontconv fontfile libraryfile

Description

The fontconv utility program compiles standard ASCII format vector font data into a Bartels AutoEngineer font file.

fontconv accepts the font description file fontfile as first argument. This file must have an extension of .fon but this extension must not be included with the command line.

fontconv accepts the layout library file name libraryfile as second argument. This file must have an extension of .fnt but this extension must not be included with the command line. fontconv stores the translated font data to libraryfile.

The Bartels AutoEngineer standard font library file is named ged.fnt. This file is stored to the BAE programs directory and contains the font(s) used by the AutoEngineer.

Input File Format

The font description file must start with the FONT command (for defining the name of the font) and must end with the keyword END.. Commentary text can be placed between /* and */. The font description file is structured according to

FONT <fontname>;
CHAR <ord>;
        POLY (0, 0), (10, 10), (10, 0) ;
        :
:
END.

where <fontname> is the name of the font to be created, and where <ord> is the ordinal ASCII number of the character (e.g., character A would be number 65). The valid value range for <ord> is 0..255. If the font description file contains multiple character definitions for the same <ord> value, then fontconv stores only the last of these definitions. Each character (CHAR) is defined by a list of polygon lines (POLY). Each polygon definition consists of a list of polygon corner point coordinates. The coordinates must be specified in positive integer units in a 32x48 point grid area. The [0,0] coordinate refers to the left bottom corner of the grid area. The valid value range for X coordinates is 0..31, and the valid value range for Y coordinates is 0..47. Each character definition can have a maximum of up to 32 corner points.

Examples

Font description file test.fon containing definitions for ! and " (with 4 corner points and 2 polygons each):

/* Library font name */
FONT test;
/* ASCII code 33 for '!' */
CHAR 33;
        /* Lower vertical line */
        POLY (16,5),(16,9);
        /* Upper vertical line */
        POLY (16,13),(16,45);
/* ASCII code 34 for '"' */
CHAR 34;
        /* Left line */
        POLY (12,40),(4,32);
        /* Right line */
        POLY (16,32),(24,40);
END.

The font description file listed above can be transferred to the font library file ged.fnt by applying fontconv as in

>  fontconv test ged 

Files

ged.fnt -- BAE font library file (in BAE programs directory)

See also

fontextr

Diagnosis

The error messages issued by fontconv are intended to be self-explanatory.

Warnings

fontconv overwrites existing fonts in the destination file without any comment.