XMBDFED(1) X Version 11 XMBDFED(1)
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NAME
xmbdfed - Motif-based BDF font editor
SYNOPSIS
xmbdfed [options] [fonts ...]
DESCRIPTION
xmbdfed lets you interactively create new bitmap font files or modify
existing ones. It allows editing multiple fonts and multiple glyphs,
it allows cut and paste operations between fonts and glyphs and
editing font properties. xmbdfed can import Metafont PK/GF fonts, Han
Bitmap Font Format (HBF) fonts, Linux console fonts (PSF, CP, and
EGA/VGA) fonts, Sun VF fonts, TrueType (TTF) fonts, or grab a font
from the X server. xmbdfed can export PSF Linux fonts and HEX fonts
(see online help). The editor support two and four bits per pixel
gray scale fonts.
xmbdfed works on X Window System Version 11 (X11), Release 5 or
Release 6, with Motif 1.2.x or Motif 2.x.
OPTIONS
xmbdfed accepts the following command line arguments:
-nc do not preserve comments (by default, xmbdfed automatically
collects comments that are saved with the font).
-nu do not preserve unencoded glyphs (by default, xmbdfed
preserves the unencoded glyphs).
-nm do not make metrics corrections (by default, xmbdfed attempts
to make metrics corrections automatically).
-np do not pad character-cell bitmaps (by default, xmbdfed pads
character-cell bitmaps with 0's to the cell dimensions).
-bp allow blank pages (by default, xmbdfed skips blank pages).
-ed do not present the "Really Exit?" dialog (by default, this
dialog always presented).
-ps n set default point size (if unspecified, xmbdfed sets it to
12).
-hres n set default horizontal resolution.
-vres n set default vertical resolution.
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-res n set both default resolutions (if unspecified, xmbdfed sets
both horizontal and vertical resolution to that of display,
(e.g. 90x90 dpi for Sun workstations).
-sp s set the default font spacing ("p" for Proportional, "m" for
Monowidth, or "c" for Character Cell).
-bpp n set the default bits per pixel for new fonts (1, 2, or 4).
-eol e set the default end-of-line type ("u" for Unix LF, "d" for
DOS/Windows CRLF, or "m" for Macintosh CR). CR)
-g glyph-code
specify the initial glyph code at startup. The glyph code can
be specified in decimal, octal, or hex. Octal numbers must be
prefixed with the digit 0, and hex numbers must be prefixed
with one of: 0x, 0X, U+, U-, \u.
-pb do not use the progress bar. Use the watch cursor instead.
-cb code-base
specify the code base used to display the glyphs encodings
(can be "octal", "decimal", or "hexadecimal").
FONT GRID
At the top of each editor window there are some fields and buttons.
These are:
The "Font" text field is where the font name is set so it can be
edited.
The "Glyph" field is a label that provides some information about
glyph name, encoding, and metrics when a glyph is selected. When
a range of glyphs are selected, this field displays the start and
end codes of the range.
The push buttons are used to navigate through the glyph pages.
The "Previous Page" and "Next Page" buttons normally skip glyph
pages that are empty, but that can be changed using the "Setup"
dialog.
If the Shift key is held down while the "Next" or "Previous" page
buttons is pressed, then the paging behavior will be opposite of
the current paging behavior.
The "Page" field indicates the current glyph page and also allows
a specific page number to be entered. Once a page number is
entered, pressing the Return key will cause the Font Grid to
shift to that page. The page number entered is expected to be a
decimal number.
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The "Code" field is provided for situations where the page number
is not known, but the encoding is known. The encoding entered in
this field must be in the base (8, 10, or 16) that is currently
being used to display glyph encodings (see the "View" menu
below). Once the encoding is entered, pressing the Return key
will cause the Font Grid to shift to the page containing the
encoding.
The main window of each font editor is called the Font Grid. Each Font
Grid has a clipboard used for passing glyphs around. This clipboard
is called FONTGRID_CLIPBOARD. The format of the data stored to this
clipboard is not documented yet.
When a glyph has been modified either by the user or by automatic
metrics corrections when the font is loaded, the glyph code above the
glyph cell will be highlighted.
Font Grid Menus
The File menu has the following entries:
New <Ctrl+N>
This creates a new font using the current defaults for point size,
horizontal and vertical resolution, and font spacing.
Open <Ctrl+O>
This opens a new font in the current Font Grid. If the font in
the grid has been modified, the option to save the font before
loading a new one will be given.
Save <Ctrl+S>
Save the current font. If the current font does not have a file
name, a file selection dialog will pop up so a file name can be
entered.
When the font is saved, it will automatically generate a list of
_XFREE86_GLYPH_RANGE properties containing a list of glyph codes
available in the font.
Save As <Ctrl+W>
Save the current font with some other name.
When the font is saved, it will automatically generate a list of
_XFREE86_GLYPH_RANGE properties containing a list of glyph codes
available in the font.
The Import submenu of the File menu has the following entries:
PK/GF Font <Ctrl+K>
Import a Metafont PK or GF font.
Console Font <Ctrl+L>
Import a binary console font used by Linux and Sun (PSF, CP,
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vfont, and other font formats).
HBF Font <Ctrl+H>
Import an HBF font.
Windows Font <Ctrl+B>
Import a Windows FON/FNT font. This will also import fonts
from .EXE and .DLL files as well.
TrueType Font <Ctrl+Y>
Import a TrueType font (.ttf extension) or a TrueType
collection (.ttc extension).
Server Font <Ctrl+G>
Import a font from the X server.
The Export submenu of the File menu has the following entries:
PSF <Ctrl+F>
This will export the current BDF font to a PSF font if the BDF
font is less than 8 pixels wide and is a character cell font.
Only the first 512 or 256 glyphs will be exported depending on
how many glyphs are in the font. A mapping table will be
appended to the end of the font if there is any break in the
encodings of the glyphs.
HEX
This will export the current BDF font into the HEX format (see
http://czyborra.com/unifont/).
Exit/Close <Ctrl+F4>
Exit the program if this is the primary Font Grid or simply hide
(unmap) the current Font Grid window.
The Edit menu has the following entries:
Copy <Ctrl+C> or <Button3Down>
This copies the current selection to the Font Grid clipboard.
Cut <Ctrl+X> or <Key>Delete or <Key>BackSpace
This copies the current selection to the Font Grid clipboard and
then deletes the selection.
Paste <Ctrl+V> or <Button2Down>
This replaces the glyphs starting at the currently selected
position with the Font Grid clipboard.
Overlay <Ctrl+Shift+V> or Ctrl<Button2Down>
This merges the Font Grid cliboard with the glyphs starting at the
currently selected position. The names of the modified glyphs are
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not changed.
Insert <Ctrl+Meta+V> or Shift<Button2Down>
This inserts the Font Grid clipboard in front of the currently
selected position.
Properties <Ctrl+P>
This invokes the font property editor.
Comments <Ctrl+M>
This invokes the font comments editor.
Font Info <Ctrl+I>
This invokes a dialog that allows changes to some of the font
information so these values do not have to be changed using the
property editor. These values include the default character, font
device width (for monowidth and character cell fonts), font ascent
and descent, font vertical and horizontal resolution, and the font
spacing.
The Font Name submenu of the Edit menu has the following four entries:
Make XLFD Name
If the font does not have an XLFD name, this will save the
current font name in the _ORIGINAL_FONT_NAME font property and
then generate an XLFD name for the font.
Update Name From Properties
This will update the XLFD font name fields from the font
property list.
Update Properties From Name
This will update the font properties from the XLFD font name.
Update Average Width
This will update the average width field of the XLFD font name
and will update the AVERAGE_WIDTH font property as a side
effect.
Name Glyphs
Unicode Names
This will rename all the glyphs using names taken from a file
in the Unicode Character Database format. This file can be
set in the configuration file or set using the Setup dialog.
Unicode Values
This will rename all the glyphs with a hexadecimal value
prefixed by 0x, U+, or \u (example: 0x010D, U+010D, \u010D).
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Test Glyphs <Ctrl+Z>
This will toggle the glyph test dialog on or off for the
editor. When this is active, selecting a glyph from any Font
Grid will also add it to the glyph test dialog. When changes
are made to a glyph or the font bounding box, the glyph test
dialog will be updated accordingly.
The glyph test dialog provides a toggle to turn the baseline
on or off and another toggle to draw from right to left
instead of left to right.
Setup <Ctrl+T>
This will invoke the dialog to edit various settings used by
the editor such as the default point size, resolution and font
spacing.
The View menu has the following entries:
Unencoded <Ctrl+E>
This will toggle between displaying the unencoded (glyphs with an
ENCODING field of -1) and encoded glyphs.
Code Base
Selects displaying of glyph encoding. Options are Octal (base 8),
Decimal (base 10) or Hexadecimal (base 16).
Other Page <Ctrl+Shift+S>
This will toggle between the current page and the last page that
was viewed.
Vertical View <Ctrl+Q>
This will toggle the FontGrid between showing the glyphs
horizontally (default) and vertically.
Messages <Ctrl+A>
This will show messages generated when corrections to the font
metrics are done or errors are encountered.
The Operations menu has the following entries:
Translate <Ctrl+D>
This will bring up the dialog for entering the X offset and Y
offset used to translate the glyph to a new location.
The option of translating the selected glyphs or all of the glyphs
is provided.
Rotate <Ctrl+R>
This will bring up the dialog for entering the rotation angle.
The rotation is limited to between plus or minus 1 and 359
degrees.
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The option of rotating the selected glyphs or all of the glyphs is
provided.
Shear <Ctrl+J>
This will bring up the dialog for entering theangle of the shear.
The shear is limited to plus or minus 45 degrees.
The option of rotating the selected glyphs or all of the glyphs is
provided.
Embolden <Ctrl+Shift+B>
This will bring up the dialog for emboldening either the selected
or all glyphs.
To embolden means to make bold.
The Editors menu has the following entries:
New <Ctrl+N>
This will cause a new editor to be created using the point size,
resolution, and bits per pixel set in the config file, from the
command line or from the Setup dialog.
[editor list]
The remaining menu items are all the Font Grid's that have been
created. Choosing one will force that window to be made visible
(mapped) and also put that window on top.
Font Grid Other Features
Double clicking the mouse on one of the glyphs will start a Glyph
Editor for that glyph.
The font name can be edited in the Font Grid and page switching can be
done with the buttons on the Font Grid.
GLYPH EDITOR
The Glyph Editor provides a simple bitmap editor designed to edit
glyph bitmaps and other glyph information. The Glyph Editors all use
a special clipboard used to pass bitmaps between the Glyph Editors.
This clipboard is called GLYPHEDIT_CLIPBOARD.
The only limit on the number of Glyph Editors that can be open at one
time is the amount of memory.
Glyph Editor Menus
The File menu has the following entries:
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Update <Ctrl+S>
This will update the Font Grid with the modified glyph.
Update and Next <Ctrl+U>
This will update the FontGrid with the modified glyph and move to
the next glyph.
Update and Previous <Ctrl+B>
This will update the FontGrid with the modified glyph and move to
the previous glyph.
Import XBM <Ctrl+I>
This will pop up a file selection dialog so an X Bitmap file (.xbm
extension) can be selected to be imported into the glyph editor.
The imported bitmap is handled the same way as bitmaps pasted.
They are inserted as a selection with the move operation active
and do not destroy any bitmap that already exists in the editor.
Export XBM <Ctrl+O>
This will pop up a file selection dialog so that the glyph image
can be exported as an X Bitmap file (.xbm extension).
Close <Ctrl+F4>
This will close the Glyph Editor.
The Edit menu has the following entries:
Reload <Ctrl+L>
This will reload the glyph and discard any changes made in the
GlyphEditor.
Resize BBX <Ctrl+R>
This will allow changing the sizes of the glyph bounding box
including the left/right bearings and the glyph ascent/descent.
If this change causes the glyph bounding box to be larger than the
font bounding box, the font bounding box will be resized when the
glyph is saved next.
Copy <Ctrl+C>
This will copy the currently selected portion of the bitmap to the
Glyph Editor clipboard.
Cut <Ctrl+X>
This will copy the currently selected portion of the bitmap to the
Glyph Editor clipboard and then delete the selection.
Paste <Ctrl+V>
This will paste the contents of the Glyph Editor clipboard into
the current Glyph Editor with the top-left coordinate of the
bitmap on the clipboard pasted at the location of the mouse. If
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the bitmap is too big to fit if it is pasted at the mouse
location, the bitmap will be shifted until it fits completely in
the Glyph Editor.
Select All <Ctrl+A>
This will select the whole glyph bitmap.
Next Glyph <Ctrl+N>
This will move the Glyph Editor to the next glyph position in the
Font Grid. If the current glyph has been modified, a save prompt
will appear before moving to the next glyph.
Previous Glyph <Ctrl+P>
This will move the Glyph Editor to the previous glyph position in
the Font Grid. If the current glyph has been modified, a save
prompt will appear before moving to the previous glyph.
The Operation menu has the following entries:
Draw <Ctrl+D>
Change the Glyph Editor into Draw mode.
Move <Ctrl+M>
Change the Glyph Editor into Move mode. Move mode allows
selecting a portion of the glyph bitmap and moving it to another
location.
Copy <Ctrl+Y>
Change the Glyph Editor into Copy mode. Copy mode allows copying
a portion of the glyph bitmap and moving it to another location.
Rotate <Ctrl+T>
This will invoke the rotation dialog that allows the degrees of
rotation to be specified. Rotation can be between 1 and 359
degrees.
Shear <Ctrl+E>
This will invoke the shear dialog that allows the degrees of
horizontal shear to be specified. Other names for shearing are
obliquing or slanting. Shearing is allowed between 1 and 45
degrees.
Embolden <Ctrl+H>
This will embolden the glyph in a simple manner.
Glyph Editor Other Features
When the mouse is used to shift the bitmap by one of the buttons,
holding the mouse down will cause the activity to repeat.
When editing fonts with two or four bits per pixel, a strip of colors
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is presented on the left side of the Glyph Editor toolbox. These can
be selected with the mouse or with certain keys (see online help text
for details).
RESOURCES
The program understands all of the core X Toolkit resource names and
classes as well as:
noComments (Boolean)
Specify whether xmbdfed preserves comments or not (default
False).
noUnencodedGlyphs (Boolean)
Specify whether xmbdfed preserves unencoded glyphs (character
code -1) or not (default False).
noMetricsCorrections (Boolean)
Specify whether xmbdfed does metrics corrections or not
(default False).
padCharacterCells (Boolean)
Specify whether character-cell glyphs should be padded to cell
geometry (default False).
skipBlankGlyphPages (Boolean)
Specify whether xmbdfed skips blank pages or not (default
True).
fontPointSize (Cardinal)
Sets default point size.
fontHorizontalResolution (Cardinal)
Sets default horizontal resolution.
fontVerticalResolution (Cardinal)
Sets default vertical resolution.
fontResolution (Cardinal)
Sets both default horizontal and vertical resolutions.
fontSpacing (String)
Sets the default font spacing ("p", "m", or "c")
SEE ALSO
xfed(1), bdftopcf(1), bdftosnf(1)
Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF) Specification, Application Note
5005, Adobe System Inc, 1993
X Logical Font Description, X Consortium
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ross Patterson for his HBF code.
der Mouse for his "getbdf" code.
K. Carothers and A. Korobka for their "fnt2bdf" code in Wine.
Mike Stroyan <mike_stroyan@fc.hp.com> for patches.
Primoz Peterlin <primoz.peterlin@biofiz.mf.uni-lj.si> for this manual
page.
Danny Backx <u27113@kb.be> for the LessTif Imakefile.
Donald Page <donaldp@sco.com> for patches.
Michal Szymanski <msz@sirius.astrouw.edu.pl> for problem reports.
Werner Lemberg <a7971428@unet.univie.ac.at> for problem reports.
William F. Maton <wmaton@enterprise.ic.gc.ca> for problem reports.
Ivan Nejgebauer <ian@uns.ns.ac.yu> for problem reports.
Solofo <solofo@mpi-sb.mpg.de> for problem reports.
Dave Bodenstab <imdave@mcs.net> for patches.
W. Chao <wchao@HRZ.Uni-Bielefeld.DE> for Makefile changes and problem
report.
Andreas Reuter <ar205@bonzo.geowiss.nat.tu-bs.de> for problem reports.
Leonard Dickens <leonard@saul.hipgraphics.com> for IRIX 6.3 Makefile
changes.
Markus Kuhn <Markus.Kuhn@cl.cam.ac.uk> for suggestions.
Jim Knoble <jmknoble@pobox.com> for dialog geometry fixes.
Darren Stuart Embry <dsembr01@ox.slug.louisville.edu> for HP/UX 10.20
X11R6 Makefile additions.
Vladimir Volovich <vvv@vvv.vsu.ru> for pointing out something I forgot
to test.
Ben Fry <fry@media.mit.edu> for IRIX 6.5.2 variables for the Makefile.
J.H.M. Dassen (Ray) <jdassen@debian.org> for bug fixes.
Robert Brady <rwb197@ecs.soton.ac.uk> for pointing out a problem.
Stefan Monnier <monnier@cs.yale.edu> for a bug report.
Humphrey Clerx <humphrey.clerx@eurocontrol.be> for a bug report.
Rudolf Cejka <cejkar@dcse.fee.vutbr.cz> for bug fixes and a
suggestion.
Baruch Even <baruch@ev-en.org> for a bug fix.
AUTHOR
Mark Leisher
Computing Research Lab
New Mexico State University
Email: mleisher@crl.nmsu.edu
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