User Guide

FontLab 4
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Glyph Options
Glyph export options control how FontLab exports glyphs and the first four
options are related to the export of TrueType instructions:
Export hinted
TrueType fonts
FontLab will export TrueType instructions of any type
(original, manually edited or automatically generated)
only if this option is on. To create a completely unhinted
TrueType font switch off this option
Keep existing
TrueType instructions
If this option is on and the original TrueType instructions
were saved when the font was imported, then FontLab
will try to restore the original instructions where
possible. If you want to drop all the original TrueType
instructions, switch this option off.
Export visual TrueType
hints
FontLab will convert manually set visual TrueType
instructions only if this option is on.
Autohint unhinted
glyphs
If this option is on, FontLab will try to automatically
generate TrueType instructions for all unhinted glyphs.
How FontLab Autohints TrueType Fonts on Export
When autohinting is allowed and FontLab finds a glyph that has no TrueType hints of any kind
(original hints imported from the TrueType font file or manually edited visual hints) it begins to
make TrueType hints automatically. If this glyph has Type 1 hinting information, then FontLab
converts this information to visual TrueType instructions and converts the instructions to the
TrueType hinting code. If Type 1 hints are not present then FontLab automatically generates Type 1
hints as the first step, then converts the Type 1 hints into TrueType visual instructions and converts
the visual instructions into TrueType native instructions.
The next three options control glyph ordering, export of embedded
bitmaps and building an HDMX table:
Export embedded
bitmaps
If this option is on, FontLab will export embedded
bitmaps if they are present. If you don’t want to save
bitmaps in the font, switch this option off.
Do not reorder glyphs
If this option is off, FontLab will try to reorder glyphs to
match the Mac cmap encoding table (this is a
requirement of the specification). Activate this option to
prevent glyphs from reordering.
Copy HDMX data from
base to composite glyph
If this option is active, FontLab will copy HDMX data
(device and point-size specific font metrics) from the
base component of the composite glyph to the
composite glyph. Of course, this will happen only if their
metrics are the same.