User Guide

Hinting
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Click on button to open the popup menu which allows to selected
the rasterization method:
If Grayscale is selected, then FontLab will render the sample using font
anti-aliasing provided by the operating system. If you don’t want to see any
grays, choose Black-White.
To see a preview of special characters that are not accessible directly
from the keyboard use the usual FontLab rules for entering special
characters (i.e. enter the character name after a slash ‘/’ character - use two
slashes to enter a slash: “//”).
FontLab updates the preview panel every time you change something in
the hint replacement program. This may be a slow process on some
computers, but you can hide the panel; edit the hint replacement program;
and then switch the panel back on to see the results of your work.
How the Type 1 Preview Panel Works
For Type 1 preview FontLab uses Adobe Type Manager (ATM). When FontLab starts, it makes a
connection with ATM and prepares it for work. When the Type 1 preview panel is open and
something is changed in the character FontLab performs the following operations:
1. FontLab creates a very small Type 1 font that includes the empty (“.notdef”) character, the
current character and all characters from the sample string.
2. All characters in this font are mapped to codes starting at 20h (32) - the code of the space
character. The empty character is not mapped.
3. This font is exported in Type 1 font format and a PFM file is created for it. The font name is set
for this font in such a way as to avoid conflict with names of any of the installed fonts.
4. Font and metric files are saved in the Windows TEMP directory with a name beginning with
“~FL”. The font file has a “PFB” extension and the metrics file has a “PFM” extension.
5. The font is installed in ATM using ATM commands.
6. All previews are made with this font. Previews in the Preview panel can use grayscale output if it
is available in the system. To see preview without grayscale switch it off in the system Display
Properties panel.
7. When the font is no longer needed it is uninstalled and the font and metric files are removed.