BitFont is a program which will create a bitmapped font from any font which can be drawn on your Macintosh. In addition to standard bitmapped fonts, it works with Adobe outline fonts when the Adobe Type Manager is installed, and works with TrueType™ fonts. BitFont will also tell you how QuickDraw will draw a given font (bitmapped, ATM, or TrueType) and can create a text file describing a font and all its characters.
The fonts created by BitFont are stored in a Font/DA Mover file, and contain a single FOND resource for the font family, and an NFNT resource for the font. Using the NFNT resource type allows any style modifications that were selected in BitFont to be preserved.
The menu items in BitFont are standard, except for the items in the File menu:
Open Resource File:
This items causes the selected file to be opened, and any font resources it contains included in BitFont's Font menu. As a result, fonts can be used with BitFont which have not been installed in your system.
Show Font Info:
This shows technical information about the currently selected font as obtained from the Font Manger and the font resource. It also indicates whether the font is bitmapped, ATM, or TrueType™.
Image Font:
This items causes all the characters in the font to be displayed on the screen, followed by information about bounding rectangle and maximum width BitMap computed for the font.
Create Data File:
This item creates a text file containing information about the currently selected font, followed by information for each character, including its bounding rectangle, width, and a grid showing its bit definition.
Create Bitmap Font:
This item creates a bitmapped font file using the currently selected font, point size, and style.
BitFont was written using MPW C version 3.2. It is in the public domain and may be freely distributed. The distribution files include the source code for BitFont.
Peter DiCamillo
Brown University Computing and Information Services
