[comp.fonts] Need help with metafont

mok@coho.ee.ubc.ca (Winston Mok) (02/25/89)

I  have  a LaTeX document that uses fonts cmmi5 and cmmi7. I found that the
characters  are  too  thin when printed on our TI postscript laser printer.
The local sys. admin. suggested adding the lines 

	mag:=0.3;
	mode:=ti;

to the cmmi5.mf and cmmi7.mf files and run the program cmmf on them. He has
had  success in making other fonts more substantial this way. For the cmmi5
font, the head of my files looks like this: 

% Computer Modern Math Italic 5 point
if unknown cmbase: input cmbase fi

font_identifier:="CMMI"; font_size 5pt#;
mag:=0.3;
mode:=ti;

u#:=12.5/36pt#;      % unit width
etc.

For the cmmi7 :

% Computer Modern Math Italic 7 point
if unknown cmbase: input cmbase fi

font_identifier:="CMMI"; font_size 7pt#;
mag:=0.3;
mode:=ti;

u#:=15.5/36pt#;      % unit width
etc.

I got the following log files of cmmi5 :

This is METAFONT, C Version 1.3 (preloaded base=cmplain 89.1.14)  24 FEB 1989 16
:41
**cmmi5
(cmmi5.mf (/usr/TeX/lib/mf/inputs/mathit.mf (/usr/TeX/lib/mf/inputs/romanu.mf
> 0 NNE 2 ENE 4 NNE 5 (NNW WNW) WSW 6 8 SSW 10 (SSE ESE) ENE 12 (ESE SSE) SSW 0
 (WSW WNW NNW)
! Strange path (turning number is zero).
<to be read again>
                   ;
l.26   --diag_end(2l,1l,1,1,1r,0)--cycle;
                                          fi % left and right diagonals
? x
Font metrics written on cmmi5.tfm.

and for cmmi7, the log file is :

This is METAFONT, C Version 1.3 (preloaded base=cmplain 89.1.14)  24 FEB 1989 16:43
**cmmi7 
(cmmi7.mf (/usr/TeX/lib/mf/inputs/mathit.mf (/usr/TeX/lib/mf/inputs/romanu.mf
[65] [66] [67] [68] [69] [70] [71] [72] [73] [74] [75] [76] [77] [78] [79]
[80] [81] [82] [83] [84] [85] [86] [87] [88] [89] [90])
(/usr/TeX/lib/mf/inputs/itall.mf [97] [98] [99] [100] [101] [102] [103]
[104] [105] [106] [107] [108] [109] [110] [111] [112] [113] [114] [115]
[116] [117] [118] [119] [120] [121] [122]) (/usr/TeX/lib/mf/inputs/greeku.mf
[0] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]) (/usr/TeX/lib/mf/inputs/greekl.mf
[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]
[26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39])
(/usr/TeX/lib/mf/inputs/italms.mf [64] [96] [123] [124] [125] [126] [127])
(/usr/TeX/lib/mf/inputs/olddig.mf [48] [49]
> 0 WNW 1 NNW 2 (NNE) ENE 3 (ESE) SSE ESE 0 (ENE NNE NNW)
! Strange path (turning number is zero).
<to be read again> 
                   ;
bulb->...FFIX0)r-x(SUFFIX1)r,0}z(SUFFIX0)r--cycle;
                                                  path_.r:=z(SUFFIX2)l{0,y(S...
l.52 ...2l)=whatever[z1l,z2r]; x2l:=x; bulb(2,1,0)
                                                  ;  % bulb and arc
? x
Font metrics written on cmmi7.tfm.
Output written on cmmi7.90gf (101 characters, 3176 bytes).

Both  fonts compiles error free without my additions. Could someone tell me
how  to  recompile  these  font  so  that the lines are darker? None of the
people here know much about metafont. Thanks in advance. 
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                           |
|  Winston Mok              UBC VLSI Salmon Net       o    /\        /\     |
|                                               _____   o    \      /  \    |
|  mok@ee.ubc.ca                              \/    o\_o      \    /    \   | 
|  ...!ubc-vision!ee.ubc.ca!mok               /\_____/         \  /      \  |
|  mok@ee.ubc.cdn%ean.ubc.ca@RELAY.CSNET                        \/        \ |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

mrd@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Michael DeCorte) (02/28/89)

In article <144@fs1.ee.ubc.ca> mok@coho.ee.ubc.ca (Winston Mok) writes:

   I  have  a LaTeX document that uses fonts cmmi5 and cmmi7. I found that the
   characters  are  too  thin when printed on our TI postscript laser printer.
   The local sys. admin. suggested adding the lines 

           mag:=0.3;
           mode:=ti;

   to the cmmi5.mf and cmmi7.mf files and run the program cmmf on them.

This will work but probably not to great.  

[First a disclamer-I am making the assumtion that your TI laser has a
ricoh engine (write-write) and mode:=ti; does do all the stuff needed
for white write engines.  Finally I am assuming that your cmmf is not
made for white-write engines]

The TI is a write-white engine.  This causes headaches.  What you need
to do is grab a version of cmmf that has been built for write-white
engines.

You should write to Pierre MacKay, mackay@june.cs.washington.edu to
see what the newest stuff for ww eng is.


--

Michael DeCorte // (315)265-2439 // P.O. Box 652, Potsdam, NY 13676
Internet: mrd@sun.soe.clarkson.edu  // Bitnet:   mrd@clutx.bitnet        
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarkson Archive Server // commands = help, index, send, path
archive-server@sun.soe.clarkson.edu
archive-server%sun.soe.clarkson.edu@omnigate.bitnet
dumb1!dumb2!dumb3!smart!sun.soe.clarkson.edu!archive-server
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) (02/28/89)

|I  have  a LaTeX document that uses fonts cmmi5 and cmmi7. I found that the
|characters  are  too  thin when printed on our TI postscript laser printer.
|The local sys. admin. suggested adding the lines 
|
|	mag:=0.3;
|	mode:=ti;
|
|to the cmmi5.mf and cmmi7.mf files and run the program cmmf on them. He has
|had  success in making other fonts more substantial this way. For the cmmi5
|font, the head of my files looks like this: 

I think your sys admin is a little absent minded. What those statements
ask for is a mode of ti and 30% sized characters. Metafont has a hard
time rasterizing well at low resolutions.  Observe the resulting file
name:

|Output written on cmmi7.90gf (101 characters, 3176 bytes).

(The number before the gf is resolution * magnification.) Leave out the
mag=0.3.

Also the right place to specify the mode is in the command line, e.g.

% cmmf '\mode=ti; \mag=magstep0; \batchmode; input cmmi5'

You should never have to edit the CM font descriptions.  You may find
that other CM fonts don't look good on the WW engine.  In that case you
may have to rebuild the set. I don't know what settings ti corresponds
to at your site but there are suggested settings for WW engines. Your
site may already have some settings preloaded into Metafont.