Contents

• About Font Converter

• How to convert fonts

• Changing the destination directory

• Changing the font file name

• Adding a font

• Removing a font

• Converting

• Options


About FC 1.00

About Font Converter

The Scala Font Converter is a utility program for converting Windows™ TrueType™ fonts to the ScalaType bitmap font format.


How to convert fonts

Converting fonts

To convert one or more fonts from Windows TrueType format to ScalaType bitmap format, there are two basic steps:

1.	Use the Add command to create a list of the fonts you want to convert.

2.	Use the Convert command to convert the list of selected fonts.

Font directories and files

A directory is automatically created in SCALA\FONT for each typeface you convert. The name of the directory is the first 8 characters of the original typeface name. Within this directory is placed a file for each combination of size and style that you selected. The file name for each is the size of the font in pixels, followed by one or two letters indicating the font style, with a file-type extension of .FNT

For example, if you convert Times New Roman in 36 and 36 bold, you would have a directory in SCALA\FONT named TIMESNEW, containing the files 36.FNT and 36B.FNT. The typeface directory name and file name for each font file are shown in the Fonts to convert list box before you convert.

The new bitmap fonts are created in the SCALA\FONT directory by default.

You can change this directory if you want. However, it is strongly recommended that you not change the destination directory to something other than SCALA\FONTS, because this is the only directory from which fonts are available within Scala.


Change destination directory

Changing the destination directory

When you convert fonts, the new bitmap font directories are placed by default in the SCALA\FONT directory. The directory name is automatically set to the first 8 characters of the original typeface name.

The destination directory can be changed if necessary. You might want to do this to store little-used fonts in a different location until they are needed.

You can change only one font at a time.

1.	Double-click on the font in the font list, or select the font in the font list and press Return. You see the Select Font Path dialog.

2.	Choose a different drive or directory for the converted font. The directory must already exist. You can restore the default destination directory by clicking the Default button.

3.	Click OK to make the change, or Cancel to abort the change. In either case, the dialog closes and you see the typeface directory name in the Fonts to convert list box.

Remember that if you store typeface directories anywhere but in the default location (SCALA\FONT), they will not be accessible from within Scala.


Change fontfilename

Changing font file name

When you convert fonts, the new bitmap font names consist of the size of the font plus one or two letters indicating the font style, with a file-type extension of .FNT.

The name for the converted font can be changed if necessary. You can change only one font at a time.

1.	Double-click on the font in the font list, or select the font in the font list and press Return. You see the Select Font Path dialog.

2.	Enter a different name for the font file. You can restore the default name by clicking the Default button.

3.	Click OK to make the change, or Cancel to abort the change. In either case, the dialog closes and you see the font name in the Fonts to convert list box.


Add

In contrast to TrueType fonts, which contain all styles and sizes in one font file, a ScalaType bitmap font file contains only one style in one size. You must therefore specifically convert all the combinations that you want to have available in Scala.

To specify which font(s) to convert, you create a font list using the Add function:

Click the Add button, or choose Add from the Font menu. You see the Select Font dialog box.

For each font combination, select a Font, a Font Style, and a Size, then click the Add button in the dialog box to add the current selection to the font list. If you make a mistake, you can click Remove to remove a font from the list.

Changes to the destination directory and font file name can be done only from the list box in the main Font Converter window. (See Change destination directory and Change font file name.)


Remove

You can remove fonts you have added (but not converted) from the font list at any time.

Click the Remove button, or choose Remove from the Font menu.


Convert

After you have added one or more fonts in the font list, the final step is to convert these fonts.

Click the Convert button, or select Convert from the Font menu.

If you want to change the destination directory or the font name, you must do so from the main Font Converter window before you start to convert.


Options

You can choose Character Range from the Options menu to convert only a portion of the characters in a font. This saves storage space, and reduces loading times.

From:	This is the first character in the range of characters to be converted. Only the characters with ASCII values equal to or above this value will appear in the converted font. Default: 32 (the space character)
To:	This is the last character in the range of characters to be converted. Only the characters that have ASCII values equal to or below this value will be converted. Default: 255 (the ÿ character)
Undefined:	This specifies the ASCII value of the character to be used when undefined characters are used with this font. Undefined characters are those that are outside the character range (below the From value and above the To value) and do not appear in the converted font. The value for Undefined must be within the range of the converted characters. Default: 255 (the ÿ character)