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jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	4	<TITLE>TTX Documentation</TITLE>
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jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	10	<H3>TTX -- From OpenType and TrueType to XML and Back</H3>
Just	4977da4	1999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000	[diff] [blame]	11
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	12	<A HREF="http://fonttools.sourceforge.net/">TTX</A> is a tool for manipulating TrueType and OpenType fonts. It is written in Python and has a BSD-style, open-source licence -- see LICENSE.txt. Among other things this means you can use it free of charge. It's hosted at <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/">sourceforge.net</A>.
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				14	<P>
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	15	TTX can dump TrueType and OpenType fonts to an XML-based text format, which is also called TTX. TTX files have a .ttx file extension.
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	16
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	17	<H3>How to use TTX</H3>
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	18
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	19	The TTX application works can be used in two ways, depending on what platform you run it on:
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	20
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	21	<!-- begin table list -->
				22	<!-- end table list -->
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	23
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	24	<ul>
				25	<li>As a command line tool (Windows/DOS, Unix, MacOSX)</li>
				26	<li>By dropping files onto the application (Windows, MacOS)</li>
				27	</ul>
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Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	29	<P>
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	30	TTX detects what kind of files it is fed: it will output a .ttx file when it sees a .ttf or .otf, and it will compile a .ttf or .otf when the input file is a .ttx file. By default, the output file is created in the same folder as the input file, and will have the same name as the input file but with a different extension. TTX will <I>never</I> overwrite existing files, but if neccesary will append a unique number to the output filename (before the extension), eg.: "Arial#1.ttf".
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Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	32	<P>
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	33	When using TTX from the command line there are a bunch of extra options, these are explained in the help text, as displayed when typing "ttx -h" at the command prompt. These additional options include:
				34	<ul>
				35	<li>specifying the folder where the output files are created</li>
				36	<li>specifying which tables to dump or which tables to exclude</li>
				37	<li>merging partial .ttx files with existing .ttf or .otf files</li>
				38	<li>listing brief table info isntead of dumping to .ttx</li>
				39	<li>splitting tables to separate .ttx files</li>
				40	<li>disabling TT instruction disassembly</li>
				41	</ul>
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	42
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	43	<H3>The TTX file format</H3>
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	44
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	45	The following tables are currently supported:
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	46
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	47	<P>
				48	Other tables are dumped as hexadecimal data.
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	49
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	50	<P>
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	51	TrueType fonts use glyph indices (GlyphID's) to refer to glyphs in most places.
				52	While this is fine in binary form, it is really hard to work with for
				53	humans. Therefore we use names instead.
				54
jvr	7de32f2	2002-05-12 12:48:14 +0000	[diff] [blame]	55	<P>The glyph names are either extracted from the 'CFF ' table or the 'post' table,
				56	or are derived from a Unicode 'cmap' table. In the latter case the Adobe Glyph List
				57	is used to calculate names based on Unicode values. If all of these mthods fail,
				58	names are invented based on GlyphID (eg. "glyph00142").
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				60	<P>It is possible that different glyphs use the same name. If this happens,
				61	we force the names to be unique by appending "#n" to the name (n being an
				62	integer number). The original names are being kept, so this has no influence
				63	on a "round tripped" font.
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	64
				65	<P>Because the order in which glyphs are stored inside the TT font is
jvr	7de32f2	2002-05-12 12:48:14 +0000	[diff] [blame]	66	important, we maintain an ordered list of glyph names in the font.
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	67
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	68
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	69	<H3>Development and feedback</H3>
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				71	TTX/FontTools development is ongoing, but often goes in spurts. Feature requests and bug reports are always welcome. The best place for these is currently the fonttools-discussion mailing list at SourceForge. This list is both for discussion TTX from an end-user perspective as well as TTX/FontTools development. Subscription info can be found if you follow the "Mailing Lists" link at the <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/fonttools/">SourceForge project page</A>. You can also email me directly at <A HREF="mailto:just@letterror.com">just@letterror.com</A>.
jvr	f5ccb35	2001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000	[diff] [blame]	72
				73	<P>
jvr	15174d0	2002-09-10 13:13:25 +0000	[diff] [blame^]	74	Let me take this opportunity to mention that if you have special needs (eg. custom font monipulators, dufferent table formats, etc.): I am available for contracting.
Just	4977da4	1999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000	[diff] [blame]	75
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	76	<H3>Thank-you's</H3>
				77
				78	(in alphabetical order)
				79	Erik van Blokland, Petr van Blokland, Jelle Bosma, Vincent Connare,
jvr	a12cf92	2002-09-10 11:55:09 +0000	[diff] [blame]	80	Simon Daniels, Hannes Famira, Greg Hitchcock, John Hudson, Jack Jansen,
				81	Antoine Leca, Werner Lemberg, Peter Lofting, Dave Opstad, Laurence Penney,
Just	e5ad9c9	2000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000	[diff] [blame]	82	Guido van Rossum, Adam Twardoch.
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				84	<H3>Copyrights</H3>
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jvr	ec8ca4b	2002-05-03 19:02:26 +0000	[diff] [blame]	86	FontTools/TTX -- 1999-2002 Just van Rossum; Letterror (just@letterror.com)
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