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==============================================================================
qdtexvpl.doc for qdtexvpl 1.0            Copyright (c) 1992 by Eberhard Mattes
==============================================================================

qdtexvpl is a tool for quick & dirty creation of virtual fonts. You have to
create a TeX file which contains the TeX code to be put into the virtual font.
Run TeX on the file. Then, feed the DVI file into qdtexvpl, which creates a
VPL file. Use VPtoVF to create a TFM file and a VF file from the VPL file.

This is an example of an input file:

    %
    % ibmpc437.tex
    %
    % Some extended characters for cmr10
    %
    \font\f=cmr10
    \input qdtexvpl
    \texvpl{^^84}{\f\"a}
    \texvpl{^^94}{\f\"o}
    \texvpl{^^81}{\f\"u}
    \texvpl{^^8e}{\f\"A}
    \texvpl{^^99}{\f\"O}
    \texvpl{^^9a}{\f\"U}
    \texvpl{^^e1}{\f\ss}
    \bye

You have to define the fonts referenced by your virtual font. If a font
references itself, you have to run the complete process twice. TeX will
complain about a missing TFM file on the first pass, you can ignore that
warning.

\input qdtexvpl to load the \texvpl macro.

Then, use \texvpl to define how a character of the virtual font is to be
constructed. The first argument of \texvpl is the character to be defined, the
second argument contains the TeX commands to construct the character. You can
use any TeX commands, including rules and plain TeX commands. Don't forget to
switch to the font from which you want to take characters!

Your file should end with \bye.

Compile your file by calling TeX (usage of the plain format is recommended).
This requires qdtexvpl.tfm. If you don't want to move that file to \emtex\tfm,
add . to the TEXTFM environment variable.

Run qdtexvpl to convert the resulting DVI file into a VPL file. The calling
sequence of qdtexvpl is

    qdtexvpl -d<design_size> [-i<insert.pl>] <input.dvi> <output.vpl>

You have to replace <design_size> with the design size (pt) of your font. If
you want to copy characters of another fonts into your font (for instance, if
you want to complement a 7-bit font by characters in the range 128-255), use
the -i option followed by the name of the PL file for that font (created by
TFtoPL). The next argument is the name of the DVI file created by the previous
step, the last argument is the output file name. There are no default
extensions, you have to enter all the extensions! Example:

    qdtexvpl -d10.0 myfont.dvi myfont.vpl

Then, run VPtoVF to convert the VPL file into a TFM file and a VF file:

    vptovf myfont

If your virtual font references itself, you have to do all this once again,
starting with compiling the TeX file by running TeX.


Problems
--------

- qdtexvpl uses floating point math which is machine-dependent.

- I don't know whether the computations done by qdtexvpl are precise
  enough.

- Better use ^^X or ^^ff notation for characters with code > 127.


                    --- END OF QDTEXVPL.DOC ---