

                           ------------------------                     
                                                                        
                                EASY FONTS v2.0                         
                                    for DOS                             
                                                                        
                           ------------------------                     




         1.  INTRODUCTION                                               
         2.  SOFTWARE LICENCE                                           
         3.  WARRANTY                                                   
         4.  USING EASY FONTS                                           
         4.1.  The command line                                         
         4.2.  The main window: characters definition method            
         4.3.  The main window: the buttons                             
         4.4.  The secondary window                                     
         5.  THE FONT IMAGE                                             
         5.1.  The "base line"                                          
         5.2.  The colours                                              
         6.  ABOUT THE CHR STANDARD                                     
         6.1.  Chars' dimensions                                        
         6.2.  The interspace                                           
         6.3.  The font header                                          
         6.4.  The font name                                            
         7.  REGISTERING EASY FONTS                                     
         7.1.  How to use your password                                 
         8.  THE WINDOWS VERSION OF EASY FONTS                          
         9.  CONTACTING THE AUTHOR                                      




      1.  INTRODUCTION                                                  
                                                                        
         Easy  Fonts is an utility for Borland programmers:  it  converts
      *ANY*  graphic  font (TrueType too) to the CHR format used  by  the
      Borland Graphic Interface (BGI).                                  
         How is it possible?  Does Easy Fonts know all font file formats?
      Certainly  not!   This problem has an easier  solution:  the  input
      required  by Easy Fonts is not the original font file but a  bitmap
      image  showing  all  the characters in the font.   You  can  easily
      create  this image using the program (or one of the programs)  that
      supports   the  font  you  want  to  convert  (for   example,   use
      Paint/Paintbrush for TrueType fonts).                             



      2.  SOFTWARE LICENCE                                              
                                                                        
         Easy  Fonts  is  shareware: it is not free but you  can  try  it
      freely  with no time limit.  The trial version of this  program  is
      called "unregistered" and has a restriction: it cannot insert  more
      than 15 chars in each font.                                       
         You  can supply fonts produced by the unregistered version  only
      with PD or freeware programs not containing advertisements; for any
      other  kind  of program, the registered version of  Easy  Fonts  is
      required (see section 7: "Registering Easy Fonts").               



      3.  WARRANTY                                                      
                                                                        
         The program is distributed as is. The author (Pino Navato) makes
      no  warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including  but  not
      limited   to  warranties  of  merchantability  or  fitness  for   a
      particular   purpose,   with   respect   to   this   software   and
      documentation.  In  no  event shall the author be  liable  for  any
      damages,  including  lost  profits,  lost  savings,  or  any  other
      incidental  or consequential damages arising out of the use  of  or
      the inability to use this program.                                



      4.  USING EASY FONTS                                              
                                                                        
      4.1.  The command line                                            
                                                                        
         The sintax is the following:                                   
                                                                        
                      EF [<FontImage>] [<FontFile>] [\v]                
                                                                        
         FontImage is the name of a  PCX file  showing the characters you
      want  to convert; FontFile is the name of an already  existent  CHR
      font  that you want to modify.  You can specify only the  PCX  name
      (if  you  want  to create a new font), or only the  font  name  (to
      modify  existing characters without adding new ones).   ".PCX"  and
      ".CHR"  extensions  are optional, but if you specify only  the  CHR
      file  name  you  have  to  specify  also  its  extension  to  avoid
      ambiguity.                                                        
         The  optional  parameter  /v  forces the use of  VGA  640x480x16
      mode instead of SVGA modes.                                       


      4.2. The main window: characters definition method                
                                                                        
         Let's  suppose,  for example, of running the  program  with  the
      following command line:                                           
                                                                        
                                 EF IMAGE.PCX                           
                                                                        
      Easy  Fonts  shows a presentation screen, then the PCX  image  and,
      finally, the "main window" containing:                            
      - a table containing the first 64 characters of the ASCII code;   
      - eight buttons.                                                  
      In  the table, defined chars are blue, undefined chars are red  (in
      this  case  all characters are red because we haven't  defined  any
      char yet).                                                        
         Now let's add to the font the "0" char.  First of all, click  on
      the  "0"  char in the table, then click on  "Define".   The  window
      disappears;  only  the  PCX image, containing  the  chars'  shapes,
      remains on the screen.  Now you have to draw a rectangle around the
      "0" char shape: press the left mouse key to fix the position of the
      first and then of the last corner of the rectangle.  All done!  The
      "0"  char  has been defined.  By pressing the right key,  the  main
      window appears again (now the "0" char is blue).                  
         It's also possible to define more chars sequentially: instead of
      pressing the right key, you may draw a new rectangle around the "1"
      shape, then around the "2", and so on.                            
         If you misplace the first corner simply press the right button.


      4.3.  The main window: the buttons                                
                                                                        
         "Define".   Press  this  button  to define  one  or  more  chars
      sequentially.                                                     
         ">>" and "<<".  By pressing these buttons you change the page of
      chars in the ASCII table.                                         
         "Undefine".  To delete a char from the font.                   
         "About".  This button shows some info about the program.       
         "View/Chg".   This  button  shows the  "secondary  window"  (see
      section 4.4).                                                     
         "Save".   To  save the font.  You have to  input  a  descriptive
      string (that will appear in the font header) and the font name (see
      also  sect.  6.3 and 6.4).  If the file already exists it  will  be
      overwritten without asking.                                       
         "Exit".  To exit from the program.                             


      4.4.  The secondary window                                        
                                                                        
         This window contains:                                          
      - some general info in the upper left corner;                     
      - a table of characters;                                          
      - eight buttons.                                                  
                                                                        
         The general info is:                                           
         "Chars in font".  Total number of defined chars.               
         "Org To Cap".  Max height (in pixels) of a char.               
         "Org  To  Bottom".   Minimum height (in  pixels)  of  descending
      chars.                                                            
         "Current Interspace".  See sect. 6.2.                          
                                                                        
         The buttons' functions are:                                    
         "Main".   Back to main window.                                 
         "Select  All" and "Unselect All".  Select/unselect  all  defined
      chars.   Selected chars are subject to the "Interspace" key  action
      (see below).  You can also select/unselect single chars by clicking
      on them in the table.                                             
         ">>" and "<<".  Change page in the table.                      
         "Interspace".  This button modifies the current interspace  (see
      sect. 6.2).  It also modifies the interspace of selected chars  (if
      any).                                                             
         "Show Font" and "Show String".  Try to guess!                  



      5.  THE FONT IMAGE                                                
                                                                        
         As already explained, the font to be converted must be  supplied
      to  the  program  in  the  form of  a  graphic  image  showing  the
      characters' shapes.  It must be a PCX image (other formats will  be
      added in the next releases).  It can have 2, 16 or 256 colours  and
      it  also  can be a SVGA image (Easy Fonts can work with  many  SVGA
      cards and it is VESA aware).  An example of font image is the  file
      EXAMPLE.PCX.                                                      
         Sometimes the image can appears with colours different from  the
      ones  shown  by  any PCX viewer: this happens  because  Easy  Fonts
      ignores the colour palette contained in the file.  Normally this is
      not  a  problem  with 16 colours images:  they  often  use  default
      palette.  Why Easy Fonts doesn't change default palette?  To  avoid
      of changing the colours of program's windows.                     


      5.1.  The "base line"                                             
                                                                        
         The chars in a font are of 3 different kinds:                  
      1)  Characters (as capital letters) that touch the line  but  don't
      descend under it.                                                 
      2) Characters (like apostrophe) that don't touch the line.        
      3) Descending characters.                                         
         When  the  program codifies a char, how can it  know  the  right
      position as regards the line?  The solution adopted is to draw this
      line,  that  is  to underline the chars with a  line  of  different
      colour (see EXAMPLE.PCX).                                         
         To  simplify your work, the base line is optional for  1st  kind
      chars (the most numerous ones).  The program searches for the  base
      line along the 4th column of pixels, this means that you haven't to
      draw  long lines: short lines starting from the left border of  the
      image are good (see EXAMPLE.PCX).                                 


      5.2.  The colours                                                 
                                                                        
         When the program codifies a char, how can it distinguish  char's
      colour  from line's colour and from background colour?   It'simple:
      it  considers  as background colour the pixel colour in  the  lower
      left corner of the image, and as base lines colour the colour of  a
      pixel next to the lower right corner.  This means that you have  to
      paint  a coloured rectangle in the lower right corner and to  leave
      empty the lower left corner (see EXAMPLE.PCX again).              



      6.  ABOUT THE CHR STANDARD                                        
                                                                        
      6.1.  Chars' dimensions                                           
                                                                        
         Chars' dimensions are limited as follows:                      
      1) origin to cap heigth: max 64 pixels;                           
      2) origin to bottom heigth: max 64 pixels;                        
      3) width: max 64 pixels, interspace included (see below).         


      6.2.  The interspace                                              
                                                                        
         The interspace is the space between two consecutive chars.  Each
      char  is coded with its own interspace; it appears on the right  of
      chars and increments (or decrements, if negative) their width.    
         The default interspace is 4 pixels; with a value of 0 you obtain
      tied chars (useful for script fonts).                             
         A  suggestion: define all chars without thinking to the spacing,
      then,  if  necessary, you can easily change the interspace  of  all
      defined chars using the "Interspace" key (see section 4.4).       


      6.3.  The font header                                             
                                                                        
         The  CHR  standard  allows you to insert a  description  at  the
      beginning of the font file.                                       
         Easy  Fonts produces a description made of 2 strings.   You  can
      input the first one in the dialog box that appears by pressing  the
      "Save"  button; the second one is added automatically and  contains
      the program name and the user name.                               


      6.4.  The font name                                               
                                                                        
         The  name of a CHR font is subject to a curious  limitation:  it
      must be exactly 4 chars long (don't ask me why!).                 



      7.  REGISTERING EASY FONTS                                        
                                                                        
         If  you like Easy Fonts, you can, for a fee of U.S. $49 obtain a
      "password" which is a license to run  Easy Fonts unimpeded.  You'll
      not receive a disk with a registered version since you already have
      the full program.   The password is calculated on the basis of your
      name (max 20 chars).  
	 If you purchase both DOS and Windows version of Easy Fonts (they
      are complementary, see section 8), a 50% discount will  be  applied
      to the price of the DOS version.                                
         For up to date info  about accepted  payment methods  visit  the
      Easy Fonts home page (the address is at the end of this file).    


      7.1.  How to use your password                                    
                                                                        
         To  input your password, run Easy Fonts with the only  parameter
      /R  .   The program will require your name  and  the  corresponding
      password.  This informations will  be saved in a file called EF.KEY
      that will be created in the same directory of EF.EXE.             



      8.  THE WINDOWS VERSION OF EASY FONTS                             
                                                                        
         A   Windows   version   of  Easy   Fonts   is   also   available
      (EFONTW21.ZIP).   Actually it hasn't the same features of  the  DOS
      one: it can convert only TrueType fonts but the conversion is fully
      automatic and instantaneous.                                      



      9.  CONTACTING THE AUTHOR                                         
                                                                        
         Feedback   is  always  welcome,  even  if  it  comes   from   an
      unregistered   user.    For   your  suggestions   and   any   other
      communication use the addresses reported below; if they come out to
      be obsolete, try to search for "Pino Navato" by  Altavista, Yahoo!,
      or Google.                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
      E-mail:  pnavato@poboxes.com                                      
                                                                        
      WWW:     www.poboxes.com/pnavato/                                 
               (currently forwards to                                   
                 www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/4421/ )                
                                                                        
      Mail:    Pino Navato                                              
               Via Pittore, 164                                         
               80046 S.Giorgio a Cremano (NA)                           
               ITALY                                                    




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