These settings control what happens when you open a Type 1 font in TypeTool.
If the option Decompose all composite glyphs is on, TypeTool will
decompose all composite glyphs in the imported font. Composite glyphs have no unique outline themselves, but “borrow” outlines from other font glyphs. Good examples of composite glyphs are accented glyphs, like 'A', 'a' or 'n'. In each of these the composite glyph is composed of a basic glyph outline and an accent glyph outline from elsewhere in the font. TypeTool has all the necessary tools and operations to work with composite glyphs, so it is usually not necessary to decompose them on import. But if you want to significantly modify the glyphs and do not want to worry about
composites you can use this option. Of course you can always decompose or recompose the glyphs later using TypeTool commands.
The option Generate Unicode indexes for all glyphs should be usually
on. We strongly recommend keeping it that way if you plan to convert your Type 1 font to TrueType or OpenType format. TrueType and OpenType formats uses Unicode codepoints to access glyphs, so having the indexes set properly is paramount. However, if you do not plan to make a TrueType font you may switch this option off. As in the case of the first option, you can always make Unicode codepoints later.
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How TypeTool Makes Unicode codepoints
TypeTool uses a file STANDARD.NAM which is a mapping file that contains a list of PostScript names and corresponding Unicode codepoints.
When you import a Type 1 font and the option Generate Unicode indexes for all glyphs is on TypeTool takes the name of every imported glyph and looks for it in the names database. If it locates the name there it takes the associated Unicode codepoint and adds it to the glyph’s list of indexes. Note 1: The Names’ database has more than 4000 records and includes almost all known names for all European, Cyrillic, Arabic and Hebrew languages and for most Symbol and Dingbats fonts. Note 2: The names’ database is a text file that can be edited. You can add new records to this file at any time. Be very careful when you edit this file because incorrect records may make exported fonts unusable in some environments.
Note 3: It is possible to link more than one Unicode codepoint to a name. If TypeTool finds several indexes linked to the name, it will assign all the indexes to the glyph. (Refer to the Encoding Modes section for a description of the multi-Unicode codepointing method.) For glyph names preceded with “!” in the mapping file, TypeTool will generate Unicode codepoints based on these glyph names.
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Opening OpenType & TrueType
These settings control what happens when you open a TrueType / OpenType TT (.ttf) or an OpenType PS (.otf) font in TypeTool.
Scale the font to
1000 UPM Typically TrueType fonts have UPM (Units Per eM — the size of the grid on which all glyph coordinates are defined) equal to 2048. Type 1 fonts have UPM equal to 1000. You can change the UPM value at any time using the TypeTool commands, but if you turn this option on, UPM will be converted during the font import
Decompose
composites When enabled, all composite glyphs will be automatically decomposed. Refer to the previous section for more information about automatic decomposition. Note: When
TypeTool opens TrueType / OpenType TT fonts with rotated or slanted components, it will always decompose them
Store custom TrueType/ OpenType tables
Some TrueType fonts have additional tables that are not a part of the TrueType or OpenType specification. If you want to read these tables and have them written in an unchanged form into the generated font, enable this option.
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TrueType/OpenType TT
These settings only apply when you open a TrueType / OpenType TT (.ttf) font but not an OpenType PS (.otf) font.
Convert TrueType curves into PostScript curves
In TypeTool, you can work with PostScript Bézier curves or TrueType quadratic curves. If you open a TrueType / OpenType TT font and plan to generate the font in the same format, disable this option to keep the original outlines to avoid conversion errors. But if you plan to generate your font as a Type 1 or OpenType PS font, you can enable this option to convert the outlines on import. In any case, you can always convert the outlines in either direction at any time during editing
Store TrueType
native hinting Leave this option on if you want to store the original TrueType instructions and outlines. TypeTool will keep the stored TrueType data until you change the glyph’s outline or hints. If you open a TrueType font to rearrange glyphs or to add some new glyphs we highly recommend storing the original TrueType hinting data
Autohint font To prepare an imported TrueType font for Type 1 editing and export, you may ask TypeTool to automatically make Type 1 hints for all the glyphs. TypeTool will use the current Type 1 hinting settings and will make hints for TrueType or Type 1 outlines depending on the conversion setting (Convert TrueType curves into PostScript curves).