Export Profiles»

Trying to change the settings in your Preferences every time you want to output a specific font or family could be painful. With FontLab VI we introduced Profiles for font generation. Profiles are separate preferences for font export.

Each profile is a group of settings for exporting fonts, in a particular format. FontLab has a set of default profiles for all our standard output formats, and you can easily create new profiles.

You will find the Profiles under the File > Profiles menu:

Here are the default profiles available in the dialog:

  • OpenType TT (.ttf)
  • OpenType PS (.otf)
  • FontLab VI (.vfc)
  • FontLab VI JSON (.vfj)
  • UFO Package (.ufo)
  • FontLab Classic (.vfb)
  • PostScript Type 1 (.pfb)
  • DesignSpace+UFO (.designspace)
  • OpenType Variations (.ttf)
  • Web TT (.ttf, .eot, .woff)
  • Web PS (.woff2, .woff)

Note

Default profiles cannot be edited. To customize a profile, you will need to first create a new one.

Creating New Profiles»

To add new custom profile to the list, select any of the existing profiles and click on the Plus button. The selected profile will be duplicated and added to the list end.

Note

You cannot duplicate FontLab VI (.vfc) and FontLab VI JSON (.vfj) profiles. They cannot be changed since they are source font formats.

All options in new custom profiles are editable so the first step is to change the profile name:

  • click on the Profile name field at the top of the list of export options;
  • type the name of your new custom profile;
  • review and edit other export parameters if needed.

Editing Profiles»

In a custom profiles you can change any export option available. Here is the complete list:

Parameter Description
Profile name The name of the profile as it appears in the Export Font dialog
Profile subfolder The folder name where exported fonts appear if the Profile option in the Export Font dialog is turned on
Format General font file format - the set of general parameters inherent to all fonts of that format
Outlines
Curve Conversion Conversion between 2nd and 3rd order curves. Curves are always converted if the particular Format requires this
Conversion tolerance Tolerance to convert outline between 2nd and 3rd order curves
Correct contour direction Fix contour direction according to specification requirements. Historically the clockwise Type 1 (PostScript) contours are unfilled but TrueType contours are filled. But these requirements are obsolete nowadays
Remove Overlaps Merging of overlapping parts of contours is needed for traditional non-variable final font formats but is not needed for development or variable formats
Nodes at X extremes Turn this option on to place nodes at horizontal extreme coordinates. You may turn this off for italic or cursive designs
Nodes at Y extremes Turn this option on to place nodes at vertical extreme coordinates
Clean Up Removes unnecessary nodes. This option may be off if you always manually clean up your contours
Round Coordinates to UPM grid Defines how rounding of the contour points to the integer grid is performed. “Keep fractional nodes and handles” is the default value but rounding is always performed for TTF and VFB
Compression
TTF: use composites 4 options to define how composite and auto glyphs will be exported
OTF: use subroutines Use CFF subroutine compression to reduce file size of OTF fonts
UFO: compress as .ufoz Save UFO fles in compressed form (.ufoz)
Hinting
Use hinting Export hints, generate a hinted font. Should be off for very complex or rough designs
Autohint Automatically generate hints on export
Use x-direction hints Export vertical (x-direction) hints
Recalc zones Automatically recalculate safe top and bottom zones. If turned off existing zones are used
Recalc stems Automatically recalculate standard stems. If turned off existing defined stems are used
TrueType Hinting
TrueType hinter Hinting method: FontLab TTH, TTFAutohint or the one specified in FontInfo
FontLab TTH is a proprietary Fontlab hinting method. It can use manual visual hints, automatically generated hints or writes the imported low-level TT instructions
TTFAutohint is FreeType‘s auto-hinting system to generate TrueType hints. It always autohints the entire font. It can be customized in the Font Info Dialog Box
Use existing visual TTH commands Compiles visual hints (if defined) into low-level TT hinting instructions (FontLab TTH only)
Use imported TrueType native hinting Writes the imported low-level TT hinting instructions (FontLab TTH only)
Rebuild PS hints Automatically rebuilds PostScript hints before running FontLab TTH (FontLab TTH only)
Glyph organization
Add required glyphs Adds missing required glyphs: .notdef, NULL, CR, space
Sort glyphs in optimal order Applies the glyph ordering (physically reorders glyphs in the font) which is optimal for the Format
Glyph names Includes glyph names in the font. Optional in TrueType-based fonts
Features and Kerning
Export OpenType features Compiles features, exports stored features in binary form or exports without OT features at all
OpenType kerning Creates the “kern” feature, exports existing “kern” feature or exports without OT “kern” at all
OpenType mark attachment Creates “mark” and “mkmk” features, exports existing “mark” and “mkmk” features or exports without “mark” and “mkmk” features at all
Export legacy TrueType kerning Exports the plain “kern” table, which is used in old apps. FontLab expands class kerning to build plain pairs
Max legacy TrueType kerning pairs FontLab will write this number of pairs in the “kern” table. Extra pairs will be ignored
Export Web font files
WOFF2: modern browsers Exports WOFF2 font file
WOFF: most browsers Exports WOFF font file
EOT: for Internet Explorer (TT-only) Exports Microsoft EOT font file
Export color font files
OpenType+SVG: Adobe/Mozilla Exports color OpenType+SVG font
OpenType+COLR: Windows Exports color OpenType font with COLR+CPAL tables
OpenType+sbix: macOS & iOS Exports OpenType font with Apple’s sbix bitmap table
OpenType+CBDT: Android Exports OpenType font with CBDT bitmap table

Example»

Suppose you want to export a font in the OTF format, but without hints. You could of course remove the hints from the font… or make a new profile based on the default “OpenType PS (.otf)” profile:

  1. Open the Profiles dialog and select the “OpenType PS (.otf)” profile.
  2. Click on the Plus button to duplicate (clone) it.
  3. Select your new copy, and on the right change its name:


4. Scroll down through the export parameters to see the Hinting section.
5. Turn off Use hinting and set Autohint to “No”:


6. Click OK to save your new profile and close the dialog.

Activating/deactivating Profiles»

Profiles having a blue mark at the left are active which means they are immediately available in the Export Fonts As dialog box and can be used for export. You can turn off profiles which you do not want to see, or turn on new custom profiles to add them to the Export Fonts As dialog. Just click on the checkbox to the left of the profile name.