Text fonts are files of shape definitions with shape numbers corresponding to an ASCII code for each character.
Text fonts must include a special shape number 0 that conveys information about the font itself. Codes 1 through 31 are for control characters, only one of which is used in a text font:
The line feed (LF) must drop down one line without drawing. This is used for repeated TEXT commands, to place succeeding lines below the first one.
*10,5,lf
2,8,(0,-10),0
You can modify the spacing of lines by adjusting the downward movement specified by the LF shape definition.
Text fonts must include a special shape number 0 that conveys information about the font itself. The format has the following syntax:
*0,4,font-nameabove,below,modes,0
The above value specifies the number of vector lengths above the baseline that the uppercase letters extend, and below indicates how far the lowercase letters descend below the baseline. The baseline is similar in concept to the lines on writing paper. These values define the basic character size and are used as scale factors for the height specified for the text object.
The modes byte should be 0 for a horizontally oriented font and 2 for a dual-orientation (horizontal or vertical) font. The special 00E (14) command code is honored only when modes is set to 2.
The standard fonts supplied with the program include a few additional characters required for dimensioning.
%%d Degree symbol (°)
%%p Plus/minus tolerance symbol (±)
%%c Circle diameter dimensioning symbol
You can use these and other %%nnn control sequences to specify a character.
*65,11,uca 024,043,04d,02c,2,047,1,040,2,02e,0
Because the shape name uca contains lowercase letters, the program does not save the name in memory. However, you can use the name for reference when editing the font definition file. In this example, uca stands for uppercase A.