Reducing Memory Requirements

Every font comes with a table that is a collection of maximum possible (‘maxp’) values for the computer memory required by each glyph. As you hint the font, Visual TrueType automatically updates the ‘maxp’ table if the hinted glyph requires more memory. This is necessary so the rasterizer can display the glyph correctly.

Visual TrueType only keeps track of maximum values. If subsequent changes to the hinting reduce the amount of memory needed, Visual TrueType doesn’t update the ‘maxp’ table. As a result, by the time you finish hinting the font, some glyphs might need less than the maximum.

The final version of your font should require only as much memory as necessary. Before you save your font for the last time, you can have Visual TrueType recalculate values for the ‘maxp’ table based on the memory actually required by each glyph. The calculations take a while, depending on the font size and the complexity of the hinting, but they reduce the memory requirements for the font.

 

Be sure to recalculate the ‘maxp’ table before you prepare the font for shipping, which strips out private tables needed for this calculation (see “Preparing to Ship Your Font”).

To reduce the memory required by the font

1.       On the Tools menu, click Recalc ‘Maxp’ Table.