HP PCL/PJL reference (PCL 5 Printer Language) - Technical Reference Manual Part II

EN Using Fonts 23-15
Using Fonts
In HP-GL/2 mode, the printer uses three different types of fonts:
z Scalable fonts — Characters can be displayed at any size.
The characters are defined as a set of points on the outline of
a character and corresponding mathematical relationships
describing the interaction between these outline points. A
scalable outline character can be resized (using SI and SR),
rotated (using DI and DR), and distorted (using SL).
z Bitmap fonts — Characters defined as an array of dots in a
raster pattern. A bitmap character cannot be transformed
using SI, SR, or SL, but they can be used with all of the other
commands in this chapter (see the SB command). Bitmap
characters are always placed in an orthogonal direction (to
the PCL page) closest to the print direction established using
the DI and DR commands (see Figure 23-17).
z Stick and Arc fonts — Characters are drawn as a series of
vectors. The characters are defined as a set of endpoints. You
can resize (using SI or SR), rotate (using DI and DR), and distort
(using SL) Stick fonts. Stick fonts are defined on a dimensionless
grid. The main body of each character fits within a 32- by 32-unit
box, with descenders extending beneath. The Stick font is
fixed-spaced, and the Arc font is proportional.
Printing with Fixed-Spaced and Proportional
Fonts
Proportional fonts, by definition, use different amounts of horizontal
space for each letter. This variation produces some differences in the
definition of the character cell, and in the way some of the labeling
commands work with these fonts. These differences are described in
this section.