[metapost] Problem with defaultscale

[Laurence Finston]

On Tue, 5 Aug 2008, Taco Hoekwater wrote:

> Yes, something like that. But as noted already: redefining math fonts 
> isn't a lot of fun, so you may decide not to bother (I certainly
> wouldn't).

Well, I admit that I don't usually bother, either.  However, it's not 
that difficult.  Here's what you need to change, if you care to try.
It's just a matter of choosing larger sizes, e.g., `\tenrm' instead of
`\sevenrm'. 

I'm pretty sure that you can just have TeX process it after it's read
`plain.fmt';  the definitions are just overwritten.  However, 
it's been many long years since I've actually done this, so it's quite
possible that I've overlooked something.

Laurence


%% Excerpt from Knuth's `plain.tex'.
%% Typical location:  `/usr/share/texmf/tex/plain/base/'

% We make @ signs act like letters, temporarily, to avoid conflict
% between user names and internal control sequences of plain format.
\catcode`@=11

\newdimen\z@ \z@=0pt % can be used both for 0pt and 0

% To make the plain macros more efficient in time and space,
% several constant values are declared here as control sequences.
% If they were changed, anything could happen; so they are private symbols.
\chardef\@ne=1
\chardef\tw@=2


\textfont0=\tenrm \scriptfont0=\sevenrm \scriptscriptfont0=\fiverm
\def\rm{\fam\z@\tenrm}
\textfont1=\teni \scriptfont1=\seveni \scriptscriptfont1=\fivei
\def\mit{\fam\@ne} \def\oldstyle{\fam\@ne\teni}
\textfont2=\tensy \scriptfont2=\sevensy \scriptscriptfont2=\fivesy
\def\cal{\fam\tw@}
\textfont3=\tenex \scriptfont3=\tenex \scriptscriptfont3=\tenex
\newfam\itfam \def\it{\fam\itfam\tenit} % \it is family 4
\textfont\itfam=\tenit
\newfam\slfam \def\sl{\fam\slfam\tensl} % \sl is family 5
\textfont\slfam=\tensl
\newfam\bffam \def\bf{\fam\bffam\tenbf} % \bf is family 6
\textfont\bffam=\tenbf \scriptfont\bffam=\sevenbf
\scriptscriptfont\bffam=\fivebf
\newfam\ttfam \def\tt{\fam\ttfam\tentt} % \tt is family 7
\textfont\ttfam=\tentt

\catcode`@=12 % at signs are no longer letters

On Tue, 5 Aug 2008, Taco Hoekwater wrote:

> 
> 
> Oliver Buerschaper wrote:
> >> Defaultscale only works for string labels, not for btex ... etex
> >> labels. But the good news is that scaling a btex ... etex label
> >> is really simple also:
> >>
> >>   label(btex Hallo $\sum$ etex scaled 6, origin);
> > 
> > One more thing perhaps … I just realized that this scales the text 
> > *after* TeX typeset it, doesn't it? Now how can I make TeX itself 
> > typeset the text at the right font size (especially math) such that I 
> > get the opticals right? Would I have to use a preamble like the one 
> > Laurence suggested?
> 
> Yes, something like that. But as noted already: redefining math fonts 
> isn't a lot of fun, so you may decide not to bother (I certainly
> wouldn't).
> 
> Best wishes,
> Taco
> --
> http://tug.org/metapost/
>