Font Attributes

Max objects have a consistent set of attributes that specify font information.

• The font name (fontname attribute) is a symbol holding the complete name of the font, including variations such as condensed, bold, or italic. For example, Arial Narrow Italic is an example of a font name. You choose a font name with the font panel or font menu.
• The font size (fontsize attribute) is a floating-point number specifying the size of the font in points. The actual amount of space a font consumes (in pixels) is vaguely, but not exactly, related to the point size. Different fonts at the same point size will not be the same height in pixels. For example, Helvetica is usually "larger" at the same size than Times.
• The font face is an additional modification on the font. regular means no modification will occur. The other choices, bold, italic, and bold italic will have platform-specific effects. On Windows, the font face may in some cases select a different version of a font. On the Mac, it is generally an algorithmic transformation applied to an existing font. On the Mac, it is preferable to use an italic version of a font selected in the font panel than to use the font face attribute.