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# NSGlyphGenerator

An object that performs the initial, nominal glyph generation phase in the layout process.

```
class NSGlyphGenerator
```

## Overview

The nominal glyph generation pass essentially generates one glyph per character; the typesetter may later make substitutions in the glyph stream, for example, changing an acute accent glyph followed by an “e” glyph into a single acute-accented “é” glyph.

[`NSGlyphGenerator`](/documentation/AppKit/NSGlyphGenerator) communicates via the [`NSGlyphStorage`](/documentation/AppKit/NSGlyphStorage) protocol. An example of a class that conforms to the protocol is [`NSLayoutManager`](/documentation/AppKit/NSLayoutManager).

## Topics

### Obtaining a glyph generator

[`shared`](/documentation/AppKit/NSGlyphGenerator/shared)

Returns a shared instance of `NSGlyphGenerator`.

### Generating glyphs

[`generateGlyphs(for:desiredNumberOfCharacters:glyphIndex:characterIndex:)`](/documentation/AppKit/NSGlyphGenerator/generateGlyphs(for:desiredNumberOfCharacters:glyphIndex:characterIndex:))

Generates glyphs for the specified glyph storage object (`NSLayoutManager` by default).


---

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