Re: [Devel] 'tension' in splines, Hermite Splines [Re: Rendering (by FreeType) and hinting of Latin small 'a']

[Rogier van Dalen]

Vadim Plessky wrote:

> | large amounts of delta hints, which are almost never needed when using an
> | anti-aliased rasteriser, in my experience.
> |
> |  Georgia, which is hinted far better than TNR, if you ask me, executes only
> |  99 to 103 instructions for "a".
>
> I like how you pronounce word "only" ;-)
Taking into account that  for "a" you do need to move at least 14 
points, and the character is changed at low point sizes, this is not 
much. It is not much more than you'd specify with PS hints or suchlike.

> |  As you say, the number of "operations" is the important thing. I am right
> |  now working on a compiler which takes something looking like C and
> | produces TT instructions. Without delta hints, I use about 20 to 40 lines
> | per glyph, which compile to about 10 times those amount of bytes in the
> | instructions. IMO, a few thousand lines per font can be coded.
>
> Ah, cool!
> When do you plan to release first Beta?
In a few weeks' time, I hope. As soon as the code produced is reasonable 
optimised and correct, and documented.

> |
> |  > (....)
> |  > Problem is that TrueType outlines have *too many* points, and this
> |  *decreases*
> |  > font quality in most cases.
> |
> |  This is true, also because of the conversion from Bezier splines. I'm not
> |  sure, however, this actually causes a lower font quality.
>
> Well, you will notice difference on professional typesetting machine 
> (2500dpi), I guess.
> I also found printouts in Times New Roman difficult to read, as its outlines 
> very artificially distorted to achieve best rendering results on screen.
O yes, of course. I thought you were talking about the hinting quality 
decreasing because having more points tends to make instructing more 
difficult. Presumably you should always use the original font for 
high-res printing, which is a totally different matter.

Bye,
Rogier