Re: FT2 design question

[David Turner]

Hi,

> Have you seen the FontWorks stuff? They have a technology they call "stroke
> based fonts". It seems a very elegant approach.
> 
> Some links:
> http://www.fontworks.com/index_gm_e.html
> http://www.macintouch.com/gaiji.html
> http://ww2.fontzone.com/zine/technology/impact/fz33598.html
> http://ww2.fontzone.com/zine/technology/impact/fz33579.html
> 

Not to make the FontWorks stuff look too trivial (it certainly isn't), but
a "stroke-based" CJK font format isn't something especially new. Actually,
I know that DynaLabs have created such a format (as well as a special chip
to render the fonts !) several years ago. Bitstream just announced its
"stroke-based" format lately, and we already know about the John Hobby
paper which covers a similar technique.

So, we now have about four different implementations. Hope nobody tried
to patent the whole idea ;-)

To me, stroke-based really means Metafonts, and it's nice to see that they
can be a lot better than regular outlines for some cases, even though I
really dislike the TeX implementation..

> >I suggest to lower the priority but not to drop implementation of MM.
> 
OK..

> I really wouldn't bother unless Adobe resurrects it. MM has been removed
> from the OT spec for good as far as I can tell. Do the other MM formats
> still matter?
>
We'll probably stick to the Type 1 MM format. As for supporting stroke-based
CJK or wathever, anyone is invited to design and experiment with a new driver
once FreeType 2 is released :-)

- David

> Just