Re: [Freetype] Autohinting?

[Vadim Plessky]

Hi, Chris!

On Saturday 27 July 2002 8:21 pm, Chris Carlen wrote:
|  Hi:
|
|  Hello, is anyone home?  :-)

Yep. Just returned (on Monday) from countryside, after great week end :-)

|
|  I just subscribed to the list to learn more about freetype.  I haven't
|  seen any traffic yet, so I wonder if there's really any activity here?
|
|  Ok, so here's my question:
|
|  I have recently become very interested in freetype because I am a Linux
|  desktop user, and a user of Star Office/OpenOffice as well.  However,
|  truetype fonts still look crummy in these programs, except for the
|  truetypes that are included with SO.  (There are no fonts included with
|  OO.)  I have learned that the freetype2 lib, with the bytecode
|  interpreter enabled can fix the problem, and can make the Linux font
|  presentation fully professional!  Trouble is, I live in the USA and
|  can't use the bytecode interpreter :'-(

I think real question with bytecode interpreter is not where your location is, 
but where you are going to distribute that product.
So, if you live in US and download RPM from Europe - it's ok. You do not 
violate any law.

Now about possible solutions to your problem.
The best is IMO to use *pre-hinted* PostScript Type1 fonts, with anti-aliasing 
enabled (and do not use auto-hinter, at least for Serif fonts)
I did several experiments with Arial and Times New Roman, converting them to 
PostScript Type1 and manually re-hinting them, and I can tell you that 
results are amaazing!

I have to admit here that I do not use StarOffice or OO - they are too slow 
for my computer (Pentium III/600) and WYSIWYG in those office suits is not 
very good.
But I regulary use PS Type1 fonts with KOffice/KWord, and they work great - 
both on screen and on printouts.

|
|  What's the likelyhood that the autohinting module of freetype can be
|  eventually made to render TT fonts without using the bytecode
|  interpreter, just as well as if the bytecodes were being used?
|
|  Thanks for comments!
|
|  P.S.  Man, nobody knows very much about fonts on the usual Linux
|  newsgroups!  General questions get answered, but get into hairy
|  specifics, and posts just don't get any replies.

I am not surprised here...
Font technologies, while perceived as something *given*, are not easy to 
understand and develop.
High-quality outlines are rare, and usually copyrighted by big typeface 
houses.  And hinting process adds another level of complexity to this puzzle.

As about auto-hinting - I think results achieved by current FreeType2 releases 
are very impressive. autohinting ofr SanSerif fonts works already fine, with 
some glitches for several Cyrillic glyphs (I have mentioned this on list)
What really need improvement is auto-hinting for Serif fonts.

Cheers,
-- 

Vadim Plessky
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