Re: Interested in Font Adjustment project idea for GsoC

[Werner LEMBERG]

Hello Craig,


welcome to FreeType!

> The project idea about making a capability database for the
> auto-hinter caught my eye.  I have a few questions about it though:
>
> - What will be the impact of a capabilities database from the
>   perspective of end users?  Particularly, consumers of the library
>   and font authors who want their fonts to look right on all sizes.

It would have a huge positive impact – just updating FreeType would
immediately improve the rendering of many fonts if 'autohinting' is
the predominant setting, or if the font doesn't contain hinting
instructions.

> - The examples used latin characters, but will this also aim to
>   improve font rendering on other scripts, like Chinese characters?

No.  There are completely different methods (like stroke removal or
stroke unification) to render CJK glyphs at smaller sizes.  Actually,
the best way to get legible small CJK stuff is to use hand-crafted
bitmaps.

> - In addition to reviewing the getting started guides and
>   auto-hinter documentation, are there any other sources that you
>   recommend I review to better familiarize myself with the problem
>   and its possible solutions?

Not really.  If you have specific question, simply ask :-)  Of course,
there are also typography forums like https://typedrawers.com, which
might help with general questions.


    Werner