Re: [ft-devel] ttfautohint: How to install

[Werner LEMBERG]

>> Mhmm.  Up to now I've *never* seen a font rendered with FreeType
>> which shows such a large deviation from the Windows font engine.  I
>> believe that FreeType's output is quite trustworthy.
> 
> heh. Really?  Depends what you mean by 'large deviation' i guess.  I
> only ever seem to see differences between Windows font rendering and
> the other OS's :)

Interesting.  Could you give some examples?  Are those problems
related to FreeType?

>> Maybe there are problems with my bytecode.
> 
> Well - your bytecode seems to work fine for hinting under Freetype,
> but not under Windows GDI.

Actually, I've found a problem:

> You should probably look at the newest screenshots at
> http://code.newtypography.co.uk I tested Ubuntu Font & Droid Serif
> with the Windows' 'system font viewer' on XP and Win7, both with
> GDI-Cleartype.  Some very glitchy stuff happens with the ttfauto
> hinted fonts at larger sizes - 36pts on Ubuntu Font, 48pts on Droid
> Serif.  I have tested and replicated those glitches on different
> PC's so they are for real! :)

Using ftview, I see problems with FreeType also: The baseline is
ragged.  And indeed, I've done an addition instead of a subtraction in
the bytecode, making the computation of blue overshoot values
incorrect.  This is fixed now in the git repository; please update and
regenerate your test files!  Maybe this change is sufficient to
improve the rendering with Windows GDI also.

> Must do some full waterfall tests to see what else is happening at
> other sizes.  More testers and more eyes would be good too.

Indeed!  This is another reason why your messages should be sent to te
ft-devel list.

> The rendering glitches seem to be specific to the GDI-Cleartype
> rendering, and absent (as far as i can see) from the new (FireFox4 &
> IE9) DirectWrite-Cleartype rendering.

Well, please report whether the current git gives better results.


    Werner