Re: [Freetype] Autohinting?

[Vadim Plessky]

On Thursday 01 August 2002 5:51 am, Chris Carlen wrote:
|
|  > 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.
|
|  Hmm, I'm not sure I undertstand how this can be true?  I thought that if
|  you are simply in the US, and use the patented technology, then it
|  violates the patent.  I undertstand that on a practical level, it is
|  very improbable that anyone using the bytecode interpreter is going to
|  get a knock on the door from the font police, but for someone planning
|  to deploy Linux desktop computers in a corporate environment where

It's really different things - to use Bytecode interpreter 
(a) at home or 
(b) in corporate environment.
I guess, in variant (b) you either need to purchase the license, or disable 
interpreter.

|  things have to be by the book, then it might be very serious to know for
|  sure what can be done or not.
|
|  I wonder if anyone knows anything about what Apple would charge for a
|  "personal bytecode interpreter license."

I guess someone mentioned $50000 per license.
So, deploying PostScript-based (Type1 fonts) environment would be cheaper, 
IMO. You can even afford to buy some Adobe *original* fonts, if amount of 
fonts supplied with Adobe Type Manager is not enough for you.
Note that you can make substitutions in /etc/XftConfig and fake environment 
that you have Arial and Times New Roman while in fact you don't have them, 
and use, say, URW Nimbus Sans and Times from Adobe.


|
|  > 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!
|
|  That is very interesting.  How does one manually re-hint their Type 1
|  fonts?  Do you need expensive Adobe software?  Is such software
|  available for Linux?  I imagine you are getting a grid on your screen
|  with the glyph shown with big pixels, and you can move the dots around
|  where you want then write that modified font to a file?

ok, let me answer step-by-step.
There is no need to use espensive software.
I use *old*, *very old* version of FontLab (http://www.fontlab.com)
They have ver.4.0 available at a moment, it costs around $400.
This proigram is available for MS Windows, and, may be, for Macintosh.
It's not available for Linux.

Anyway, I know that original development of that program was in Borland 
Pascal/Delphi, as Kylix is availble for Linux nowdays - I think it's possible 
to build a version for Linux.
You may want to contact author(s) of FontLab and ask them for a Linux version, 
compiled with Kylix.

As about hinting:
When you import, you may turn on an option to auto-hint imported outline 
(editor uses its own format for internal storage)
As long as import process is over, you go to FontInfo dialog, and 
check/correct global PS hints (incl. HStem and VStem arrays)
Than you check a whole font character by character, and:
* enhance outlines (remove unnecessay nodes, add nodes at extreme points, move 
some points, etc.)
* add missing hints
* remove unnecessary hints.
When all this is done, you export to PS Type1, and check with your favourite 
renderer.
It can be Linux/KDE/XFree86/KWord, like in my case, but also Adobe Acrobat 
Reader on Windows/Mac, or some other Adobe programs (InDesign) 

You don't edit fonts based on outlines using Grid-based editor (I mean, 
grid-based editor at pixel level, like some Icon Editor)

|
|  I had actually been wondering about this the other day, if a possible
|  way for Linux distributors to get away with shipping good looking fonts
|  in the US would be to use the truetype with embedded bitmaps, which I
|  suppose could be manually hinted.

Embedded bitmaps are different thing from hinted outlines :-)
For some outlines, like Chineese/Japaneese fonts, bitmaps are a must, as min. 
resolution for displaying Japaneese outlined font is about 170dpi, while most 
screens have only 100dpi resolution.
For Latin/Cyrillic fonts - you can achieve quite good results with hinting.
There is no need to built-in embedded bitmaps, IMO.

|
|  > 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.
|
|  Hmm, 600MHz should be fine.  My wife's computer is 600MHz P3 and it
|  works Ok.  Are you on Windows or Linux?  We are using Linux.

I am using Linux.
Startup time of OO is about 1 minute. After it, it's quite usable, but startup 
time of OO really sucks.
I have heard that even MS Office using CrossOver Office starts faster.
As I don't have  CrossOver Office, I can't confirm this.

|
|  > 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.
|
|  Intersting subject certainly.

Yes. :-)
And that's the way Adobe earns its money.
I have heard that about half (50%) of Adobe revenues is based on font 
licenses. That's more than $500 mln. USD per year.

|
|  Good day!
|
|  _____________________
|  Christopher R. Carlen
|  address@hidden
|  Suse 7.3 Linux 2.4.10
|

Cheers,
-- 

Vadim Plessky
http://kde2.newmail.ru  (English)
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