[ft-devel] ttfautohint: How to install
> but i am embarrassed to admit that i have built the library but have > not found how to use the 'autohint' function :) a quick howto, > please! One important thing I've forgotten to mention: You need the current git version of FreeType to test the ttfautohint library; the `configure' test for 2.4.4 in ttfautohint is a fake currently since 2.4.5 hasn't been released yet. I know, I know, I should have done this already weeks ago :-| In case you are running a Unix box (this includes recent Macs), please use the attached script which downloads and builds ttfautohint and FreeType in a subdirectory called `ttfautohint-build'. For convenience, the created `ttfautohint' binary is static and not dependent on other libraries. After successful compilation, you can find it in `ttfautohint-build/out/bin', and you can copy it to any other directory. If you run the script another time, it will update the git repositories instead of downloading, then do a complete build again. Calling `ttfautohint' is simple: ttfautohint for example ttfautohint Bevan.ttf Bevan-TA.ttf As mentioned earlier, there aren't options right now. Note that the program runs quite slow; adding a progress indicator is on my TODO list also. For building the binary you need the following packages installed on your system: git autoconf automake libtool gcc (or any other compiler) ttfautohint should build on Windows also since it is a simple command line program and doesn't use exotic stuff, however, I haven't found time yet to learn how to cross-compile (since I don't use Windows at all :-). Werner #!/bin/sh test -a ttfautohint-build || mkdir ttfautohint-build cd ttfautohint-build test -a out || mkdir out if test -a freetype2; then cd freetype2 git pull cd .. else git clone git://git.sv.nongnu.org/freetype/freetype2.git fi cd freetype2 sh autogen.sh ./configure --disable-shared \ --prefix=`pwd`/../out \ --without-zlib \ --without-bzip2 make make install cd .. if test -a ttfautohint; then cd ttfautohint git pull cd .. else git clone git://repo.or.cz/ttfautohint.git fi cd ttfautohint sh autogen.sh ./configure --with-freetype-config=`pwd`/../out/bin/freetype-config \ --prefix=`pwd`/../out make make install # eof ___ Freetype-devel mailing list Freetype-devel@nongnu.org https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freetype-devel
Re: [ft-devel] ttfautohint: How to install
I've carried out some simple tests using ttfautohint with the Ubuntu Font on Win XP & Win7, Chrome12 & Firefox4. The screenshots are at http://code.newtypography.co.uk/ Looks good so far, but i shall test more fonts, particularly a serif and a bold display face. I chose Ubuntu Font as i know it's well documented that Dalton Maag put a lot of professional hours into it's truetype instructions. thanks Werner! vern On 17 Jun 2011, at 08:31, Werner LEMBERG wrote: > >> but i am embarrassed to admit that i have built the library but have >> not found how to use the 'autohint' function :) a quick howto, >> please! > > One important thing I've forgotten to mention: You need the current > git version of FreeType to test the ttfautohint library; the > `configure' test for 2.4.4 in ttfautohint is a fake currently since > 2.4.5 hasn't been released yet. I know, I know, I should have done > this already weeks ago :-| > > In case you are running a Unix box (this includes recent Macs), please > use the attached script which downloads and builds ttfautohint and > FreeType in a subdirectory called `ttfautohint-build'. For > convenience, the created `ttfautohint' binary is static and not > dependent on other libraries. After successful compilation, you can > find it in `ttfautohint-build/out/bin', and you can copy it to any > other directory. > > If you run the script another time, it will update the git > repositories instead of downloading, then do a complete build again. > > Calling `ttfautohint' is simple: > > ttfautohint > > for example > > ttfautohint Bevan.ttf Bevan-TA.ttf > > As mentioned earlier, there aren't options right now. Note that the > program runs quite slow; adding a progress indicator is on my TODO > list also. ___ Freetype-devel mailing list Freetype-devel@nongnu.org https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freetype-devel
Re: [ft-devel] ttfautohint: How to install
Hi, On 17 June 2011 18:12, vernon adams wrote: > I've carried out some simple tests using ttfautohint with the Ubuntu Font on > Win XP & Win7, Chrome12 & Firefox4. > The screenshots are at http://code.newtypography.co.uk/ Awesome! Thanks Vernon! > Looks good so far, but i shall test more fonts, particularly a serif and a > bold display face. I chose Ubuntu Font as i know it's well documented that > Dalton Maag put a lot of professional hours into it's truetype instructions. Fascinating. The autohinter produces more compact text horizontally - there are often one more line in the Dalton-Maag hand/standard hinting, and at 12px the autohinter makes the x-height noticably higher. The i dot can be a bit weak compared to D-M, but perhaps they are making it a bit heavy. A Verdana comparison would be nice! :) -- Cheers Dave ___ Freetype-devel mailing list Freetype-devel@nongnu.org https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freetype-devel
Re: [ft-devel] ttfautohint: How to install
On 17 June 2011 19:43, Dave Crossland wrote: > A Verdana comparison would be nice! :) Yet, on consideration, impossible, due to proprietary licensing restrictions. What a pain! :) ___ Freetype-devel mailing list Freetype-devel@nongnu.org https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freetype-devel
Re: [ft-devel] ttfautohint: How to install
On 17 Jun 2011, at 19:43, Dave Crossland wrote: > Hi, > > On 17 June 2011 18:12, vernon adams wrote: >> I've carried out some simple tests using ttfautohint with the Ubuntu Font on >> Win XP & Win7, Chrome12 & Firefox4. >> The screenshots are at http://code.newtypography.co.uk/ > > Awesome! Thanks Vernon! More tests are needed, i'm doing some. They only need to be simple -e.g. 'ADHESIONALGURNFACE' & 'adhesionalgurnface' as waterfalls from 6px-44px, because as yet we don't know 100% if we won't get the classic wobbly overshoots, caps and x-heights at certain sizes. > >> Looks good so far, but i shall test more fonts, particularly a serif and a >> bold display face. I chose Ubuntu Font as i know it's well documented that >> Dalton Maag put a lot of professional hours into it's truetype instructions. > > Fascinating. The autohinter produces more compact text horizontally - > there are often one more line in the Dalton-Maag hand/standard > hinting, and at 12px the autohinter makes the x-height noticably > higher. The i dot can be a bit weak compared to D-M, but perhaps they > are making it a bit heavy. At 10px the autohinted version is easilly superior imho. The DirectWrite renderings in Firefox 4 are prob better too. Some of that will be the inclusion of a version1 gasp table replacing ye olde version 0 that Dalton Maag used but it's also a good sign that the font is ok hinted. The 'stretched' x-height could be a matter of taste, but personally i would like to see the autohinter err on the side of less stretching if possible. A gui to visibly tweak the pixel snap zones ;) > > A Verdana comparison would be nice! :) erm... am i allowed to alter the truetype tables in a Verdana font?? > > -- > Cheers > Dave ___ Freetype-devel mailing list Freetype-devel@nongnu.org https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freetype-devel
Re: [ft-devel] ttfautohint: How to install
I have now added some simple upper & lowercase waterfall tests to 'ttfautohint tests' at http://code.newtypography.co.uk overshoots, undershoots and heights seem to be snapping accurately across glyphs - no irregularities which usually seem a big issue with autohinters :) Of note is that at larger sizes (20px - 30px) the rendering breaks up on curves. Is it possible that the autohinter is not yet set to instruct those larger sizes? Overall it's looking good to me. There are specific issues at certain sizes, e.g uppercase bowls are flattening too abruptly at the cap-height, see 'O' at 15, 19, 21px, but i'm assuming these things can be tweaked away. Will run similar tests on The Droids and Bitstream Vera -vern On 17 Jun 2011, at 20:15, vernon adams wrote: > > On 17 Jun 2011, at 19:43, Dave Crossland wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> On 17 June 2011 18:12, vernon adams wrote: >>> I've carried out some simple tests using ttfautohint with the Ubuntu Font on >>> Win XP & Win7, Chrome12 & Firefox4. >>> The screenshots are at http://code.newtypography.co.uk/ >> >> Awesome! Thanks Vernon! > > > More tests are needed, i'm doing some. They only need to be simple -e.g. > 'ADHESIONALGURNFACE' & 'adhesionalgurnface' as waterfalls from 6px-44px, > because as yet we don't know 100% if we won't get the classic wobbly > overshoots, caps and x-heights at certain sizes. > >> >>> Looks good so far, but i shall test more fonts, particularly a serif and a >>> bold display face. I chose Ubuntu Font as i know it's well documented that >>> Dalton Maag put a lot of professional hours into it's truetype instructions. >> >> Fascinating. The autohinter produces more compact text horizontally - >> there are often one more line in the Dalton-Maag hand/standard >> hinting, and at 12px the autohinter makes the x-height noticably >> higher. The i dot can be a bit weak compared to D-M, but perhaps they >> are making it a bit heavy. > > At 10px the autohinted version is easilly superior imho. The DirectWrite > renderings in Firefox 4 are prob better too. Some of that will be the > inclusion of a version1 gasp table replacing ye olde version 0 that Dalton > Maag used but it's also a good sign that the font is ok hinted. > > The 'stretched' x-height could be a matter of taste, but personally i would > like to see the autohinter err on the side of less stretching if possible. A > gui to visibly tweak the pixel snap zones ;) ___ Freetype-devel mailing list Freetype-devel@nongnu.org https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freetype-devel
Re: [ft-devel] ttfautohint: How to install
Vern, > I have now added some simple upper & lowercase waterfall tests to > 'ttfautohint tests' at http://code.newtypography.co.uk thanks a lot for the tests and the test images! Please post a URL where I can download the Ubuntu font you've used. > Of note is that at larger sizes (20px - 30px) the rendering breaks up > on curves. Is it possible that the autohinter is not yet set to > instruct those larger sizes? What do you mean with `breaks up'? Please give more details what exactly you think is bad. The hinting range is set to 8ppem-1000ppem, BTW, so these sizes are covered. > Overall it's looking good to me. There are specific issues at > certain sizes, e.g uppercase bowls are flattening too abruptly at > the cap-height, see 'O' at 15, 19, 21px, but i'm assuming these > things can be tweaked away. Yes, this is what I've noted too. I'll look into it. Werner ___ Freetype-devel mailing list Freetype-devel@nongnu.org https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freetype-devel
Re: [ft-devel] ttfautohint: Milestone reached!
>> Finally, there is the problem of glyphs which can't be addressed >> with a cmap directly, like small caps which are activated by an >> OpenType feature. Similar to FreeType's autohinter, such glyphs >> don't get any special consideration and are treated by the default >> hinting module (in FreeType this is the `cjk' module currently, and >> in ttfautohint it can be either `dummy' or `latin', to be >> controlled by another yet-to-be-written configuration option :-). > > With HarfBuzz it's quite easy to list every glyph that can be > accessed through, say, the 'latn' GSUB table. I probably can > provide some API for such introspection. That may solve your > ttfautohint problem, but not FreeType's. Yes, this would be very helpful. For FreeType, there could be an interface to the autorhinter also, extending the table which defines the latin ranges. If I understand you correctly, there currently isn't a possibility to get such info from HarfBuzz easily (if at all)? Werner ___ Freetype-devel mailing list Freetype-devel@nongnu.org https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freetype-devel
Re: [ft-devel] ttfautohint: How to install
> The 'stretched' x-height could be a matter of taste, but personally > i would like to see the autohinter err on the side of less > stretching if possible. Hmm. I could add the ability to switch off x-size snapping, and I could also change the rounding rules to something similar the SROUND instruction offers. But IMHO the first option leaves a lot of fuzzy x-heights for various ppem values, and the second option just shifts the issue to different sizes. But maybe it makes it shift away from the `important' sizes... I'll add it to my TODO list. > A gui to visibly tweak the pixel snap zones ;) Well, *that* I won't provide, I think :-) However, I'll think about how to make this easily editable, for example, by providing a simple bytecode function which accepts a list of sizes where x-size snapping should be disabled. This list could be given as a command line option. Also added to my TODO list :-) Werner ___ Freetype-devel mailing list Freetype-devel@nongnu.org https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/freetype-devel
