From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-Id: <7270F240-E0F0-406D-8FB6-52072E23F455@fastmail.fm> From: Ethan Grammatikidis To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> In-Reply-To: <372505d10503442e41069b7ff901c512@ladd.quanstro.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v936) Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:53:13 +0000 References: <14ec7b181002152057p7128c56fre09bee50d96e28ae@mail.gmail.com> <14ec7b181002170844s17b0b37bve34e5e7fe36ec258@mail.gmail.com> <14ec7b181002251345n5cea8b70nd05962d8b6386732@mail.gmail.com> <14ec7b181002251536jc123c89vf5d5814144ddd9ac@mail.gmail.com> <372505d10503442e41069b7ff901c512@ladd.quanstro.net> Subject: Re: [9fans] problem using a vera font in rio Topicbox-Message-UUID: dc47fddc-ead5-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On 26 Feb 2010, at 02:43, erik quanstrom wrote: >> it could be a general solution - fontsrv just spits out >> ordinary font files that you could use on plan 9. > > ttf2subf is only about 150 lines of code, once liberated from > libfreetype. > >>> I am curious why the difference in rendering. in your screenshot >>> 't', >>> 'f' and 'g' look especially blurry. subpixel rendering? >> >> i don't know. it's not libfreetype. fontsrv asks the OS X >> graphics code to render each glyph into a box and then >> concatenates the boxes to make the subfont. >> all the text was noticeably lighter (more grey) >> than in your screen shot when i put them side by side. > > this is due to apple's algorithm for rendering glyphs. > with freetype, if you get a purely vertical or horizontal > stroke that is pixel-aligned, then you get no grey fuzz. > with apple's algorithm, you will get grey fuzz. overall, > the color density is more even with the apple algorithm, > but it results in many more grey pixels. you can use the > built-in screen magnifier to see this. I find Apple's easier to read, curiously enough. Perhaps those who don't could use fontsrv from an X11 build of p9p. > > i tend to like subpixel rendering, even the fuzz problem. > (i don't have an opinion on apple's algorithm. i don't have one.) > this is because i use fonts small enough that the fuzz is > hard to see and a non antialised font looks poor. the > font i use (/lib/font/bit/cyberbit/mod14.font) is about the > same pitch as /lib/font/bit/lucidasans/unicode.7.font. > > maybe i just need better contacts :-). > > - erik >