FT2 and Ghostscript

[Francesco Zappa Nardelli]

Hello,

I'm working on integrating FT2 into Ghostscript graphics library.

In a patch soon avaliable, the FreeType rasterizer (both flavours are
working: monochrome and anti-aliased) fills a Type1 character path
interpreted and hinted by Ghostscript.  The results when rendering on
low resolution devices are quite impressive, especially when using the
monochrome rasterizer.

This makes me wonder about replacing the whole Type1 Ghostscript code
by FreeType (other formats might follow).  

DT>    - I have started rewriting the native Type 1 hinter, but
DT>      this will apparently need more work than I expected. I
DT>      now tend to think that it'd be better to work on the
DT>      auto-hinter instead, though I've not made up my mind.

I have performed several tests and currently I think that the hinting
provided by FreeType and by Ghostscript are comparable.  If the
hinting quality of FreeType will be uniformly better than what
Ghostscript now provides, I will be eager to let FreeType do all the
work related to font rendering.  As far as I have been able to see
until now, native hinting is essential for high-quality font
rendering at low resolution.

I am looking forward to learning about your plans.

Regards,

-francesco