[ft-devel] FT_Outline_Embolden() is Blurry

[Infinality]

In ftoutln.c there is a function called FT_Outline_Embolden().  This is 
used to create artificial emboldening, and is used when fontconfig 
requests emboldening for fonts that don't have a bold face available.  
Near the end of this function are these two lines, which actually 
perform the emboldening, in the x and y directions:

outline->points[n].x = v_cur.x + strength + in.x;
outline->points[n].y = v_cur.y + strength + in.y;

Emboldening in the y direction can happen in fractions of a pixel, and 
this ends up being only in the "up" direction.  The result of this is a 
blurry fringe on the tops of letters.  While this may be technically 
correct, I'm wondering if *anyone* actually thinks this looks nice.  In 
my patches, I disable the y direction completely, and the aesthetic 
improvements are dramatic, in my opinion.  Is this something that can be 
done in Freetype instead?  Or perhaps can the function be split into two?

See this link for a comparison.  The left side is with y-emboldening.  
The right is without y-emboldening.
http://www.infinality.net/files/y-emboldening.png


Thanks,
Erik