Re: [ft-devel] Autohinter as a front-end for the CFF hinting engine?

[Werner LEMBERG]

> What if the autohinter was reworked to be a front-end for the CFF
> grid-fitting machinery?

Yes, this is a long-term plan, together with using the CFF engine for
hinting Type 1 fonts (which is something I would like to have rather
soon).

> I have not looked closely at the source yet, but what would probably
> be necessary is first separating the CFF grid-fitter (along with
> stem darkening?) code into its' own module and rewiring the CFF
> module (and maybe the Type1 module?).

Sounds sensible.

> Reworking the autohinter is probably the biggest piece of work
> depending on how compatible the workflow of the autohinter and CFF
> engine is and how hard it is to add H/V/DStems at runtime and at
> what cost.

Well, feature analysis and hinting are already two different steps in
the auto-hinter, so I think it shouldn't be too expensive.


    Werner