[MPlayer-DOCS] r23152 - in trunk: DOCS/man/en/mplayer.1 cfg-common.h libass/ass.h libass/ass_font.c libass/ass_font.h libass/ass_mp.c libass/ass_mp.h libass/ass_render.c libmpcodecs/vf_ass.c libmpcodecs/vf_vo.c libmpcodecs/vfcap.h libvo/vo_gl.c

[The Wanderer]

Guillaume Poirier wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Le 27 avr. 07 à 16:25, eugeni a écrit :
> 
>> Author: eugeni
>> Date: Fri Apr 27 16:25:36 2007
>> New Revision: 23152
>> 
>> Log:
>> Add -ass-hinting option for setting font hinting method.
>> It is possible to separately configure hinting for scaled and  
>> unscaled osd.
>> The default is native hinter for unscaled osd (only vo_gl at this  
>> point),
>> no hinting for vf_ass.
> 
> I have the greatest difficulties to understand what you meant here by
> "hinting". I know the word "hint" (like in the sense "I'll give you
> a hint") and I know the sense of "hinting" as "optimizing" but
> somehow doubt that this is what you mean here.
> 
> Could you explain to me what it means?

Until recently, I had virtually no idea what this not infrequently used
term meant in the context of fonts. Last week, I had occasion to read
the Wikipedia entry on PostScript, and found enough information on font
hinting to give me some clue.

By my recent/new understanding, font hinting is a matter of informing
some program (whether hardware or software) which parts of a character
are important to preserve when scaling up or down so that the character
will still look good afterwards. It's along the lines of "hint: you
should keep this part, those others aren't as important".

(Now, of course, very likely someone who knows better will either
correct me or at least expand on the point, and I'll wind up feeling
mildly foolish for having posted. Oh well...)

-- 
       The Wanderer

Warning: Simply because I argue an issue does not mean I agree with any
side of it.

Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.