1 Version 1.4 (2015-Oct-04)
2 -------------------------
4 * Support for Thai and Lao scripts.
6 * Support for the Arabic script.
8 * Better support for scripts that contain superscript-like and
9 subscript-like glyphs, e.g., the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
11 * Accents and other `non-base' glyphs are now hinted without snapping to
14 * A new control instruction syntax form was added to adjust the mapping
15 between glyphs and styles. Right now, its usage is quite limited; a
16 forthcoming version will give much more flexibility.
18 * The `touch` keyword in a delta instructions file was buggy: If used for a
19 point\ `P` at a ppem value\ `s`, it sometimes led to unwanted movements
20 of\ `P` for ppem values unequal to\ `s`, thus causing outline distortions.
23 Version 1.3 (2015-Jan-06)
24 -------------------------
26 * Keywords in control instruction files can be more verbose to increase
27 readability. You can now use `left`, `right`, `nodir`, `point`, `touch`,
28 `xshift`, and `yshift` for `l`, `r`, `n`, `p`, `t, `x`, and `y`,
31 * A new control instruction keyword `touch` was added to apply delta
32 instructions before the final IUP bytecode commands, also `touching' the
33 affected points (to use the TrueType instructions terminology). Such
34 deltas *do* work even with ClearType if applied to the non-ClearType
37 * Support for the Telugu script.
39 * The amount of information about ttfautohint and its parameters that gets
40 added to the `name` table by default has been reduced. A new option
41 `--detailed-info` restores the previous behaviour.
43 * ttfautohintGUI crashed if not used with a control instruction file.
45 * ttfautohintGUI now correctly switches to a horizontal two-column layout if
46 the standard one-column layout would exceed the screen height.
48 * A new option `--family-suffix` makes it possible to append a suffix to a
49 font's family name in the `name` table. This can be useful during the
50 development process: It helps the operating system to simultaneously
51 display several instances of a font that are processed with different
52 ttfautohint parameters.
54 * The new library option `info-post-callback` helps in processing data from
58 Version 1.2 (2014-Oct-06)
59 -------------------------
61 * It is now possible to control the hinting process at a very low level
62 using a 'control instructions' file. Right now, two modes are supported:
64 - Adding segments and changing segment directions.
66 - Applying delta exceptions. Note that this doesn't really work in
69 Please see the documentation for a description and a small tutorial.
71 In the command-line front-end, use option `--control-file` to load such a
74 * Support for input file watching in ttfautohintGUI: If the 'Watch Input
75 File' box is checked, the program automatically regenerates the output
76 file as soon as the input font or control instructions file gets modified.
78 The idea is to dock ttfautohintGUI to your favourite font and text editor
79 instead of adding a cheap text editor to ttfautohintGUI itself.
81 * With the new option `--fallback-stem-width` it is now possible to set a
82 default stem width for all scripts that lack proper standard characters in
85 * Add alias `--adjust-subglyphs` for option `--pre-hinting` to better
86 describe its functionality. The short form `-p` stays unchanged.
88 * New option `--ttfa-table` to add an SFNT table `TTFA` to the output font,
89 containing an ASCII dump of all used ttfautohint parameters (including
90 control instructions). Right now, this is mainly for archiving purposes.
91 Forthcoming versions of ttfautohint will be able to re-use this data if a
92 font gets re-processed.
94 * A harmless buglet was fixed that made the `glyf` table too large by one
95 byte under some circumstances.
97 * A bug fix taken from FreeType, correcting a crash for unusual outlines.
99 * Better handling of TTC files.
101 * New library options `error-callback` and `error-callback-data` for
102 improved diagnostics. [No change in the front-ends except better error
105 * Many other, minor fixes and improvements.
108 Version 1.1 (2014-May-05)
109 -------------------------
111 * Support for the Devanagari script.
113 * Bug fixes in the computation of strong stem widths. GDI hinting now gives
114 much more consistent results.
116 * Better recognition of script coverage: ttfautohint now properly scans
117 composite glyphs to cover components also.
119 * Improved glyph shape analysis: Non-flat local extrema are now recognized
120 more reliably, and stem detection works better.
123 Version 1.00 (2014-Mar-20)
124 --------------------------
126 * Much less memory consumption while handling fonts with complicated glyphs.
128 * Option `-s` was partially broken.
131 Version 1.00rc1 (2014-Feb-07)
132 -----------------------------
134 * OpenType feature support. ttfautohint now uses the HarfBuzz library to
135 analyze data from the `GSUB` table. This allows the hinting of glyphs
136 that don't have an entry in a font's `cmap` table, for example
137 superscripts or small caps.
139 Related to this, the new option `--default-script` controls the default
140 (fallback) script used for OpenType features.
142 * More than a single standard character is used. For example, the 'latin'
143 script uses characters 'o', 'O', and digit '0'. This improves the hinting
144 of fonts (and features) that have only a partial coverage of a script's
145 character repertoire.
147 * Much better GDI ClearType hinting in the range 30-80ppem (approx.),
148 avoiding overly flat tops and bottoms of round glyphs.
150 * Better handling of non-square pixels (this is, horizontal and vertical
151 resolutions differ) in the created TrueType bytecode.
154 Version 0.97 (2013-Nov-09)
155 --------------------------
157 * Improved script support. Besides Cyrillic and Greek, which are now
158 handled separately from Latin, ttfautohint can handle Hebrew.
160 * Option `-f` now takes a parameter to specify the fallback script. The
161 corresponding long option name has been renamed from `--latin-fallback` to
164 * Work around a bug in display environments that use FreeType 2.5.0 and
165 earlier for rendering: Sometimes, the 'strong' stem width routine was used
166 for DW ClearType (this is, subpixel hinting in FreeType is enabled) even
167 if 'smooth' was selected while generating the font with ttfautohint.
170 Version 0.96 (2013-Aug-06)
171 --------------------------
173 * Option `--components` has been replaced with `--composites`: By default,
174 the components of a composite glyph are now hinted separately, since tests
175 has shown that this gives good results in most cases. If this option is
176 set, however, the composite glyph itself gets hinted (and the hints of the
177 components are ignored).
179 An unfortunate side effect is that ttfautohint's option `-c` (which stays
180 as a shorthand for `--composites`) now does exactly the opposite as in
183 * Older versions of Monotype's 'iType' bytecode interpreter have a serious
184 bug: The DIV instruction rounds the result, while the correct operation is
185 truncation. This caused 'exploding characters' with fonts hinted by
186 ttfautohint. Since many printers contain this rasterizer without any
187 possibility to update to a non-buggy version, ttfautohint now contains
188 work-arounds to circumvent the problem.
190 * Better support for glyphs where some points have almost the same position
191 (for example glyph 'Oslash' in font 'Roboto-Thin').
193 * Better support for glyphs that use explicit 'on' points around round
197 Version 0.95 (2013-Mar-07)
198 --------------------------
200 * New option `--dehint` to strip off all hints without generating new hints.
201 This option is intended for testing purposes.
203 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility.
205 * Minor GUI improvements.
208 Version 0.94 (2012-Nov-29)
209 --------------------------
211 * New option `--windows-compatibility` that adds two artificial blue zones
212 at vertical positions given by 'usWinAscent' and 'usWinDescent'. This
213 helps ttfautohint's hinting algorithm reduce the possibility of clipping
214 if those two values are very tight.
216 * Implement option `--x-height-snapping-exceptions`, making ttfautohint
217 avoid x-height snapping for selected PPEM values. Useful in combination
218 with `--windows-compatibility`.
220 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility and robustness.
223 Version 0.93 (2012-Oct-09)
224 --------------------------
226 * New option `--components` to treat components of composite glyphs
227 separately. This greatly reduces the bytecode size.
229 I'm waiting for reports whether this option works for most fonts; in case
230 this is true I'm inverting the option, making it the default (and the old
233 * Full support of TTCs, this is, all subfonts get auto-hinted now.
235 * The upper limit of the `--increase-x-height` option has been removed.
237 * Drag-and-drop support in the GUI.
239 * The command-line version of ttfautohint now acts like a (Unix) filter,
240 this is, it accepts stdin and stdout as input and output, respectively.
242 * Less memory consumption.
245 Version 0.92 (2012-Aug-07)
246 --------------------------
248 * A serious bug in the created bytecode has been fixed, causing incorrect
252 Version 0.91 (2012-Jul-12)
253 --------------------------
255 * A new, 'strong' routine to handle stem widths and positions has been
256 added, to be selected with the `--strong-stem-width` command line option.
257 If it is active, stem widths and positions are snapped to the grid as much
258 as possible. This algorithm is useful for GDI ClearType support.
260 * A new command line option `--debug` (not available for ttfautohintGUI) to
261 print very detailed debugging information.
264 Version 0.9 (2012-Jun-06)
265 -------------------------
267 * The created bytecode has been reduced in size, making it approx. 20%
270 * New option `--symbol` to use standard stem height and width values instead
271 of using character 'o' (which may be missing). Use this option for symbol
272 fonts or math glyphs.
274 * More documentation (in text, HTML, and PDF format). It's still
277 * Option `--ignore-permissions` has been renamed to `--ignore-restrictions`.
278 The short form is still `-i`.
280 * Defaults for various parameters have been set to more sensible values:
282 - hinting-range-max: 50 (was 1000)
283 - hinting-limit: 200 (was 1000)
285 * Option `--increase-x-height` now has a mandatory argument (in the range
286 6-20 or value\ 0 to disable it, default value is 14).
289 Version 0.8 (2012-Mar-21)
290 -------------------------
292 * Implement option `-x` to increase the x height of the font for small PPEM
293 values by rounding up far more often then rounding down.
295 * Add option '`-G n`' to switch off hinting completely above value\ `n`.
297 * ttfautohint now appends version information and the used parameters to the
298 'Version' field(s) in the 'name' table. This can be suppressed with
302 Version 0.7 (2012-Feb-05)
303 -------------------------
305 * A GUI has been added, using the Qt framework. The binary is called
309 Version 0.6.1 (2012-Jan-02)
310 ---------------------------
312 * The improved handling of composite glyphs in 0.6 was buggy under certain
313 circumstances, making ttfautohint crash and FontValidator complain.
315 * Dropout handling has been activated.
318 Version 0.6 (2011-Dec-25)
319 -------------------------
321 * Improved handling of composite glyphs.
323 * Implement option `-p` to pre-hint glyphs with original hints before
324 conversion takes place.
326 * Don't add a `DSIG` table if there is none in the input font.
328 * Human-readable error messages instead of hexadecimal error codes.
330 * Better tests (both at runtime and compile time) to reject too old FreeType
334 Version 0.5 (2011-Nov-06)
335 -------------------------
337 * Rendering on iOS is now expected to give good results.
339 * No bad rendering at very large PPEM values.
342 Version 0.4 (2011-Oct-27)
343 -------------------------
345 * The bytecode has been changed to 'create' twilight points. This should
346 avoid rendering artifacts on some platforms.
349 Version 0.3 (2011-Sep-09)
350 -------------------------
352 * Fix font generation; sometimes the `glyf` table was one byte too short,
353 making the font invalid.
356 Version 0.2 (2011-Jul-19)
357 -------------------------
359 * Fix bytecode bugs that prevented correct rendering on some platforms.
362 Version 0.1 (2011-Jun-30)
363 -------------------------