1 Version 1.5 (2016-Jan-24)
2 -------------------------
4 * Support for Khmer, Myanmar, and Bengali scripts.
6 * Improved Devanagari hinting.
8 * ttfautohintGUI can now be compiled with Qt5.
10 * Bug fix: Too many delta control instructions for a single glyph caused
11 a bytecode stack overflow, making the MS rasterizer ignore all hinting
12 instructions for this glyph.
14 * Bug fix: Don't create multiple `TTFA` tables in font.
16 * Bug fix: Under certain circumstances, glyph indices used in Indic features
17 were incorrectly assigned to the default script.
20 Version 1.4.1 (2015-Oct-17)
21 ---------------------------
23 * A bug in handling control instruction files could cause severe glyph
24 shape distortions of accent-like glyphs. All users should update.
27 Version 1.4 (2015-Oct-04)
28 -------------------------
30 * Support for Thai and Lao scripts.
32 * Support for the Arabic script.
34 * Better support for scripts that contain superscript-like and
35 subscript-like glyphs, e.g., the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
37 * Accents and other `non-base' glyphs are now hinted without snapping to
40 * A new control instruction syntax form was added to adjust the mapping
41 between glyphs and styles. Right now, its usage is quite limited; a
42 forthcoming version will give much more flexibility.
44 * The `touch` keyword in a control instructions file was buggy: If used for
45 a point\ `P` at a ppem value\ `s`, it sometimes led to unwanted movements
46 of\ `P` for ppem values unequal to\ `s`, thus causing outline distortions.
49 Version 1.3 (2015-Jan-06)
50 -------------------------
52 * Keywords in control instruction files can be more verbose to increase
53 readability. You can now use `left`, `right`, `nodir`, `point`, `touch`,
54 `xshift`, and `yshift` for `l`, `r`, `n`, `p`, `t, `x`, and `y`,
57 * A new control instruction keyword `touch` was added to apply delta
58 instructions before the final IUP bytecode commands, also `touching' the
59 affected points (to use the TrueType instructions terminology). Such
60 deltas *do* work even with ClearType if applied to the non-ClearType
63 * Support for the Telugu script.
65 * The amount of information about ttfautohint and its parameters that gets
66 added to the `name` table by default has been reduced. A new option
67 `--detailed-info` restores the previous behaviour.
69 * ttfautohintGUI crashed if not used with a control instruction file.
71 * ttfautohintGUI now correctly switches to a horizontal two-column layout if
72 the standard one-column layout would exceed the screen height.
74 * A new option `--family-suffix` makes it possible to append a suffix to a
75 font's family name in the `name` table. This can be useful during the
76 development process: It helps the operating system to simultaneously
77 display several instances of a font that are processed with different
78 ttfautohint parameters.
80 * The new library option `info-post-callback` helps in processing data from
84 Version 1.2 (2014-Oct-06)
85 -------------------------
87 * It is now possible to control the hinting process at a very low level
88 using a 'control instructions' file. Right now, two modes are supported:
90 - Adding segments and changing segment directions.
92 - Applying delta exceptions. Note that this doesn't really work in
95 Please see the documentation for a description and a small tutorial.
97 In the command-line front-end, use option `--control-file` to load such a
100 * Support for input file watching in ttfautohintGUI: If the 'Watch Input
101 File' box is checked, the program automatically regenerates the output
102 file as soon as the input font or control instructions file gets modified.
104 The idea is to dock ttfautohintGUI to your favourite font and text editor
105 instead of adding a cheap text editor to ttfautohintGUI itself.
107 * With the new option `--fallback-stem-width` it is now possible to set a
108 default stem width for all scripts that lack proper standard characters in
111 * Add alias `--adjust-subglyphs` for option `--pre-hinting` to better
112 describe its functionality. The short form `-p` stays unchanged.
114 * New option `--ttfa-table` to add an SFNT table `TTFA` to the output font,
115 containing an ASCII dump of all used ttfautohint parameters (including
116 control instructions). Right now, this is mainly for archiving purposes.
117 Forthcoming versions of ttfautohint will be able to re-use this data if a
118 font gets re-processed.
120 * A harmless buglet was fixed that made the `glyf` table too large by one
121 byte under some circumstances.
123 * A bug fix taken from FreeType, correcting a crash for unusual outlines.
125 * Better handling of TTC files.
127 * New library options `error-callback` and `error-callback-data` for
128 improved diagnostics. [No change in the front-ends except better error
131 * Many other, minor fixes and improvements.
134 Version 1.1 (2014-May-05)
135 -------------------------
137 * Support for the Devanagari script.
139 * Bug fixes in the computation of strong stem widths. GDI hinting now gives
140 much more consistent results.
142 * Better recognition of script coverage: ttfautohint now properly scans
143 composite glyphs to cover components also.
145 * Improved glyph shape analysis: Non-flat local extrema are now recognized
146 more reliably, and stem detection works better.
149 Version 1.00 (2014-Mar-20)
150 --------------------------
152 * Much less memory consumption while handling fonts with complicated glyphs.
154 * Option `-s` was partially broken.
157 Version 1.00rc1 (2014-Feb-07)
158 -----------------------------
160 * OpenType feature support. ttfautohint now uses the HarfBuzz library to
161 analyze data from the `GSUB` table. This allows the hinting of glyphs
162 that don't have an entry in a font's `cmap` table, for example
163 superscripts or small caps.
165 Related to this, the new option `--default-script` controls the default
166 (fallback) script used for OpenType features.
168 * More than a single standard character is used. For example, the 'latin'
169 script uses characters 'o', 'O', and digit '0'. This improves the hinting
170 of fonts (and features) that have only a partial coverage of a script's
171 character repertoire.
173 * Much better GDI ClearType hinting in the range 30-80ppem (approx.),
174 avoiding overly flat tops and bottoms of round glyphs.
176 * Better handling of non-square pixels (this is, horizontal and vertical
177 resolutions differ) in the created TrueType bytecode.
180 Version 0.97 (2013-Nov-09)
181 --------------------------
183 * Improved script support. Besides Cyrillic and Greek, which are now
184 handled separately from Latin, ttfautohint can handle Hebrew.
186 * Option `-f` now takes a parameter to specify the fallback script. The
187 corresponding long option name has been renamed from `--latin-fallback` to
190 * Work around a bug in display environments that use FreeType 2.5.0 and
191 earlier for rendering: Sometimes, the 'strong' stem width routine was used
192 for DW ClearType (this is, subpixel hinting in FreeType is enabled) even
193 if 'smooth' was selected while generating the font with ttfautohint.
196 Version 0.96 (2013-Aug-06)
197 --------------------------
199 * Option `--components` has been replaced with `--composites`: By default,
200 the components of a composite glyph are now hinted separately, since tests
201 has shown that this gives good results in most cases. If this option is
202 set, however, the composite glyph itself gets hinted (and the hints of the
203 components are ignored).
205 An unfortunate side effect is that ttfautohint's option `-c` (which stays
206 as a shorthand for `--composites`) now does exactly the opposite as in
209 * Older versions of Monotype's 'iType' bytecode interpreter have a serious
210 bug: The DIV instruction rounds the result, while the correct operation is
211 truncation. This caused 'exploding characters' with fonts hinted by
212 ttfautohint. Since many printers contain this rasterizer without any
213 possibility to update to a non-buggy version, ttfautohint now contains
214 work-arounds to circumvent the problem.
216 * Better support for glyphs where some points have almost the same position
217 (for example glyph 'Oslash' in font 'Roboto-Thin').
219 * Better support for glyphs that use explicit 'on' points around round
223 Version 0.95 (2013-Mar-07)
224 --------------------------
226 * New option `--dehint` to strip off all hints without generating new hints.
227 This option is intended for testing purposes.
229 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility.
231 * Minor GUI improvements.
234 Version 0.94 (2012-Nov-29)
235 --------------------------
237 * New option `--windows-compatibility` that adds two artificial blue zones
238 at vertical positions given by 'usWinAscent' and 'usWinDescent'. This
239 helps ttfautohint's hinting algorithm reduce the possibility of clipping
240 if those two values are very tight.
242 * Implement option `--x-height-snapping-exceptions`, making ttfautohint
243 avoid x-height snapping for selected PPEM values. Useful in combination
244 with `--windows-compatibility`.
246 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility and robustness.
249 Version 0.93 (2012-Oct-09)
250 --------------------------
252 * New option `--components` to treat components of composite glyphs
253 separately. This greatly reduces the bytecode size.
255 I'm waiting for reports whether this option works for most fonts; in case
256 this is true I'm inverting the option, making it the default (and the old
259 * Full support of TTCs, this is, all subfonts get auto-hinted now.
261 * The upper limit of the `--increase-x-height` option has been removed.
263 * Drag-and-drop support in the GUI.
265 * The command-line version of ttfautohint now acts like a (Unix) filter,
266 this is, it accepts stdin and stdout as input and output, respectively.
268 * Less memory consumption.
271 Version 0.92 (2012-Aug-07)
272 --------------------------
274 * A serious bug in the created bytecode has been fixed, causing incorrect
278 Version 0.91 (2012-Jul-12)
279 --------------------------
281 * A new, 'strong' routine to handle stem widths and positions has been
282 added, to be selected with the `--strong-stem-width` command line option.
283 If it is active, stem widths and positions are snapped to the grid as much
284 as possible. This algorithm is useful for GDI ClearType support.
286 * A new command line option `--debug` (not available for ttfautohintGUI) to
287 print very detailed debugging information.
290 Version 0.9 (2012-Jun-06)
291 -------------------------
293 * The created bytecode has been reduced in size, making it approx. 20%
296 * New option `--symbol` to use standard stem height and width values instead
297 of using character 'o' (which may be missing). Use this option for symbol
298 fonts or math glyphs.
300 * More documentation (in text, HTML, and PDF format). It's still
303 * Option `--ignore-permissions` has been renamed to `--ignore-restrictions`.
304 The short form is still `-i`.
306 * Defaults for various parameters have been set to more sensible values:
308 - hinting-range-max: 50 (was 1000)
309 - hinting-limit: 200 (was 1000)
311 * Option `--increase-x-height` now has a mandatory argument (in the range
312 6-20 or value\ 0 to disable it, default value is 14).
315 Version 0.8 (2012-Mar-21)
316 -------------------------
318 * Implement option `-x` to increase the x height of the font for small PPEM
319 values by rounding up far more often then rounding down.
321 * Add option '`-G n`' to switch off hinting completely above value\ `n`.
323 * ttfautohint now appends version information and the used parameters to the
324 'Version' field(s) in the 'name' table. This can be suppressed with
328 Version 0.7 (2012-Feb-05)
329 -------------------------
331 * A GUI has been added, using the Qt framework. The binary is called
335 Version 0.6.1 (2012-Jan-02)
336 ---------------------------
338 * The improved handling of composite glyphs in 0.6 was buggy under certain
339 circumstances, making ttfautohint crash and FontValidator complain.
341 * Dropout handling has been activated.
344 Version 0.6 (2011-Dec-25)
345 -------------------------
347 * Improved handling of composite glyphs.
349 * Implement option `-p` to pre-hint glyphs with original hints before
350 conversion takes place.
352 * Don't add a `DSIG` table if there is none in the input font.
354 * Human-readable error messages instead of hexadecimal error codes.
356 * Better tests (both at runtime and compile time) to reject too old FreeType
360 Version 0.5 (2011-Nov-06)
361 -------------------------
363 * Rendering on iOS is now expected to give good results.
365 * No bad rendering at very large PPEM values.
368 Version 0.4 (2011-Oct-27)
369 -------------------------
371 * The bytecode has been changed to 'create' twilight points. This should
372 avoid rendering artifacts on some platforms.
375 Version 0.3 (2011-Sep-09)
376 -------------------------
378 * Fix font generation; sometimes the `glyf` table was one byte too short,
379 making the font invalid.
382 Version 0.2 (2011-Jul-19)
383 -------------------------
385 * Fix bytecode bugs that prevented correct rendering on some platforms.
388 Version 0.1 (2011-Jun-30)
389 -------------------------