Fontconfig - Feb 2007 - Can we get fonts as sharp as Windows?

I was comparing my fonts in Unix with those of Windows. I can''t have
fonts as sharp as Windows. Here''s the difference:

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/7598/fontsfj5.png

The one on top is Trebuchet MS in Windows and the one at the bottom is
the same font in Unix. Is it a fontconfig problem of a freetype
problem?  I''m using antialiasing, obviously.

It seems that pixels that generate the round effects are grey (for
Unix), while they are colorful (for Windows).

How can I solve it?
Thanks,

-- 
Charles A. Landemaine.

"Charles A. Landemaine" <landemaine@gmail.com> ????????:
> I was comparing my fonts in Unix with those of Windows. I can''t
have
> fonts as sharp as Windows. Here''s the difference:
>
> http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/7598/fontsfj5.png
>
> The one on top is Trebuchet MS in Windows and the one at the bottom is
> the same font in Unix. Is it a fontconfig problem of a freetype
> problem?  I''m using antialiasing, obviously.
>
> It seems that pixels that generate the round effects are grey (for
> Unix), while they are colorful (for Windows).
You may need to recompile your freetype2 and enable subpixel hinting.

Subpixel hinting is what makes the colours you see in your
screen shot.

It not compiled in by default because there may be patent problems.

-- 
Mike FABIAN   <mfabian@suse.de>   http://www.suse.de/~mfabian
?????????????
I ? Unicode

> You may need to recompile your freetype2 and enable subpixel hinting.
> Subpixel hinting is what makes the colours you see in your
> screen shot.
> It not compiled in by default because there may be patent problems.
Thanks Fabian, yes, I have freetype compiled with BCI and subpixel
hinting is turnt on (I''m the author of this tutorial:
http://osresources.com/3_13_en.html)
Any other idea?

-- 
Charles A. Landemaine.

"Charles A. Landemaine" <landemaine@gmail.com> ????????:
>> You may need to recompile your freetype2 and enable subpixel hinting.
>> Subpixel hinting is what makes the colours you see in your
>> screen shot.
>> It not compiled in by default because there may be patent problems.
>
> Thanks Fabian, yes, I have freetype compiled with BCI and subpixel
> hinting is turnt on
BCI (byte code interpreter) is not the same as subpixel hinting.

If you don''t have subpixel hinting compiled in, you cannot
get the coloured rendering.

subpixel hinting is not compiled in by default anymore since
freetype 2.3.0. Which version of freetype are you using?

-- 
Mike FABIAN   <mfabian@suse.de>   http://www.suse.de/~mfabian
?????????????
I ? Unicode

Thanks Mike. I tried to compile Freetype with subpixel hinting support
but I didn''t have this option. Any idea?

-- 
Charles A. Landemaine.

"Charles A. Landemaine" <landemaine@gmail.com> ????????:
> Thanks Mike. I tried to compile Freetype with subpixel hinting support
> but I didn''t have this option. Any idea?
So which version of freetype are you using? And which Linux
distribution?

If you have a freetype newer than 2.2.1, you need to define the option
FT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_RENDERING in freetype/config/ftoption.h
as shown in the patch below.

If you freetype is 2.2.1 or older, subpixel hinting is already
compiled in. In that case (old freetype), you just need to enable it
in your fontconfig setup.

diff -ru freetype-2.2.1.20061013.orig/include/freetype/config/ftoption.h
freetype-2.2.1.20061013/include/freetype/config/ftoption.h
--- freetype-2.2.1.20061013.orig/include/freetype/config/ftoption.h	2006-09-26
23:55:44.000000000 +0200
+++ freetype-2.2.1.20061013/include/freetype/config/ftoption.h	2006-10-19
14:12:48.000000000 +0200
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
   /* This is done to allow FreeType clients to run unmodified, forcing     */
   /* them to display normal gray-level anti-aliased glyphs.                */
   /*                                                                       */
-/* #define FT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_RENDERING */
+#define FT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_RENDERING
 
 
   /*************************************************************************/


-- 
Mike FABIAN   <mfabian@suse.de>   http://www.suse.de/~mfabian
?????????????
I ? Unicode

Thanks Mike, I do have Freetype 2.2.1 (on PC-BSD). And I also have
this in my .fonts.conf file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>

<!--  PC-BSD - Fonts configurations v.12012006-->

<!-- Make bold fonts less bold and more readable -->

<match target="font" >
	<test name="weight" compare="more">
		<int>100</int>
	</test>
	<edit mode="assign" name="weight" >
		<const>210</const>
	</edit>
</match>

<!-- Antialias any font by default with autohint enabled, hintfull -->

<match target="font" >
	<edit mode="assign" name="antialias" >
		<bool>true</bool>
	</edit>
	<edit mode="assign" name="autohint" >
		<bool>true</bool>
	</edit>
	<edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
		<const>hintfull</const>
	</edit>
</match>

<!-- Enable sub-pixel rendering-->

<match target="font" >
	<test name="rgba" qual="all" >
		<const>unknown</const>
	</test>
	<edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
		<const>rgb</const>
	</edit>
</match>

<!-- Fix deprecated monospace -->

<match target="pattern" name="family" >
	<test name="family" qual="any" >
		<string>fixed</string>
	</test>
	<edit mode="assign" name="family" >
		<string>monospace</string>
	</edit>
</match>

<match target="pattern" name="family" >
	<test name="family" qual="any" >
		<string>console</string>
	</test>
	<edit mode="assign" name="family" >
		<string>monospace</string>
	</edit>
</match>

<match target="pattern" name="family" >
	<test name="family" qual="any" >
		<string>mono</string>
	</test>
	<edit mode="assign" name="family" >
		<string>monospace</string>
	</edit>
</match>

<!--  Fixed spacing for monospace -->

<match target="pattern" name="family" >
	<test name="family" qual="any" >
		<string>monospace</string>
	</test>
	<edit mode="assign" name="spacing" >
		<int>10</int>
	</edit>
</match>

</fontconfig>


Is this correct?
Thanks again!

-- 
Charles A. Landemaine.

"Charles A. Landemaine" <landemaine@gmail.com> ????????:
> Thanks Mike, I do have Freetype 2.2.1 (on PC-BSD). And I also have
> this in my .fonts.conf file:
[...]
> <!-- Enable sub-pixel rendering-->
>
> <match target="font" >
> 	<test name="rgba" qual="all" >
> 		<const>unknown</const>
> 	</test>
> 	<edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
> 		<const>rgb</const>
> 	</edit>
> </match>
That looks OK. It switches on coloured rendering if your Xserver
cannot find out whether you have an LCD monitor or not.

If your Xserver can detect that you have an LCD monitor, "rgba" will
not be "unknown", it will already be "rgb" when the above
rule is
read. When you have an LCD monitor connected via a digital cable
to your computer, the Xserver usually can detect that it is a LCD
monitor. If you use an analog cable, it cannot.

To switch on subpixel hinting unconditionally you could just as well
use the simpler rule:

<match target="font" >
	<edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
		<const>rgb</const>
	</edit>
</match>

Using that, do you still get only grayscale anti-aliasing and no
colours? Is the value of rgba OK in the FC_DEBUG output?
It should be 1 if you set it to rgb, for example:

mfabian@magellan:~$ FC_DEBUG=4 xfd -fa sans 2>&1 | grep rgba
                    Edit rgba Assign rgb;
                    rgba: 1(i)(s)
                    rgba: 1(i)(s)
                    rgba: 1(i)(s)
                    rgba: 1(i)(s)
                    Edit rgba Assign rgb;
                    rgba: 1(i)(w)
                    rgba: 1(i)(w)
                    rgba: 1(i)(w)
                    rgba: 1(i)(w)
                    rgba: 1(i)(w)
                    rgba: 1(i)(w)
mfabian@magellan:~$

-- 
Mike FABIAN   <mfabian@suse.de>   http://www.suse.de/~mfabian
?????????????
I ? Unicode

Thanks Mike, yes, I have color pixels to create rounded corners now, I
recompiled Freetype2 actually but I see that if I remove this snippet,
I still have subpixel hinting. Strange. The only way to disable it is
to unset antialiasing. Is it possible that Freetype has subpixel
hinting by default when you use antialiasing? I checked out in
fonts.conf, local.conf and ~/.confs.conf, none of these files have a
declaration for rgb anymore, but it''s still working. Any idea?

-- 
Charles A. Landemaine.

"Charles A. Landemaine" <landemaine@gmail.com> ????????:
> Thanks Mike, yes, I have color pixels to create rounded corners now, I
> recompiled Freetype2 actually but I see that if I remove this snippet,
> I still have subpixel hinting. Strange. The only way to disable it is
> to unset antialiasing. Is it possible that Freetype has subpixel
> hinting by default when you use antialiasing? I checked out in
> fonts.conf, local.conf and ~/.confs.conf, none of these files have a
> declaration for rgb anymore, but it''s still working. Any idea?
Then you probably have an LCD screen which is connected with a digital
cable. In that case rgba=rbg is set automagically by default.

You can switch if of and use grayscale anti-aliasing setting
rgba=none, i.e. by using the following rule in your ~/.fonts.conf:

<match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
   <const>none</const>
  </edit>
 </match>

Just try what you like better. 

-- 
Mike FABIAN   <mfabian@suse.de>   http://www.suse.de/~mfabian
?????????????
I ? Unicode