Re: [Freetype] Windows font renderer driver

[Steve Hartwell]

On Dec 4, 2004, at 4:27 PM, Alexander R. Pruss wrote:
> I was wondering if there is any driver that lets Freetype when used on 
> Windows systems to use the Windows TTF renderer as its backend (the 
> way btx2 uses FontFusion).  This would let one get TTF hinting without 
> patent problems.

If I understand correctly, you want to use the FreeType 2 API for 
rendering glyph bitmaps and such, but have it use the native (in this 
case, MS-Windows) renderer do the work.

Not a bad idea, for some kinds of applications (like mine), but in 
general, FreeType 2 is an alternative to, not a proxy for, native OS 
font rendering.  Or as an OS implementation layer for glyph rendering; 
most OSes also support additional important text features such as line 
layout and measuring, which FreeType 2 does not (yet) support.

So if you're asking whether this work has already been done, no, I 
don't think so; but if you're volunteering to contribute an MS-Windows' 
implementation that works, I might be willing to contribute a MacOS X 
version.

Regards,

Steve Hartwell
http://stevehartwell.home.comcast.net/proj/fontinspector