"Noname Myname" <gcdart_squeak at rediffmail.com> wrote:



> In order to render indic script in SQUEAK , will it be nessacary to
> perform hinting ?
Hints can greatly improve the glyph appearance at small resolutions,
but most OpenType fonts can be used without hinting. All the
OpenType fonts for indic scripts that I am aware of can be used
without hinting. This is especially true for printing with high-resolution
printers.

The problem with indic scripts is not hinting, it is glyph shaping.
To render indic script, you have to read the GSUB and
GPOS tables of the font and to apply the shaping
rules of this tables. I think that this is doable in Squeak, but
it is not entirely easy. The font Gautami.fft (for Telugu) uses
chaining contextual substitution and that is indeed very
tricky. My own attempt to apply glyph
substitution rules to these strings:
  #(16r0939 16r093F 16r0928 16r094D 16r0926 16r0940) "hindi"
 #(16r0C24 16r0C46 16r0C32 16r0C41 16r0C17 16r0C41) "telugu"
 #(16r0BA4 16r0BAE 16r0BBF 16r0BB4 16r0BCD) "tamil"
is still incomplete, but I hope that I can makesome progres as soon
as I have a few free days.

> If so , Does Hinting involve any other aspect other than running the
> instructions in the open type File .?
Hinting is exactly what you said it is: Running the glyph instructions in
an open type file.


you may find these pages helpful:
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/developers/opentype/over.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/otfntdev/devanot/default.htm?fname=%20&f
size=
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/

Hope this helps,
Boris