SmartHint Technology for East Asian Fonts
A key Monotype Imaging innovation is SmartHint™ technology, a patent-pending technique applied to East Asian characters for ensuring high-quality display and readability at small text sizes. SmartHint technology allows for the efficient addition of hints, which are digital instructions applied manually by typographic specialists to improve display quality.
SmartHint technology enables intelligent scaling of East Asian characters. Characters are more uniform and regular at larger sizes. At smaller sizes, correct spatial relationships are preserved. Strokes are removed from characters, in some cases, without changing the meaning of characters. Without SmartHint technology, spaces between strokes can disappear, making characters look blotted.
Note: The graphic illustrates a magnified representation of how
SmartHint technology works. The top example shows East Asian
characters rendered without the use of SmartHint technology.
Click here for a detailed PDF that includes a sample of our Japanese SmartHint font.
SmartHint technology also retains the benefit of scalability. Embedded bitmaps are no longer needed to ensure high-quality display at small sizes. Multiple stored versions of bitmaps are also not needed as a way to support multiple text sizes. Anti-aliasing effects may also be applied – something not possible with bitmaps – to soften jagged effects around curves and edges to improve on-screen display quality.
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