Report Number: CS-TR-83-966
Institution: Stanford University, Department of Computer Science
Title: A formal approach to lettershape description for type design
Author: Ghosh, Pijush K.
Author: Bigelow, Charles A.
Date: May 1983
Abstract: This report is designed to explore some analytic means of
specifying lettershapes. Computer representation and analysis
of lettershape have made use of two diametrically different
approaches, one representing a shape by its boundary, the
other by its skeleton or medial axis. Generally speaking, the
boundary representation is conceptually simpler to the
designer, but the skeletal representation provides more
insight into the "piecedness" of the shape. Donald Knuth's
METAFONT is one of the sophisticated lettering design systems
which has basically adopted the medial axis approach.
Moreover, the METAFONT system has introduced the idea of
metafont-description of a letter, i.e., to give a rigorous
definition of the shape of a letter in such a way that many
styles are obtained from a single definition by changing only
a few user-defined parameters. That is why we have considered
the METAFONT system as our starting point and have shown how
we can arrive at the definition of a formal language for
specifying lettershapes. We have also introduced a simple
mathematical model for decomposing a letter into its
constituent elements.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/cs/tr/83/966/CS-TR-83-966.pdf