Ink Traps and Pals | Hacker News Reader

Ink Traps and Pals

tosche.net

84 pointsmatthberg9 comments

A similar type of "pre-emphasis" technique is used in modern semiconductor fabrication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_proximity_correction

Fascinating! I liked the main article since it acts as a reminder that we have to make accommodations for the imperfection of our technology (which I consider to be an interesting perspective given the digital age of pixel perfection). Yet I think your linked process emphasizes that idea even better, since pre-emphasis seems more consistently relevant, while letterform adaptations for printing are becoming less important the more digital we get.

We still do tricks like sub-pixel rendering.

and maybe a few years ago we played with display signals:

https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/tech-history/silicon-rev...

Similar things are done in ceramics as well as casting to account for material changes during firing or glazing. Projection through a linear or non-linear transform to arrive at a desired outcome. Anytime you have feedback this solution will arise.

Great article. Goes to show that just about any field of endeavor is fractally complex. Also a reminder that boundaries we create between fields are just optional conveniences: you'd want to think about typefaces as a separate thing from the medium in which they're used - except sometimes you get better results if you consider the specifics of the medium and the process.

Hmm, now I want a font renderer that does a physical simulation of ink.

The font built for AR/VR legibility is fascinating too.

That idea reminds me of the chemistry simulations of filmulator (yet likely much less complicated). If you make something be sure to share it on HN, I'd be curious to see!

https://filmulator.org/

https://github.com/CarVac/filmulator-gui/wiki/Basic-guide-to...

https://github.com/CarVac/filmulator-gui/blob/master/filmula...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25885760

This kinds of things came up when I was looking into wood block printing as a hobby. https://www.twitch.tv/japaneseprintmaking/videos

This is super interesting, a topic i have never considered but one I run into all the time while using a pen plotter to render algo art. I am now inspired to see how I can algorithmically incorporate inktraps while generating my plot files.

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