4 ms·

Parametric fonts go back to at least metafont. Pretty sure you can do all the transformations indicated on the page in 'native' metafont.

• theoh 9y ago
  The involvement of Metafont with parametric design doesn't necessarily mean that it's a sound typographic principle. As others have mentioned, professional font design is a business of total perfectionism and particularity: you can't really parameterize a font family in a totally satisfactory way (and italic is not in general just an oblique transformation of the standard characters). This parametric approach is most likely to work if used with a "curve-fitting" mentality to approximate and interpolate sets of hand-tuned characters, rather than a methodology that aims to describe the essence of a character parametrically (as is routine in architectural parametric design).
  • Ericson2314 9y ago
    This is like arguing linguistics is invalid because language is art.
    • theoh 9y ago
      Trust me, reducing a typeface family to a parametric formula with continuous and valid/beautiful transitions between the various fonts, let alone weights, requires superhuman intelligence and effort. I'm claiming that the scope of parameterized fonts is limited, in an analogous way to linguistics not trying to explain poetry.