User Guide

Glyph Window
239
Connections
The type of connection between graphical primitives is very important if
you want to keep the contour smooth at appropriate nodes. There are two
types of connections: sharp and smooth. At a sharp connection, the two
connected graphical primitives (curve and curve or vector and curve) are
absolutely free in their angle relative to each other at the connecting node.
At a smooth connection, the direction of the vector and the control vector
of a curve or the control vectors of two sequential curves are kept collinear
(lie on the same straight line). I.e. the angle between the two primitives at
the node is fixed at 180 degrees.
Smooth connection
Sharp connection
It is very important to maintain the smoothness of the glyph’s contours at
the appropriate places. Small corners (sharp connections that are invisible
when glyphs are small) become visible (and ugly) when you print large
text. Furthermore, rasterizing programs that convert outline glyphs into
bitmap images on paper do not like outlines where sharp connections are
present in places where the outline should be smooth.