Xara first brought real-time anti-aliasing to vector drawing, back around 1991-92, I think (Acorn Artworks), bringing this to Windows around 1994-95. (Feel free to give me exact dates, anyone.) Since then, all vector drawing tools have implemented this lovely technique. But how good are these various A-A implementations? I don't have Freehand (nor do I want it), but here's a telling comparison between Illustrator CS and XX1.
These ellipses are all the same size, all aligned on integer screen pixels, all viewed at 100%, all of the same colors, stroke widths are given on the right. The PNG file displayed here is a 24-bit color, non-dithered version - i.e., it is _totally_ identical with my screengrabs.
This torture test brings out the worst in A-A algorithms, and it's quite clear that XX1 is best. Granted, for most uses this subtle quality difference will not matter much - but it's fun to see that the old man is still holding up well against the new kid (if a behemoth like AICS can be called that)!
Well done, Charles & Co.!
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