[Tex/LaTex] CM fonts with T1 fontenc

computer-modernfont-encodingsfonts

I noticed one odd thing and I'm curious to understand it. I typeset my document with \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} but without loading the Latin Modern fonts as I usually do. This resulting PDF is undistinguishable when viewed on-screen (using Evince on Linux) but when printed on an HP printer the fonts look "thicker". Both using the default font encoding or loading the Latin Modern fonts bring back the usual "thin" look of the CM fonts.

What is the reason for the different rendering? I should say that the slight "thicker" look is not bad (except that the math fonts do not really match). There are other free fonts with superb math companion that I should try?

Best Answer

With T1-encoding you don't use the CM-fonts but the EC-fonts. http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=ECfonts.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Darker fonts for TeX output to PDF

Try looking through the LaTeX Font Catalogue. For example, Bitstream charter and palatino are both thicker than the default computer modern.

For example, to use a palatino font you could add the following to your preamble:

\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[sc]{mathpazo}
\linespread{1.05}         % Palatino needs more leading (space between lines)

mathdesign provides some good fonts, but awkwardly they are incompatible with some ams packages. (They do provide alternatives though, so they might be an option).

Or you could try \usepackage{fouriernc} as Leo Liu suggested in the comments.

Here's another way to get a really thick font for text and maths.

\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\renewcommand\rmdefault{cmfib}
\usepackage{mathastext}

This uses Computer Modern Fibonacci and the mathastext package to make it use the text font for basic maths. The problem with this approach is that it might make the maths symbols (\sum etc) look rather thin in comparison...

thick text

[Tex/LaTex] How to make the math font slightly thicker

(Note: After my answer, the OP specified that a pdfLaTeX solution is wanted.) Xe(La)TeX offers the FakeBold font feature -- meant for "rare situations [when] users may want to mechanically distort the shapes of the glyphs in the current font" (fontspec manual, section 10.13). Use at your own risk. ;-)

% !TEX TS-program = XeLaTeX

\documentclass[fleqn]{scrartcl}

\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setmainfont{TeX Gyre Schola}
\setmathfont[FakeBold=0.5]{Latin Modern Math}

\begin{document}
This is some text.
\[ F_\mathrm{D} = m \ddot z = b \lambda \rho \frac{I}{P_0} \vec{c} \]
Sadly, the math is less thick than the text.
\end{document}

enter image description here

Output without FakeBold:

enter image description here

Best Answer

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[Tex/LaTex] Darker fonts for TeX output to PDF

[Tex/LaTex] How to make the math font slightly thicker

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