The variety of origins with this setting can come in very handy when
working with complex letterforms. Strong may also be useful when working
with a typeface that has very thin strokes.
Subtle animation showing the 32 anti-aliasing origins at 36pt, 18pt and 12pt.
Smooth
The Smooth setting is the closest to unhinted anti-aliasing and therefore
remains truest to the original glyph shape. This algorithm is best used
on medium-sized to large type, because it tends to render very light and
often blurry at smaller point sizes. If used with an appropriate typeface at a
proper size and if the origin is properly adjusted, this setting can produce a
beautiful balance between crispness and letterform fidelity.
Shape Layer
If Photoshop՚s hinted algorithms all produce undesirable results, you may
want to attempt using unhinted anti-aliasing by way of converting the type
to a shape layer. This allows you access to the original outlines of the font,
which draw values based on the percentage of the pixel enclosed in the
shape. What you sacrifice in editable type, you make up for in origin
transformations: 32 on both the x- and y-axes. Though usually a last resort,