1. An article comprising: a machine-readable memory that provides instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations including, receiving character outline data comprising a set of points that define at least portions of a character; determining original interval boundaries only on the y-axis based on the character outline data wherein the original interval boundaries correspond to original breakpoints that are represented by points on the y-axis relating to character outline data; creating modified breakpoints and modified interval boundaries to correspond to pixel boundaries of a display, wherein each of the modified interval boundaries is a distance from one of the original interval boundaries and the modified interval boundaries are specified to bound intervals on the y-axis only; and vertically repositioning certain points of the set of points of the character along pixel boundaries based on the distances using a stepwise transform relative to the y-axis, and on characteristics of a font, but without using hinting information, and wherein horizontal stems of the character maintain the same thickness through the transform.