1. A method of automatically adding hinting instructions to a character in order to improve a scaled character bitmap produced from an outline of the character at a certain size and output resolution when the character outline is scan converted, the method comprising acts of: retrieving a character to be output, the character comprising one or more features, each of which further comprises one or more strokes; determining that the character belongs to one or more semantic character classifications; accessing one or more hinting instructions that are associated with each of the one or more semantic character classifications, the one or more hinting instructions preserving semantic meaning for the character while altering either stroke presence, stroke location, or both for at least one stroke of at least one feature of the character based on a reference character size and output resolution; comparing an actual character size and output resolution for the character to the reference character size and output resolution for the one or more hinting instructions; and executing the one or more hinting instructions to alter either stroke presence, stroke location, or both for the at least one stroke of the at least one feature of the character to produce a hinted character outline.