09-08-2009 07:20 PM
09-08-2009 10:52 PM
09-08-2009 11:22 PM - edited 09-08-2009 11:24 PM
ClearType is on (in windows) but for some reason the VI front panels don't reflect it. Other programs like Word and Explorer do show antialiased text. I think it improves the look of the text quite a bit.
Here's a slightly exaggerated example:
09-08-2009 11:39 PM - edited 09-08-2009 11:40 PM
As I said, I do notice a difference when I turn it on and off. The image below has ClearType turned on with the first line. It's the 13 point application font.
09-09-2009 12:46 AM - edited 09-09-2009 12:47 AM
09-09-2009 02:02 AM
I believe that Cleartype also has an activex entry. Did you try to get it through the App property node?
09-09-2009 01:25 PM
No, I don't need programmatic access so I have no need for the property node.
After doing some comparisons it looks like Word uses it's own antialiasing. That's disapointing because the default windows ClearType looks pretty bad.
If anyone has any ideas for getting better looking text, I'm open for suggestions.
09-09-2009 02:05 PM - edited 09-09-2009 02:06 PM
InfiniteNothing wrote:
Is there a way to turn on font antialiasing (Windows calls it ClearType) for the VI front panel. I'm trying to improve the "look" of my VI.
Antialiasing is not the same a cleartype.
Antialiasing uses shades of the same color. For example if you have a single-pixel horizontal line across the screen that goes up by one pixel over the lenght, you'll get two horizontal lines with a step in the center without antialiasing. With antaliasing, you would get two grey ramps, the lower from black to white and the upper from white to black. The weighted average of vertically adjacent pixels is centered at the fractional pixel position.
Cleartype takes advantage of th arrangment of the RGB pixels on typical LCD screens. This allows horizontal positioning of b/w graphics of with a resolution 1/3 of of a full pixel by mixing adjacent pixels of complemetary colors. e.g.
RGBRGBRGBRGB
RGBRGBRGBRGB
RGBRGBRGBRGB
woud create a vertical white line at a slight angle. Cleartype does not work well for colored text (e.g. 100% red)
You can easily tell if cleartype is enabled by taking a screenshot and zooming into the text. From what I can tell, cleartype works for the front panel and diagram just fine if it's enabled. You can enable it here. Don't enable it for technologies with different color pixel arrangments (DLP, CRT, etc).
Getting smooth large fonts for labels and decorations should not be a problem. Simply take a screenshot of a font at 4x the size and resample the bitmap at 25% with antilaiasing enabled using some graphics editing program. Then embed the image in the FP.
Still, I would say that the typical fonts are just fine. If you are worried about tiny jaggies, maybe your monitor resolution is too low for it's size. 😉 Make sure that the the monitor is calibrated (autoadjust or similar) unless you are using DVI. Also make sure that your resolution setting exactly matches the native resolution of the panel.
09-09-2009 02:25 PM
Interesting info on ClearType vs Antialiasing.
I think there's a big difference between the text in Word (see the image in the last post) and the text in LV/Notepad. Look at the curves in the "s". My monitor is at the native resolution.
Good tips on the labels. Unfortunately I'm looking at dynamic text and I'm not about to make an image for each letter and flip them around in a pict ring ;).
09-09-2009 02:33 PM