Celestia v1.3.2pre1: fonts hard to read

[selden]

Unfortunately the new fonts provided with Celestia v1.3.2pre1 are ugly and difficult to read.

1. The widths of the vertical bars vary significantly. e.g. the vertical bar of a "k" is almost too thin to see, and the initial vertical in the letter "m" is much thinner than the other two.

2. The bottoms of the characters aren't being drawn. A 2, for example, almost looks like a 7.

3. Not enough choice is available in the sizes of the fonts. I've been using the 24point font on my 1600x1200 screen, but that size doesn't exist any more.

I'm currently using

Code: Select all

   Font                 "sans20.txf"
   LabelFont            "sans20.txf"
   TitleFont        "sansbold20.txf"


System:
256MB 500MHz P3, WinXP Pro SP1
128MB Ti4200, Nvidia drivers v44.03
Celestia v1.3.2pre1

[granthutchison]

Selden:
The fonts seem like a great improvement to me.
Have you tried adjusting the level of anti-aliasing you're using? This seemed to make a real mess of the previous font when set to high levels, and I wonder if the new, thinner font is suffering more from this effect.
(Obviously not a good fix, but it would at least home in on the problem if that was what was causing your difficulty.)

Grant

[selden]

Grant,

It does indeed seem to be related to antialiasing. The fonts are readable if I disable antialiasing in the Nvidia driver.

But a larger font (#3) is still desirable.

A low priority problem, that this caused me to notice:

The "console log" text is being drawn too low. The descenders are missing from letters like "g" and "y" in the most recent, bottom-most, message. They're below the lowest visible scanline of Celestia's window. This problem is also present in v1.3.1-1 final. It can be seen in both desktop windows and in the full-screen window.

[chris]

I've created some 24 point fonts and made them available here:

http://www.celestiaproject.net/~claurel/celestia/fonts/

I don't understand why you like such big fonts though--I like to pack as much text as possible on screen

--Chris

[selden]

Thanks!

I usually don't want any info on the screen

However, large fonts make the labels more nearly readable in thumbnail images, though, and help us poor folk who can't focus so well anymore...

[Bob Hegwood]

I know you don't really care, but I'll throw in MY two cents worth here...

Selden is correct about the descenders being below the Celestia window at the bottom of the screen.

As for the font itself, it kind of grows on you. It seems to detract from the main images LESS than the heavier fonts did.

Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

Thanks, Bob

[Bob Hegwood]

Chris,

Just one other note about the fonts...

On my screen, the text starts its display just a HAIR too much to the left. In other words, I'd say about an eighth of the first letters displayed on the left side of the screen are missing. An "L" for example, is ALMOST displayed as an "_".

Should I post a screen shot for you?

Thanks, Bob