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Re: Z-buffer font quality [message #14840] Wed, 07 April 1999 00:00
DMottershead is currently offline  DMottershead
Messages: 17
Registered: January 1998
Junior Member
Have a look at http://marlin.mhl.nsw.gov.au/motohtm/idl.html

In article <7e37ig$vv@post.gsfc.nasa.gov>,
fireman@mcst.gsfc.nasa.gov (Gwyn Fireman) wrote:
> David Fanning (davidf@dfanning.com) wrote:
> : Well, I usually write to the Z-buffer at twice the resolution that
> : I want to see on the display.
>
> The modified procedure works OK once I double the thickness of axes,
> etc. by adding the following to the plot command:
>
> psym=-6, symsize=2, thick=2, xthick=2, ythick=2, $
>
> : code. It looks OK on my display, but perhaps I'm not that picky
> : for display purposes. Now, hardcopy, that's something else. :-)
>
> I guess I am picky - the result still looks fuzzy and a little chunky
> to me. I *much* prefer PostScript fonts and would use PS but for two
> things:
>
> - Much of my work can end up both in internal memos and on our intranet
> web site, and it seems that GIF is the portable way to do that.
>
> - EPS with preview doesn't show up in Word, and when I have many similar
> plots to put in a document I don't like to rely on filename alone.
>
> Looks like I'll need to take the time to read your PostScript chapter
> and try your tools!
>
> Thanks for the reply!
>
> --
> -- Gwyn F. Fireman
> -- General Sciences Corporation / MODIS Characterization Support Team
> -- Gwyn.Fireman@gsfc.nasa.gov 301-352-2118
>

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Re: Z-buffer font quality [message #14870 is a reply to message #14840] Fri, 02 April 1999 00:00 Go to previous message
mgs is currently offline  mgs
Messages: 144
Registered: March 1995
Senior Member
In article <7e37ig$vv@post.gsfc.nasa.gov>, fireman@mcst.gsfc.nasa.gov
(Gwyn Fireman) wrote:

> David Fanning (davidf@dfanning.com) wrote:
...
> I guess I am picky - the result still looks fuzzy and a little chunky
> to me. I *much* prefer PostScript fonts and would use PS but for two
> things:
>
> - Much of my work can end up both in internal memos and on our intranet
> web site, and it seems that GIF is the portable way to do that.
>
> - EPS with preview doesn't show up in Word, and when I have many similar
> plots to put in a document I don't like to rely on filename alone.
>
> Looks like I'll need to take the time to read your PostScript chapter
> and try your tools!

You might want to approach this another way. Write the graphics out in PS,
then use something like Adobe Distiller to create PDF's, which are
extremely portable as well as having high resolution. You could also use
GhostScript to write output to any of several formats, including GIF,
TIFF, PDF, etc.

--
Mike Schienle Interactive Visuals, Inc.
mgs@ivsoftware.com Remote Sensing and Image Processing
http://www.ivsoftware.com/ Analysis and Application Development
Re: Z-buffer font quality [message #14878 is a reply to message #14870] Fri, 02 April 1999 00:00 Go to previous message
davidf is currently offline  davidf
Messages: 2866
Registered: September 1996
Senior Member
Gwyn Fireman (fireman@mcst.gsfc.nasa.gov) writes:

> I guess I am picky - the result still looks fuzzy and a little chunky
> to me.

Well, 1200 dpi verse 75 dpi. Even a picture of me might look better
at that resolution!

> I *much* prefer PostScript fonts and would use PS but for two
> things:
>
> - Much of my work can end up both in internal memos and on our intranet
> web site, and it seems that GIF is the portable way to do that.

I would consider going to JPEG. Files are smaller, color is
better (it seems to me). Almost all software can read it, etc.

> - EPS with preview doesn't show up in Word, and when I have many similar
> plots to put in a document I don't like to rely on filename alone.

Preview is suppose to be fixed "real soon now". :-)

> Looks like I'll need to take the time to read your PostScript chapter
> and try your tools!

Couldn't hurt. :-)

Cheers,

David

--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting
Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Toll-Free IDL Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155
Re: Z-buffer font quality [message #14879 is a reply to message #14870] Fri, 02 April 1999 00:00 Go to previous message
fireman is currently offline  fireman
Messages: 49
Registered: August 1991
Member
David Fanning (davidf@dfanning.com) wrote:
: Well, I usually write to the Z-buffer at twice the resolution that
: I want to see on the display.

The modified procedure works OK once I double the thickness of axes,
etc. by adding the following to the plot command:

psym=-6, symsize=2, thick=2, xthick=2, ythick=2, $

: code. It looks OK on my display, but perhaps I'm not that picky
: for display purposes. Now, hardcopy, that's something else. :-)

I guess I am picky - the result still looks fuzzy and a little chunky
to me. I *much* prefer PostScript fonts and would use PS but for two
things:

- Much of my work can end up both in internal memos and on our intranet
web site, and it seems that GIF is the portable way to do that.

- EPS with preview doesn't show up in Word, and when I have many similar
plots to put in a document I don't like to rely on filename alone.

Looks like I'll need to take the time to read your PostScript chapter
and try your tools!

Thanks for the reply!

--
-- Gwyn F. Fireman
-- General Sciences Corporation / MODIS Characterization Support Team
-- Gwyn.Fireman@gsfc.nasa.gov 301-352-2118
Re: Z-buffer font quality [message #14882 is a reply to message #14870] Fri, 02 April 1999 00:00 Go to previous message
davidf is currently offline  davidf
Messages: 2866
Registered: September 1996
Senior Member
Gwyn Fireman (fireman@mcst.gsfc.nasa.gov) writes:

> I am trying to generate plots with high-quality fonts using the
> Z-buffer. TrueType fonts of the size I would usually use for titles
> come out chunky and less readable than hardware fonts. David Fanning
> has recently claimed success with this; what am I doing wrong?

Well, I usually write to the Z-buffer at twice the resolution that
I want to see on the display. For example, here is your modified
code. It looks OK on my display, but perhaps I'm not that picky
for display purposes. Now, hardcopy, that's something else. :-)

PRO TEST
thisDevice = !D.Name
set_plot, 'Z' ; open gif
!p.font = 1 ; set font
Device, Set_Font='Times', /TT_Font, Set_Resolution=[800, 800]
plot, indgen(5), title = 'Main Plot Title', $
xtitle = 'X-Axis Title', ytitle = 'Y-Axis Title', $
color = 0, background = 255, charsize=2.0 ; Twice normal size characters
xyouts, 0.5, 3, 'Annotation', color=0, size=4

image = tvrd() ; capture plot from Z-buffer
set_plot, thisDevice
window, 0, xsize=400, ysize=400
tv, Rebin(image, 400, 400) ; display image
END

Cheers,
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting
Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Toll-Free IDL Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155
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