Pixellated fonts

[setmajer]

I do apologise as this is probably something stupid I’m doing, but when I add text to an Affinity Designer document in 24 pt Source Sans Pro it looks like this:

Which is what I‘d have expected in 1996, but it’s a bit shabby for 2018.

Here are my performance prefs: 

 

Here is my document setup:

 

 

What am I missing? Something obvious, I expect…

 

[Fixx]

Designer 1.7.0.9 (beta), Mac OS Mojave 10.14.3, MBP 13" mid-2012, HP w2408h display, Source Sans Pro Semibold 24 pt:

@200%

 @ 300%:

Looks pretty standard to me.

[carl123]

Make sure View > View Mode is set to Vector

[R C-R]

I tried using each of 2 versions of Source Sans Pro, an OTF version from Font Squirrel & a TTF version from Google Fonts. All versions look fine on my iMac (specs below in my sig).

[setmajer]

@Fixx You’re right, those do look fine. Not what I’m seeing. Seems the font is a red herring. Source Serif Pro Light shows the issue more clearly:

 

[setmajer]

@carl123 Thanks for the tip, but turns out I already am in the Vector view mode.

BTW,  I just spat wine on my keyboard when I read your sig. 

Edited April 25, 2019 by setmajer

[setmajer]

Thanks for the replies — much appreciated.

Will have to keep investigating.

FWIW, my setup:

Affinity Designer 1.6.5, 20” 1920 x 1200 Eizo FlexScan, macOS Mojave version 10.14.3, Mid-2014 13-inch MacBook Pro, 3 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Intel Iris 1536 MB, 1 TB SSD

 

[R C-R]

5 hours ago, setmajer said:

Seems the font is a red herring. Source Serif Pro Light shows the issue more clearly:

Where did you get the version of the font installed on your Mac? As I said above, I have tried downloads from Font Squirrel & from Google Fonts, & for either one of them there is no issue with any of the font weights.

[setmajer]

@R C-R I got it from Google Fonts. Other fonts show the same problem, so it’s not the font:

Kairos
 

Helvetica Neue

Gill Sans:

One clue, maybe: all the above are at 64pt. When I set it at 16pt, it looks like this:

I’ve checked and re-checked and the zoom is set to 100%. So something is screwy with the way my artboard or document are set up, I think.

[setmajer]

This thread was somewhat useful:

I’m used to Sketch, Invision Studio, OmniGraffle, etc. where I work in pixels at 1:1 then export at several sizes (1x, 2x, 3x, etc.) for different devices. Designer apparently works differently. Setting it to Retina (2x = 144 ppi) helps some.

Now, 16pt text (Gill Sans Light) looks like this:

Still blocky, but not quite as bad.

Changing the ‘Display’ preference from ‘Metal’ to ‘Software’ also seems to help:

Much improved.

For comparison, 16pt text @ 100% in sketch, same font (Gill Sans Light) looks like this:

Smoother, maybe, but also a bit fuzzy. Bit like the difference between font rendering in macOS (non-retina) and Windows.

So I think that’s that.

Thanks for the help!

[R C-R]

As long as your are not in Pixel view mode or Retina pixel view mode in Designer, Artistic text & Frame text should not look blocky at any zoom level, document dpi, or font weight, like in this text samples.afdesign file. I don't have Gill Sans Light installed enabled on my system, but you can change my Gill Sans Regular samples to Light on your system, & for all of the text samples there should be no blockiness at any zoom level.

Edited April 26, 2019 by R C-R
Clarified: G.S. Light is installed but not enabled

[Alfred]

43 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I don't have Gill Sans Light installed on my system

Curiously, iPads have apparently had Gill Sans Light (and Gill Sans Light Italic) ever since iOS 4.2.

https://www.prepressure.com/fonts/basics/ios-4-fonts

[lepr]

.

[R C-R]

31 minutes ago, >|< said:

I think R C-R may have uninstalled it because it comes with his macOS 10.13.6.

Thanks for the heads up on this. As it turns out, in Font Book I had previously disabled all but Gill Sans Regular for some now forgotten reason. All 9 weights are actually still installed on my iMac.

Anyway, no TTF or OTF fonts should look blocky in Designer in normal view mode, so I am not sure what is causing this for @setmajer.

[setmajer]

@R C-R Thanks — I’ll download your file & try.

That said, I think the problem was I had ‘Metal’ selected in Preferences → Performance → Display. After switching to software, the rendering is comparable to Sketch, Acorn, OmniGraffle, Pixelmator, etc. A little bit different, but certainly no worse and in some cases a small but significant bit better.

I really appreciate the help.

Both Designer & Photo are pretty full-on apps. Almost Gimp-esque in the number and technical nature of the options. It’s going to be a little while before I really get to grips with them, but I’m having fun learning.

[R C-R]

6 hours ago, setmajer said:

That said, I think the problem was I had ‘Metal’ selected in Preferences → Performance → Display. After switching to software, the rendering is comparable to Sketch, Acorn, OmniGraffle, Pixelmator, etc.

The display settings do not affect exports -- like the name suggests they only affect how the Affinity document is rendered on screen.

[setmajer]

@R C-R Ah, there’s the misunderstanding: I wasn’t trying to export.

It was what I was seeing on-screen that was the problem.

Sorry for the confusion!

[firstdefence]

Do font's display correctly in other apps?

I wonder if you have anti-aliasing turned off somewhere?

This link is for Photoshop but explains what I'm referring to.
https://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-best-Photoshop-anti-aliasing-setting-for-web-use-Of-None-Sharp-Smooth-Crisp-and-Strong-which-is-the-best-for-creating-web-graphics

An option in Preferences under Miscellaneous is to reset fonts

[setmajer]

@firstdefence Yes, they display fine in other apps. The culprit seems to have been using ‘Metal’ instead of ‘Software’ in Preferences → Performance in Designer.

[R C-R]

14 hours ago, setmajer said:

The culprit seems to have been using ‘Metal’ instead of ‘Software’ in Preferences → Performance in Designer.

That should not make any difference -- as long as you are in normal view mode fonts should not be pixelated in Designer (unless they are bitmap fonts, of which there are just a few you are likely to install or use).

Anyway, what happens if you use Open GL instead of Metal or Software for display rendering?

[setmajer]

@R C-R Will do. Have an interview to prep for, so it may be a day or two, but will try & report back.