LCD text in Canvas

[John C. Turnbull]

The way I see it, Canvas is certainly for dynamic rendering but that's not
to say that LCD text would need to be animated (although it would be
absolutely wonderful if it could be).  I am thinking of developing some
sophisticated controls which have a very dynamic nature and, as I said, I
want the text in those controls to be as crisp and clear as the other more
"standard/static" controls.

For the uninitiated, what exactly is the problem with animating LCD text
anyway?  It seems to be possible in Flash, Silverlight and even in HTML 5 so
why should it not be possible in JavaFX?

Thanks,

-jct

-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Andresen [mailto:joseph.andresen at oracle.com] 
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2012 16:14
To: ozemale at ozemail.com.au
Cc: Phil Race; John C. Turnbull; openjfx-dev at openjdk.java.net
Subject: Re: LCD text in Canvas

It would really help if you could explain your use cases.

Canvas is meant for very dynamic rendering, and I don't really want to say
LCD text isn't, but it certainly is not meant to be animated. Hmm...

-J

On Dec 16, 2012, at 3:14 PM, ozemale at ozemail.com.au wrote:

> I think for the vast majority of use cases we would want LCD text in 
> Canvas.  The current grayscale antialiasing is just too blurry and is 
> very noticeably different in rendering quality to the text used in 
> controls.
> 
> I am thinking that adding a single method to set the smoothing type 
> for text would not cause too much bloat in the API.  I am officially 
> requesting it!
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -jct
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Phil Race" 
> To:"John C. Turnbull" 
> Cc:"Dr. Michael Paus" ,
> Sent:Sun, 16 Dec 2012 14:25:17 -0800
> Subject:Re: LCD text in Canvas
> 
> We could easily add API to support LCD text on Canvas although we 
> wanted to minimise the amount of Text related API there until we have 
> more experience with how people use it and how it should be developed 
> in general.
> The blurriness is down to the grayscale text being unhinted so it 
> behaves predictably under transformations as supposed to be the most 
> typical canvas uses case. This is also why its the default on a Text 
> node.
> 
> -phil.
> 
> On 12/16/12 7:16 AM, John C. Turnbull wrote:
>> Yes sorry, I was referring to LCD font rendering (or sub-pixel 
>> antialiasing). It seems JavaFX text controls support this but text
> rendered
>> in Canvas is always using gray-scale antialiasing and looks blurry
> in
>> comparison as a result.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: openjfx-dev-bounces at openjdk.java.net
>> [mailto:openjfx-dev-bounces at openjdk.java.net] On Behalf Of Dr.
> Michael Paus
>> Sent: Monday, 17 December 2012 00:36
>> To: openjfx-dev at openjdk.java.net
>> Subject: Re: LCD text in Canvas
>> 
>> I am quite sure the OP is referring to this:
>> https://blogs.oracle.com/javafx/entry/lcd_text_support_in_javafx
>> Whether that is or will be supported for Cancas - I don't know.
>> Michael
>> 
>> Am 16.12.2012 11:49, schrieb Tom Eugelink:
>>> I think Canvas will never support that, just like a real world 
>>> painting canvas will never support a Rembrand. You'll have to
> create
>>> LCD yourself But Gerrit has created a few LCD gauges in the
> JFXtras
>>> project, maybe those will help.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 2012-12-16 10:33, John C. Turnbull wrote:
>>>> When will JavaFX Canvas support LCD text?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -jct
>> 
>> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------
>> ----------
>> Dr. Michael Paus, Chairman of the Java User Group Stuttgart e.V.
> (JUGS).
>> For more information visit www.jugs.de.
> 
>