Blurry Pixel Fonts.

[funfunfun]

Hello I have read several threads and tutorials on keeping pixel fonts crisp.
But mine are still blurry. Any surefire ways to keep my pixel fonts crisp?

1. They are three deep in terms of nested MovieClips. (They are inside a movie clip that is inside a movie clip that is in the main movie.)

2. I have checked the x,y of all these movie clips - and the info pallette says they are all on whole numbers. I checked the x,y of the type itself too.

3. All of these movie clips are 100% by 100%

4. I have the alias button checked. (Just in case I have with and with out this checked - and still blurry - but if you have a different opinion, please still let me know.)

Any help is appreciated,
Thanks.

[Flash Gordon]

I have the same issues when they are nested deep in MC's. I just think were are doomed.

[oldnewbie]

Which pixel font are you using?

Is your text left justified only?

Did you try another pixel font?

Can you attach your .fla, zipped up and in a MX only format?

[funfunfun]

I will have to attach the movie a little later tonight.
as far as the other questions:

I am ussing FFF Harmony at 8 pixels. I have also used SKA_cubic01_75_CE.TTF (pixel-fonts.com) at 8 pixel for a side by side comparison. They are left justified.

I believe the problem has something to do with the fonts being nested inside of a movie clip that is inside of another movie clip. I did a test where I put the same font on the root level of my movie, and then in the first movie clip to compare against my blurry pixel text that resides in that second-deep movie clip. The deeper the fonts are, the blurrier they get.

For the heck of it I put the root level pixel text on a decimal x,y - and it still stays crisp and clean (while my more deeply nested fonts are on clean x,ys) so I don't know how much stock I put on that rule of thumb that you have to put it on a whole number x,y.

[oldnewbie]

This pixel font (fff harmony) text is nested within 5 movie clips, all nested within each other...

Do you see any problem with it?

http://odin.prohosting.com/~oldnew/public/pixelfont.html

EDIT: And by the way...

3. All of these movie clips are 100% by 100%

Has the textfield itself been scaled? Or is it as it should, at 100% for width & height (transform panel)?

[funfunfun]

Hi Oldnewbie,

Okay - I've figured it out - it's a slight workaround - but it beats importing static png graphics of the type I want. Now my pixel text is crisp in the final movie output.

Since this pixel type is 3 levels deep - somewhere along the line - in one of the MCs - it has gotten off pixel. When I check the info pallette it states that the x,y of the MC is on a whole pixel (ie. 44.0/263.0). However, the registration mark of the MC is not in its upper left corner. Its registration is more like top center. This must have something to do with it. Honestly there are so many little MCs, layers, and graphical elements stuffed into this MC that if I had to get that registration perfectly at its upper left corner - it would be too many hours of moving graphics back to the right positions.

So my workaround is to go to the text and purposely put it at non whole numbers. So the text X = 258.0 now becomes X = 258.8, and the text Y = 55.0 now becomes X = 55.5. That's right, if you can't figure out where along the line the problem is - go to your text and offset it from the whole number. It worked for me.

(BTW, thank you very much for taking the time to throw together an example fla. You're right it's crisp and 5 MCs deep. And it gave me the idea to try my workaround. All of your MCs have their registration in exactly the upper left hand corner of their individual borders.)

[Flash Gordon]

Well, I can't get my pixel fonts clear either. I was wondering if there was any help out there for me too :D ? There strange part is Bio and Disco are blurry. Tunes & Contact (input boxes) are very clear. :confused:

I get traces of this for my coordinates. So it looks like everything is on a pixel:

75
0
250
0
My AS is
on (release) {
if (!_root.mask3) {
_root.container_mc.mask1_mc.attachMovie("mask2", "mask3_mc", 104);
_root.tween(_root.container_mc.mask1_mc.mask3_mc, "_x", mx.transitions.easing.Strong.easeOut, 75, 375, 2, true);
//_root.container_mc.mask1_mc.mask3_mc._x = 75;
_root.mask3 = true;
}
_root.clearOldScene(_root.scene);
_root.container_mc.attachMovie("_biography", "_biography_mc", 200);
_root.container_mc._biography_mc._x = 250;
_root.container_mc._biography_mc._y = 20;
_root.scene = "_biography_mc";
trace(_root.container_mc._x);
trace(_root.container_mc._y);
trace(_root.container_mc._biography_mc._x);
trace(_root.container_mc.biography_mc._y);
}

HERE IS THE FLA IF NEEDED (http://www.modernmusicians.com/johnswana/test/mainInterface4.fla)

Thanks.

[oldnewbie]

Of course it's in a MX2004 format! :rolleyes:

[CyanBlue]

Hey... :)

Open up the library and select the movieClip _biography...
Select the text in the Text layer and open up the Transform panel...
It says 90.6%/100%... You've got to make sure that it is set to 100% on both sides...
Select Modify - Transform - Remove Transform and make sure that the textField is set to 0, 0...

I think that's got to fix your problem... ;)

[persianboi]

I have a question though, does changin the hight and width of the textfield through the properties panel count as scalling the textfield? What if u require a textfield with a specific size?

[persianboi]

I dont understand the moment i add this line to my text, the text goes all blury:

dynamic_txt.embedFonts = true;

[Flash Gordon]

:)

Thanks for all the prompt help. I have no idea how that got "transformed"

[oldnewbie]

Yep, that's scaling! You should never set the size in the textfield's properties, only with it's drag handle.

If you want a specific size, than use createTextField.

http://flash-creations.com/notes/dynamic_createtext.php

[persianboi]

K I still have the Blur problem
There is a movie on my main time line called bck_mc
w= 230
h= 263
x=490
y=160

Inside there is a Movie clip that holds a dynamic text, and 2 score bttns
Movie Clip text_mc:
w= 207.5
h=263.1
x=0
y=0
inside that movie clip u have the dynamic text box called myText:
w=207.5
h=263.1
x=0
y=0

Checked transform as well.. scall is 100/100

But my text is still blured out. Any ideas why that might be causing that??


Here is the script on the time line of text_mc btw

var my_fmt:TextFormat = new TextFormat();

my_fmt.font = "TestF4"; /* this is the LinkageID not the symbol name. */
myText.embedFonts = true;

myText.setNewTextFormat(my_fmt);

[persianboi]

btw tkx for the help so far. As frustrating as this can be, have learned alot so far

[oldnewbie]

Of course (unless you're using a pixel font), an embedded font (antialiased)will always look more blurry than aliased text (not embedded!)...
Problem is if you're using a non-standard font and don't embed it, those that don't have that font on their machines, will definately see some other font...

[CyanBlue]

:)

Thanks for all the prompt help. I have no idea how that got "transformed"
Sometimes 100% becomes something like 99.8% if you change the location of the textField from changing the _x and _y value from the Properties Panel... The mistery of the Flash IDE... ;)
(I only wished that they have made some more progress on the TextField related stuff in F8 but I hardly see anything changed... :()

[persianboi]

No i'm using a pixel font and it's supposed to be in black color but right now it shows as gray and it's all blured out. It's strange cause when I take the embedfont out of the script everything looks fine but then really the font is not embeded.. Does anyone have an email addy I could send the file to to check it out. I'm really confused as of whats causin this problem..tkx again

[oldnewbie]

I've PMed you an address... But since I'm on MX only, your .fla has to be in a MX only format and zipped up...

You'd have a better chance of getting an answer if your .fla was in a MX only format, and zipped up.

You would have to save a copy of your MX2004 .fla, (using Save as...) and changing the Document type to MX only in the Save as... window.

[CyanBlue]

Easiest way to get this going further would be posting a sample file so that we all can take a look as oldnewbie said... ;)

[persianboi]

The file is abit larger the .fla file is abit larger than 600Kb and there is .css .xml file that I'd like to send all in a zip file along with the .fla....Any suggestions where I can upload the zip file? I'd do it asap

[CyanBlue]

I don't quite understand why the 'sample' file should be 600KB... All we need to see is an empty stage with one textField plus your script and that should tell us where your problem is and how we can help you to fix it, no??? ;)

[persianboi]

I'll try to post that right now..

I've uploaded the zip file at this location though see if this helps

http://www.sendmefile.com/persianboi/00138030

[persianboi]

Finally it's uploaded...
Hope this helps

[persianboi]

and here is the Font incase someone might need it

[oldnewbie]

On your "text_mc" you set it's alpha to 20, on an onclipEvent(load), and to my knowledge, never change it to 100% or any other higher percentage... So you're seeing your text at 20% alpha.

onClipEvent (load) {
this._xscale = 0;
this._yscale = 0;
counter = 0;
this._alpha = 20;
}


Or, if you are increasing the alpha somewhere else, then your path to the "text_mc" must be wrongly set.

[persianboi]

Ya tkx I hadnt noticed that, but again that didnt quite solve my problem. Even though the Font is embeded, it wasnt showing properly

[oldnewbie]

Well I didn't use your font, but a pixel font of mine, and it displays fine for me...

[persianboi]

I posted the Font. Can you check it out with that font? Maybe I've made a mistake as far as linking goes and maybe send the zip file back to me??
I checked this again, For some reason My pixel font is not showing and is replaced by a default font..!

If you could send me acopy of ur file that has a pixel font embeded in it that would be create..

Cyan I'm still confused *chuckles*

[persianboi]

Ok I fixed that problem I believe...but my problem now is that the text doesnt look Crisp. It's semi blured even though It's sitting on round numbers as far as pixels go and scale is 100/100

[oldnewbie]

Think your font is not a good pixel font. Just tried it and it's blurry.

[persianboi]

You were right about the Alpha ON. Funny it one point it really wasnt effecting the alpha for some reason so I forgot to cross out that line...
What I dont understand though now is the fact that my text is still blured out even though I've set it up exactly like the file u posted earlier...

[oldnewbie]

All my other pixel fonts tried in your original .fla work fine.

[persianboi]

Thats strange isnt it??
I guess I'm not doing anything wrong then. Guess I should try a few other fonts.. Looking for something semi-modern

[oldnewbie]

http://www.fontsforflash.com/

http://www.dafont.com/en/bitmap.php

[persianboi]

Thank you so much for all ur help.. Most of the fonts I got was from FFF. But will try to grab a few others and see if I still have the same problem. Wish there was a clean standard font I could test mine against

[persianboi]

I was just checking FFF Harmony.. It's still blured out..GRRRRR

[oldnewbie]

You sure the textfield wasn't scaled? That's most usually the problem.

[persianboi]

yes the scale is 100/100 I've gone over all that stuff like 100 times.. This is seriously starting to bug me..and I've tried few different fonts.

Does the version that u have with the font that u got working, Can u send that to me?? Maybe I'll just copy that format and just change the font

[oldnewbie]

With FFF Harmony...

[persianboi]

u know, I have no idea why the css is not working anymore even though I conversted the document to MX2004. but FFF harmony seems fine..

[persianboi]

I think I've figured it out. Not sure what is causing the problem but it has to do with the CSS file.

[Flash Gordon]

Hey,

Everytime I move the x: or y: of the pixel font to be on an even number, the tranform changes with it slightly to 99.7% or 100.3%

Anyway around this one? Ever experience this? It also happens with my regular fonts too.

FG
THANKS!

[CyanBlue]

What I normally do is...

Let's say that the _x should be 50 but it currently is 99.9 and the transform is set to 99.9%...
First, select the textField...
Go to Modify - Transform - Remove Transform to reset 99.9% to 100.0%...
Once you have 100% zoom the screen to 2000% which should be the highest you can get...
Make sure that the textField is selected, use your arrow key to move the textField to the left/right and keep your eyes on the Property panel to see the _x value changing... It should increment/decrement by 0.1 everytime you press the arrow keys...
Move it to 50 and you should be good to go... ;)

Wicked, eh??? :(

[Flash Gordon]

lol........geezzzzz

I think it worked. Thanks for the tip.