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How to Keep Fonts Clear
Author: Joseph Miller | Website: http://www.indivision.net |

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How To Keep Fonts Clear

Here are the basic rules to follow to keep text from anti-aliasing (ie. getting fuzzy, unclear, blurred). I've also included a few notes that could be useful when manipulating text with actionscript.

Know the 'Size Intended'

The first bit of info you will need is the size that the font was intended to be set at. Most fonts are between 8-12 pt fonts. In the case of the popular miniml fonts they are 8. Contact the creator of the font if you can't determine the correct size.

RULE #1:

Be sure that the font being used is only set to multiples of the size intended. For example, miniml fonts should only be size 8,16,32,40, etc. If you try other sizes the flash anti-aliasing will kick in and they will blur.

RULE #2:

Adjust placement of text so that it rests on integer (ie 1,2,3,4.. not 1.1,2.5,1.2,5.6, etc.) x and y values. If the text is placed on say x:1.4 y:2.3 the text will anti-alias and blur. The exact position of text is easily changed by selecting it and opening the info box in flash. Simply type in the rounded x and y values.

Those are the two basic rules. Here are a few notes/tricks for other situations:

NOTE #1:

A lot of times you will have text within a movie clip. Even though the x and y values may be integers it may still look blurry. This is because the movieclip that it resides in is not on integer values. It's generally good practice to manually adjust movieclips via the info box whenever they contain text.

NOTE #2:

You will run into a problem with the aliasing when you scroll or manipulate the location of the text via actionscript. This is obviously due to the text being moved between integer values. The solution is to modify the actionscript so that when it determines the x and y position of the text you include a Math.round () argument.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

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Added: : 2001-10-22 Rating: 8.71 Votes: 265 Hits: 9815

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Joseph Miller and the effects mentioned in this tutorial can be found at www.indivision.net.

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