Quark Forums

I've used 12pt type so it should be large enough. I used high quality on the conversion and all the type was in basic boxes. I think I may have to use quark for the menus / all the type for best quality. So would I be able to accurately position the roll-overs on top of my SWF file.

Site: www.ledesign.co.uk

Thanks

Hi, prophet,

can youmaybe state which ones you see as non-sharp? At a quick galnce I didn't see anything unsharp on the homepage and zooming in also didn't reveal anything obvious.

Everything that's a text box and not an interactive object defined as text object QuarkXPress converts to vectors, so it should stay sharp (unless Flash Player adds some anti-aliasing to it). If you define a tetx box as a text box object, then it even stays fonts.

Thanks
Matthias

Mmmm, zooming in does look better. But at the default page size the menu type looks pixilated, ie the type looks like its being filled with black, the bottom and top of characters are grey - not white.

It must be the display/graphics resolution. I tried it on my LaCie 320 and Samsung monitors on Mac/PC respectively and both show pixely or badly drawn text at the size of screen when loaded. But are ok when zoomed in. The site is 1024 x 768 and the monitors are 1600 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050 it must be the screen resolution thats causing a bad display.

Any thoughts

Hi, prophet,

can you post a screenshot? I do not see any black fills.

Also, what Flash Player are you using when you view your site, v10?

Adobe writes about Flash Player 10:

Anti-aliasing engine (Saffron 3.1)

An update to the Saffron anti-aliasing text engine increases performance and quality of anti-aliased text, particularly for Asian character rendering. Support for stroke fonts reduces memory requirements.

so v10 might show it better.

Does it look different when you use a different Flash Player (e.g. the Standalone Flash Player that ships with your software)?

Thanks
Matthias

Not sure how to post a screen shot on this forum, there doesn't appear to be an option for it.

No, it doesn't appear different. The website and the exported SWF look the same but the type is pin sharp in Quark/QID

I might try a different font just for the sake of it. Or at least export it again and check all the options.

Thanks again

prophet:

Hi Matthias, I'm using Flash Player 9 (r16) or version 9.0.45.0 I've installed Flash Player 10 but version 9 keeps opening???

Be aware that Adobe calls both players "Flash Player", the Standalone Player as well as the plug-in. Plus, there are two variants of the Flash plug-in, one ActiveX and one e.g. for Firefox.

The Standalone Player is something you cannot download from Adobe, you can just get it with software, e.g. QuarkXPress or Adobe "Fl". The plug-in is freely available from Adobe's website.

So these two/three can differ, you can find out what version you are using in the browser by right clicking on any SWF and choosing the "About".

QuarkXPress / Interactive Designer always uses the Standalone Player for previewing and embedding (for Projectors). The browser uses the plug-in (and depends on what you have installed).

Not sure how to post a screen shot on this forum, there doesn't appear to be an option for it.

You need to upload your pictures somewhere like a free picture hosting service and then reference it with the image tag.

The website and the exported SWF look the same but the type is pin sharp in Quark/QID.

I have asked R&D to give me an answer, I will post it here, once I have it.

Best
Matthias

The link below: The top picture is the imported SWF file in quark ready to be export to HTML. The bottom picture is the master file in Quark. There is a distinct different the top text looks smudged the bottom one doesn't. The file below is the larger size from flicker, any other size and they both looked bad. The pictures are both ok!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29011446@N07/3115060245/sizes/o/

If you can't see a difference I try again.

Thanks for the help

 One more pic

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29011446@N07/3115060127/sizes/o/in/photostream/

 Hi Matthias

 Sorry about the extra posts but I've finally got the right picture which shows a difference. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29011446@N07/3116581936/sizes/o/

This is a html preview of 'text in quark' on the left and the SWF file on the right. It definately shows that the SWF text output is a pixel output not a vector/pure font. The text is in a 'textbox' object in QID

Hi, prophet,

prophet:

It definately shows that the SWF text output is a pixel output not a vector/pure font.

Fonts in Interactive Designer ARE ALWAYS vectors, either still fonts or converted vectors. Unlike the Web Layout space (which can optionally convert text to pictures) Interactive Layout NEVER converts to pixels. When you zoom in and it keeps smooth quality (or even improves), that shows that it is vector information.

The "adding the pixels" is most likely from Adobe's Flash Player, which adds anti-aliasing (which is adding pixels). Especially with font sizes under 12 pt that is known in older versions of Flash Player. Whether that's the same with v10 I have not tested enough yet.

The text is in a 'textbox' object in QID

Why are you defining this as a textbox object? You onyl need textbox objects, if you want to allow copying or entering text at runtime.

What if you keep the text as basic object (or no object, if it does nothing)? As Flash Player should only apply anti-aliasing to fonts, this should improve quality.

Best
Matthias

Hi Matthias,<p>

 I understand what you are saying about the fonts being vectors. I was only stating that my last post above clearly showed that the HTML text is sharp and the SWF isn't when viewed at 100%.<p>

After reading your post, the problem must be Flash<p>

I only know that as I type this here, the text is sharp. When I create my files in quark, they are sharp, but when previewed or exported at 100% they aren't. I take your point that the fonts are vectors, as when zoomed in they improve, but then the pictures begin to pixelate.<p>

So the problem must be anti-aliasing from Flash. Can I uninstall flash from my system, then upgrade to the latest version?<p>

Oh, I only used the textbox because I was trying anything by then, I normally don't.<p>

Thanks

Hi. Prophet,

R&D confirmed that it has to do with anti-aliasing of Flash Player for fonts/vectors. They came up with three possible solutions you might want to try:

1. Ensure that text boxes are placed at absolute pixel positions so that antialiasing algorithm is less dramatic.
2. Increase the font size (if possible).
3. Try to use text boxes and DO NOT EMBED fonts (however that might chaneg the design experience if using unusual fonts).

Another idea I had is, maybe use an RGB black if you are not already doing that. Does that have an effect?

prophet:

Can I uninstall flash from my system, then upgrade to the latest version?

You mean the Flash Player inside your browser?  That should happen automatically when you upgrade your browser plug-in. So go to Adobe's website, download the newest Flash Player for your browser/platform and install.

As that keeps the Standalone Player untouched though (and that's intended, as Adobe doesn't allow you download the Standalone Player freely), export and open the SWF in your browser to evaluate the effect (do not use preview).

Best
Matthias

 Hi Matthias,

My I just say thanks for the help.

I have tried all the above ideas but unfortunately nothing has changed. The most strange thing is that I downloaded the flash player uninstall utility and flash player 10. Ran the uninstall that went ok, restarted my mac then installed flash player 10, ran quark exported and viewed in web browser (not preview) check the flash version and it's still version 9 (r16)!!!!!

Anyway the fonts still look messy, grey in places etc... I'm going to learn how to use quark's html capabilities and combine that with QID.

If you have time, please take a look at my site, I've replicated some of the type on the same html page as the SWF. Once exported the difference is obvious. I have to zoom in 5 times to get the SWF text to match the html type for quality, obviously that ruins the pictures.

Once again thanks, I can't spend any more time on this problem as work is mounting up. I'll get back on it over christmas.

Prophet 

Hi, Prophet,

my apologies that you are unhappy with the results. However it seems to be a feature of Flash (SWF), which cannot be changed unless you bitmap the fonts. I just tried the same in Adobe "Fl" and got the same results with Interacive Designer, though in "Fl" you can control how strong anti-aliasing works.

Have you tried bitmapping the font (web layout)? Is that better (I personally find it worse)?

Best
Matthias

Hi Matthias,

No apology needed, I was really excited about creating sites with QID and was going to use it as a service once I'd got familiar with it, but at present this font problem stops that I'm afraid.

Please excuse my ignorance, but when you say 'bitmap', do you mean use quark for web layout and only use QID for interactive parts of the site, importing the SWF's where necesssary? If so I would have to learn how quark creates websites but I don't mind that. I can envision some complex work ahead, but I'm up for it.

Just a thought, does Quark 8 produce SWF any differently (probably not) than using Quark 7.3 and QID. I'll be upgrading in the new year regardless, I've been using quark for 11 years and I'm not going to change now.

Prophet