- Feb 8, 2004
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Is cleartype basically anti-aliasing for text?
- Thread starter Maximilian
- Start date
A better term is probably "subpixel hinting". You may be able to find more info with that.
It's really only meant for LCDs that have a perfect pixel layout. CRTs have triads of pixels that tend to AA normal fonts better. On LCDs things appear harsh, so Cleartype is an effort to use subpixels to raise the resolution of the fonts and provide AA using blending.
It's really only meant for LCDs that have a perfect pixel layout. CRTs have triads of pixels that tend to AA normal fonts better. On LCDs things appear harsh, so Cleartype is an effort to use subpixels to raise the resolution of the fonts and provide AA using blending.
I agreen with Nothinman. Razor sharp text is what I like about LCDs and ClearType does nothing more than defocus it.
Ditto. Looks like an ugly, blurry mess on CRTs and LCDs. I want razor-sharp text, not an attempted approximation of the blurry font rendering that I used to get with a VGA card with crappy DACs and a too-thin low-bandwidth VGA cable.
yeah basically. i like it on my LCD. doesn't look good on CRT's though. for anyone who wants to customize it, go to this page in IE (requires ActiveX or you can download the powertoys version) and you can customize to what degree windows applies cleartype.
Windows' implementation is very poor. Besides, it requires you to adjust ClearType "gamma" or "contrast" properly. Check out Mac and Linux screenshots of good font hinting (keywords "libxft" "cleartype" patch maybe).
Vista's is a little better. But Linux's is razor sharp here. It's nothing like the blur-ridden XP ClearType made for poor quality LCDs. It's just as sharp as it is without the AA, but with smooth edges. There is very little color fringing (only on really small fonts) and no gray blurriness surrounding the edges of fonts. It truly is higher resolution.
Having a properly calibrated monitor helps the blending work more effectively. Both the AA on text and in 3D games will look better.
I happened to have comparisons. Make sure you view these full res.
FF in WXP(default): http://xtknight.atothosting.com/images/wxp_ff_def.png
FF in WXP(ClearType): http://xtknight.atothosting.com/images/wxp_ff_ct.png
FF in Ubuntu(LCD subpixel hinting): http://xtknight.atothosting.com/images/ubu_ff_lcd.png
At first glance, properly tuned XP ClearType doesn't look so bad, but then you look at it for a little longer and your eyes begin to hurt. Granted, Ubuntu was missing some of MS's TrueType fonts so it used only the basic font family of missing fonts.
ClearTweak allows more fine-grained control of XP's ClearType: http://www.ioisland.com/cleartweak/
Vista's is a little better. But Linux's is razor sharp here. It's nothing like the blur-ridden XP ClearType made for poor quality LCDs. It's just as sharp as it is without the AA, but with smooth edges. There is very little color fringing (only on really small fonts) and no gray blurriness surrounding the edges of fonts. It truly is higher resolution.
Having a properly calibrated monitor helps the blending work more effectively. Both the AA on text and in 3D games will look better.
I happened to have comparisons. Make sure you view these full res.
FF in WXP(default): http://xtknight.atothosting.com/images/wxp_ff_def.png
FF in WXP(ClearType): http://xtknight.atothosting.com/images/wxp_ff_ct.png
FF in Ubuntu(LCD subpixel hinting): http://xtknight.atothosting.com/images/ubu_ff_lcd.png
At first glance, properly tuned XP ClearType doesn't look so bad, but then you look at it for a little longer and your eyes begin to hurt. Granted, Ubuntu was missing some of MS's TrueType fonts so it used only the basic font family of missing fonts.
ClearTweak allows more fine-grained control of XP's ClearType: http://www.ioisland.com/cleartweak/
The Ubuntu sample still looks a bit blurred, but definitely an improvement over either of the Windows samples.
I assume that the Windows "default" sample is illustrating standard (non-Cleartype) font smoothing? There's definitely anti-aliasing there, so it can't be non-smoothed rendering.
I assume that the Windows "default" sample is illustrating standard (non-Cleartype) font smoothing? There's definitely anti-aliasing there, so it can't be non-smoothed rendering.
Ugh how can people use ClearType? I almost couldn't make my way back to find it in the options. The Ubuntu sub-pixel hinting looks good though.
It is not AA. AA is useful but cleartype is more useful because it makes use of more information, namely that LCD pixels have subpixels arranged in a certain way of the three colours.
If a pixel is trying to represent black and white components (shapes within it) AA makes it grey but cleartype can make it colourful because it may be lighting up some of the subpixels. It doesn't look colourful unless you stare close-up at the screen because of the way the eye perceives things and the algorithm averages out the colour. I think.
Anyway it's great for LCDs in the right orientation (if your screen is in portrait mode, no luck at present), and inappropriate for CRTs: they should use AA, not cleartype. (But unfortunatly windows doesn't provide the option for normal AA so if you have a CRT or an LCD in the wrong orientation cleartype or blocky text are your only options.)
If a pixel is trying to represent black and white components (shapes within it) AA makes it grey but cleartype can make it colourful because it may be lighting up some of the subpixels. It doesn't look colourful unless you stare close-up at the screen because of the way the eye perceives things and the algorithm averages out the colour. I think.
Anyway it's great for LCDs in the right orientation (if your screen is in portrait mode, no luck at present), and inappropriate for CRTs: they should use AA, not cleartype. (But unfortunatly windows doesn't provide the option for normal AA so if you have a CRT or an LCD in the wrong orientation cleartype or blocky text are your only options.)
Like people have already mentioned, I prefer sharp text over "smooth" text. First thing I do on any computer build is disable Cleartype or any kind of subpixel hinting. My monitor is also kinda crappy so any kind of smoothing, regardless of how good the algorithm is, will produce funny colors and hurt my eyes.
Really sucks how the default UI font in Vista has Cleartype built in.
Really sucks how the default UI font in Vista has Cleartype built in.
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