PixelText Workaround Not Working With Masks ?!?

[robgaskell]

I have been using the workaround to stop the antialiasing on my 'pixel fonts' by setting the text to dynamic (even though it isn't) and non-editable, as suggested on the Macromedia site. This has been working fine, but I have now been using a mask (to 'uncover' some text with the mask moving with a motion tween). However, I have found that the text doesn't show up! If I change the text back to normal (ie. From dynamic back to static text) it shows up fine, but then it goes all blurry.

Does anyone know why this is happening and (more importantly) how to fix it?

Thanks,
Rob Gaskell

[Viper32817]

Yes, this is happening because you can't mask Dynamic text. The only way to mask Dynamic text is to embed the font. But doing this will cause the text to be antialiased...so you may have a problem on your hands if you wish it to be aliased masked dynamic text...

[murple]

use kroeger or natzke fonts, they are pixel based and can have the font embeded without looking all blurry. you do have to make sure that the text field height is a positive even number, otherwise it'll look shifty blurry

[Sualdam]

Originally posted by Viper32817
The only way to mask Dynamic text is to embed the font. But doing this will cause the text to be antialiased...

Are you sure about that?

I thought the whole point of pixel fonts was that they don't anti-alias (that's why using them in static text causes fuzziness, because static text does anti-alias them).

I can't see how anti-aliasing would switch on by embedding a font in a dynamic text box. I can't find any reference that says it does, either.

And on top of all that - I never, ever have the problem and I embed them all the time.

[robgaskell]

Originally posted by Sualdam

Originally posted by Viper32817
The only way to mask Dynamic text is to embed the font. But doing this will cause the text to be antialiased...

Are you sure about that?

I thought the whole point of pixel fonts was that they don't anti-alias (that's why using them in static text causes fuzziness, because static text does anti-alias them).

I can't see how anti-aliasing would switch on by embedding a font in a dynamic text box. I can't find any reference that says it does, either.

And on top of all that - I never, ever have the problem and I embed them all the time.

If you have pixel fonts in static text they are fuzzy (anti-aliased), if they are in dynamic text they are nice and sharp (not anti-aliased). Using dynamic text is fine as a workaround normally, but it doesn't work with a mask

[Sualdam]

Originally posted by robgaskell
Using dynamic text is fine as a workaround normally, but it doesn't work with a mask

Umm! My point was that embedding them means that you can mask them, and embedding them doesn't make them anti-alias (as far as I have ever seen, but Viper's comment has made me think).

This thread is a bit confusing, because using dynamic text embedded to mask pixel fonts isn't what I consider a workaround - it is just the way you have to do it

[robgaskell]

I think that embedding the font does anti-alias the text. Is there another way of making the text 'sharp' - not just with pixel fonts, but other more normal ones like Arial and Verdana? Whenever I use them they come out anti-aliased but there are a lot of sites that seem to have found a solution eg http://www.madreal.com/mdrl/index.html
Any ideas?

[rcmpbl]

Like Rob I am a victim of the blurry text.

I have recently tried the pixel fonts from miminl.com and it seemed to work fine expect for when I had it in a mc 3 levels deep. It seems a very touchy businees. All text needs to be on whole pixel values (23.0 not 23.4).

I could not find away around it. I even aligned all my mc's to whole pixels.

What really concerns me is getting the standard fonts like Arial and Helvetica to display with out antialising in Flash.

I would love to know the secret...if there is one.
[Edited by rcmpbl on 07-25-2002 at 02:15 AM]