[BUG-228474] [HiDPI] Very fuzzy viewer fonts, UI, and in-world view with HiDPI off

[sl-service-account]

What just happened?

When HiDPI is turned off in Preferences, the viewer fonts become very fuzzy.

See the two attached images for a sample of HiDPI off & on.

The same difference can be seen in chat windows and other parts of the interface.

What were you doing when it happened?

I turned off HiDPI due to its extreme performance reduction.

What were you expecting to happen instead?

I was expecting fonts to remain clear and sharp as on previous viewers.

Other information

Attachments

• 1 pre-HiDPI 6.1.0.523335.png 2020-04-14 13:03:45
• 2 HiDPI off 6.3.8.538264.png 2020-04-14 13:03:43
• 3 HiDPI on 6.3.8.538264.png 2020-04-14 13:03:49
• 6.3.2, HiDPI off.png 2020-04-14 19:52:39
• 6.3.2, HiDPI on.png 2020-04-14 19:52:40
• Apple menu.png 2020-04-13 14:39:56
• Prefs_HiDPI_Off.png 2020-04-11 20:42:06
• Prefs_HiDPI_On.png 2020-04-11 20:42:05
• SLV 6.1.0. pre-HiDPI.png 2020-04-16 15:35:06
• SLV splash screen 6.4.1.png 2020-05-10 21:35:06
• SLV splash screen 6.4.1-HiDPI-on.png 2020-05-10 21:37:33

Original Jira Fields

| Field | Value | | ------------- | ------------- | | Issue | BUG-228474 | | Summary | [HiDPI] Very fuzzy viewer fonts, UI, and in-world view with HiDPI off | | Type | Bug | | Priority | Unset | | Status | Accepted | | Resolution | Accepted | | Reporter | Anastasia Horngold (anastasia.horngold) | | Created at | 2020-04-12T00:42:42Z | | Updated at | 2020-07-20T21:02:51Z | ``` { 'Build Id': 'unset', 'Business Unit': ['Platform'], 'Date of First Response': '2020-04-13T12:52:41.115-0500', 'ReOpened Count': 0.0, 'Severity': 'Unset', 'System': 'SL Viewer', 'Target Viewer Version': 'viewer-development', 'What just happened?': 'When HiDPI is turned off in Preferences, the viewer fonts become very fuzzy.\r\n', 'What were you doing when it happened?': 'I turned off HiDPI due to its extreme performance reduction.', 'What were you expecting to happen instead?': 'I was expecting fonts to remain clear and sharp as on previous viewers.', 'Where': 'http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serenity%20Gardens/37/190/23', } ```

[sl-service-account]

Kyle Linden commented at 2020-04-13T17:52:41Z

Hi Anastasia,

Will you please open your Apple > About This Mac menu and provide a screen shot of your info. I would primarily like to confirm whether you have a Retina display.

Please press the Info Provided button when you have updated this report.

Thanks!

[sl-service-account]

Anastasia Horngold commented at 2020-04-13T18:40:39Z


Here's the requested screenshot. Thanks!

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Dan Linden commented at 2020-04-14T17:04:47Z

Added some screenshot from a similar system, "1 pre-HiDPI 6.1.0.523335.png", "2 HiDPI off 6.3.8.538264.png", "3 HiDPI on 6.3.8.538264.png"

[sl-service-account]

Kyle Linden commented at 2020-04-14T17:25:52Z

Hi Anastasia,

Given Dan's testing and screen shots we believe what you are seeing is the improvement in quality for HiDPI display and that the fonts in non-HiDPI mode is equivalent to past normal behavior.

If you would like to recreate Dan's test you may download the release viewer before we introduced HiDPI support to compare. http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Release_Notes/Second_Life_Release/6.1.0.523335 Please note, to avoid being automatically updated, you will need to launch the viewer in the Mac Terminal and add "--channel Test" to the command line launch.

Please let us know if your results vary or whether based on Dan's results, you also agree this is expected behavior.

Thanks!

[sl-service-account]

Anastasia Horngold commented at 2020-04-14T23:52:44Z, updated at 2020-04-15T01:49:28Z

Hello,

I downloaded 6.1.0 and opened it via Terminal, but still received the message that I would have to update it to log in, so was unable to test as you requested.

A little more background:

The reason I noticed this problem is that our recent FS testing versions are showing the fuzzy problem, while the current FS release (which does have the HiDPI setting) does not.

Here is the comparison on the current Firestorm release. With HiDPI off, the font is still crisp.  

   

 

If you compare FS 6.3.2 HiDPI off with SL viewer, HiDPI off, you can see how much crisper it is on the current release.

  

On the fuzzy versions, it's as if someone has tried to improve the appearance of the font by increasing its antialiasing, but has accidentally made the entire character more transparent instead of limiting the effect to the edges. The fonts are softer and less jaggy, but they are also low-contrast and blurry. 

 

 

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Anastasia Horngold commented at 2020-04-15T00:31:02Z

See above :)

[sl-service-account]

Kyle Linden commented at 2020-04-16T17:22:00Z

Hi Anastasia,

Thank you for the additional screen shots. They are very helpful. Will you please verify your Terminal launch command was:

/Applications/Second\ Life\ Viewer.app/Contents/MacOS/Second\ Life\ Release --channel Test

Does using that allow you to log in on the 6.1.0 build?

Thanks!

[sl-service-account]

Anastasia Horngold commented at 2020-04-16T19:32:07Z, updated at 2020-04-16T19:35:26Z

Thanks for the terminal command; my problem was PEBCAK. :P

Here is a screenshot from SL viewer 6.1.0, pre-HiDPI. The fonts are indeed blurry there too, so it appears that Firestorm has been using something that is clearer, at least on Mac.

 


 

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Ansariel Hiller commented at 2020-04-16T20:11:37Z

@Dan Linden that is not correct. The Windows version of Firestorm uses Freetype 2.3.9 since the later versions indeed produce blurred out font effects. The OSX version however uses Freetype 2.4.4 since early 2018.

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Anastasia Horngold commented at 2020-05-11T01:34:44Z, updated at 2020-05-11T01:38:06Z

Still reproduces on Second Life Release 6.4.1.540593 (64bit) (Mac Mojave).

At this point I'm finding that it's not just fonts, it's also images and UI. See:


And with HiDPI on, a magnitude of difference:


[sl-service-account]

Whirly Fizzle commented at 2020-07-20T19:16:33Z

Firestorm fix from Tonya (has CA): https://vcs.firestormviewer.org/phoenix-firestorm/changeset/06b0c16fb40f2b6ca028b334c92bcb4b3dd7223d

[sl-service-account]

Alexa Linden commented at 2020-07-20T20:47:05Z

Hi [~tonya.souther] are we ok to use this?

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Tonya Souther commented at 2020-07-20T21:00:49Z

Go for it! That means you get to help fix it when that trick stops working! ;)

[sl-service-account]

Alexa Linden commented at 2020-07-20T21:02:51Z

thanks! :D