request for input: default for NaviCube font

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uwestoehr
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request for input: default for NaviCube font

Post by uwestoehr »

For the next FreeCAD version, it is possible to set the font and font size for the navigation cube in the pereferences:
https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Preferences ... Navigation
This allows to set something that fits on your screen resolution and operating system.

In FreeCAD 0.20.x the font "Helvetica" is used in a font size of almost 95. On Windows there is no Helvetica and therefore another font is used as replacement. For that reason it looked good on some systems while it does not on others.

To find out a suitable default for Windows 10 and 11, I need your help:
- what sansserif font is available on all your Windows machines
- if you found a sansserif font that is available, what size is necessary that the word "Bottom" fits nicely to the NaviCube when it has the default size of 132?

To help, you need to take a weekly build of FreeCAD that is from 27-01-2023 or newer: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD-Bund ... kly-builds
(the next day there should be such a build)

@adrianinsaval , @Rexbas
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obelisk79
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Re: request for input: default for NaviCube font

Post by obelisk79 »

What about the option of distributing an appropriately licensed font with FreeCAD as the default for this purpose?
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uwestoehr
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Re: request for input: default for NaviCube font

Post by uwestoehr »

My experimentation lead to the font "Bahnschrift" in the size of 95. This font is available at all Windows 10 and 11 machines I have access to.
According to Microsoft, it should be on all Windows which are at least at Windows 10 version 1709.

Is that the case for you too?
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uwestoehr
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Re: request for input: default for NaviCube font

Post by uwestoehr »

obelisk79 wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:20 am What about the option of distributing an appropriately licensed font with FreeCAD as the default for this purpose?
Good idea. We do this already for TechDraw. There we install the font "osifont":
https://github.com/hikikomori82/osifont/
This is not suitable for the navigation cube since its letters are wide.

The problem with distributing our own font is that one needs admin permissions to install them under Windows. Not everybody has these permissions.

Note that for Linux and MacOS nothing should change, you should get the same font by default as in FreeCAD 0.20. We are here looking for the Windows-only solution.
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Re: request for input: default for NaviCube font

Post by aapo »

uwestoehr wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:37 am Good idea. We do this already for TechDraw. There we install the font "osifont":
https://github.com/hikikomori82/osifont/
This is not suitable for the navigation cube since its letters are wide.

The problem with distributing our own font is that one needs admin permissions to install them under Windows. Not everybody has these permissions.
I don't think the TechDraw osifont is necessarily installed, unless you use the exe installer with admin rights for installing FreeCAD. I have a Windows machine where the osifont simply resides in the FreeCAD\data\Mod\TechDraw\Resources\fonts directory, and nothing is actually installed but the FreeCAD has just been unzipped from the weekly-bundle package with non-admin user rights. FreeCAD finds the font in there, and everything works just fine.

PS. I noticed that you removed the (unused) class HuuhaaClassPy from NaviCube.h with the change. This was probably a very good thing to do. "Huuhaa" is Finnish, and means "gibberish" or "silly thing" in English. It's very weird that someone has added a placeholder class named in Finnish language there, it has probably been an accidental commit or something from a test build... :shock:
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Roy_043
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Re: request for input: default for NaviCube font

Post by Roy_043 »

I think this is the related code:
https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/blob ... ui.cpp#L79

Note that there are other fonts already available in the FreeCAD package:
\bin\Lib\site-packages\matplotlib\mpl-data\fonts\ttf
But maybe these are not available on Linux/Mac?
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Rexbas
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Re: request for input: default for NaviCube font

Post by Rexbas »

"Bahnschrift" is available for me on Windows 11. Although I would use size 80-90 so "BOTTOM" does not get to close to the edge. What happens with the default font for older versions of Windows (..., 7, 8, 8.1) if you use "Bahnschrift" as default? "Arial Black" with size 60 could also be an option and is available for older versions of Windows, according to Microsoft. The same for "Impact" with size 85.
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adrianinsaval
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Re: request for input: default for NaviCube font

Post by adrianinsaval »

uwestoehr wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:37 am Note that for Linux and MacOS nothing should change, you should get the same font by default as in FreeCAD 0.20. We are here looking for the Windows-only solution.
I recently reinstalled linux too and when I tried a clean config of freecad the result isn't good either (text too big), so I think it would be a good idea to seek a multiplatform solution
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Re: request for input: default for NaviCube font

Post by GeneFC »

uwestoehr wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:30 am My experimentation lead to the font "Bahnschrift" in the size of 95. This font is available at all Windows 10 and 11 machines I have access to.
The "standard" Windows font these days is Segoe. It comes in a great variety of styles.

Not so sure about the universal nature of Bahnschrift. I do not find it on any of my Windows installations.

Gene
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Re: request for input: default for NaviCube font

Post by chrisb »

Would it be possible to use SVGs created from a decent font? We would be platform independent and future safe.
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