Altium 14.3 Screen Resolution and display quality problem? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: gani
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 15, 2014, 08:54:26 am
content: Hi,Altium 14.3 is installed on PC,Monitor : samsung 22" : 1920*1080 ( this is native resolution and is set in windows )Graphic: GEForce 8400GSwindows: 8.1all softwares on this PC are working good andthe font display and line drawings are clean and sharp ( eg: ms word and the texts inside it )...but for Altium: the fonts of menus and submenus are not sharp enough but they are fadedthe graphics of schematics ( lines , rectangles , pin_names , ports , ... ) all have the same problem ( faded and not sharp )it seems like : changing LCD monitor resolution from normal manufactured resolution to lower , eg : from 1920*1080 -> 1024*768 => the fonts will be faded and unsharppls,how do I fix this problem?regards

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 15, 2014, 10:38:34 am
content: Quote from: gani on December 15, 2014, 08:54:26 amYes. You should only work with the monitor's native resolution.QuoteI suggest you update the GeForce drivers to the latest available as the first step. Then, plough your way through the GeForce Menus to try the different video settings.Be aware that 1GB of video memory is the absolute minimum recommended by Altium. 2GB is better.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 15, 2014, 11:38:36 am
content: Perhaps you need to disable antialiasing? (Tools / Schematic Preferences)Fonts should be determined by OS settings. Years ago, I noticed a fresh install of Windows 7 has a screen scaling option, which was set for 125%, but none of Altium's dialogs are made for variable layouts, so this made buttons inaccessible by sight and mouse. And generally looked weird, because AD09 was made more for XP I think.No idea if that particular problem is still relevant on AD14 and >Win7.Tim

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 15, 2014, 11:45:43 am
content: FWIW, I am running AD 14 on a LG IPS224 22", at 1920 x 1080 on Windows 7 Pro (x32), the machine is a old Dell Optiplex 380 with a Intel Core2 Duo E8400 @ 3GHz, 4GB Ram, Intel G41 Express graphics, Direct X reports the video memory at around 1.5GB, but not sure if that is shared with the system or dedicated, as x32 cannot address 4GB memory, says usable as 3.20GB.AD runs absolutely fine, the 3D is a bit slow as expected but everything else renders well and displays crisp.I know we also have machines (i7, 16GB Ram) for running SolidWorks with AD on under a Quadro graphics card, and that works well also, but those machines were about £1,500.My little optiplex runs most things like AD quite well.Not sure if this helps or not but I have the stock chipset and graphics drivers that came with the machine installed, which is now quite old.

author: gani
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 15, 2014, 03:40:31 pm
content: Hi,Thx ,after reading the replies,I did change/test some settings,this setting worked (partially) for me:Tools/SchematicPreferences/Generalthis option: Render Texts with GDI+I did remove the tik of checkbox => the fonts on schematic are looking goodthe looking of menu and submenu text fonts are faded/dithered/aliasedregards

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 15, 2014, 06:30:02 pm
content: Change graphics driver texture settings to Quality/Slow/High quality

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 22, 2014, 04:11:33 pm
content: Can you send a screenshot?Altium does this when you have Windows set to enlarge things on your screen beyond 100%. Windows knows how to draw things sharply at 125% but Altium Designer does not. As a result, Altium looks terrible when scaled in this way.