Kind of RTF question

AppleScript
#1

I use ‘Outline’ as an attribute (or as one of the attributes).
Everything is okay up to a certain outline width. Depending on font I’ll get the joint-spikes like with a W and Arial.

W
Is there a way to use ‘miterLimit’ or ‘lineJoinStyle’ here?

Thanks in advance for any hints on that & stay safe!

#2

The first thing I’d try would be a different font.

#3

Good idea :smile:
But it’s not up to me. Arial is a standard for what I’m doing (or try to do)

#4

Nonetheless, trying another font will tell you whether it’s a font-specific issue, or something else you’re doing.

#5

It’s just a Bezier specific issue with any vector path drawn, not a specific font issue.
The Arial capital ‘W’ is just a very obvious example. That’s why there are ‘miter limits’ and ‘join types’
Here an example where obviously a miter limit is applied

W-2

You see the effect on the upper left edge of the W.
Probably it’s a kind of ‘post process’ since outline text needs 2 strings stacked upon each other to work.

#6

I understand what it is — I’m just trying to establish when it’s happening, and trying another font may help answer the question.

#7

This is totally independent from the font - any font where a character has edges is affected. The miter length grows bigger as the angle of the corner gets smaller.

#8

OK, how are you drawing the text?

#9

Here the base parts of the script.
Assuming that theATS is an attributed string.

set theStrokedATS to theATS's mutableCopy()
theStrokedATS's addAttribute:(cA's NSStrokeColorAttributeName) value:(strokeClrVal) range:({0, theATS's |length|()})
theStrokedATS's addAttribute:(cA's NSStrokeWidthAttributeName) value:(strokeWidthVal) range:({0, theATS's |length|()})

set tmpImg1 to my makeImg(bgrWidth, bgrHeight, edgeRadius, fillColor)
set tmpImg2 to my stringOnImg(tmpImg1, theStrokedATS, xPos, yPos)
# to make the fill work correctly
set tmpImg2 to my stringOnImg(tmpImg2, theATS, xPos, yPos)


#-----------------------------------------------------------------------
on makeNSColor(zValueType, clrComps)
	# clrComps/type can be like {1, 1, 1, 1} = 1 or {255, 255, 255, 255} = 255
	if count of clrComps = 3
		set end of clrComps to (zValueType as integer)
	end
	set {redValue, greenValue, blueValue, alphaValue} to clrComps
	set zValueType to zValueType as integer
	set aRedCocoa to (redValue / zValueType) as real
	set aGreenCocoa to (greenValue / zValueType) as real
	set aBlueCocoa to (blueValue / zValueType) as real
	set aAlphaCocoa to (alphaValue / zValueType) as real
	set aColor to cA's NSColor's colorWithCalibratedRed:aRedCocoa green:aGreenCocoa blue:aBlueCocoa alpha:aAlphaCocoa
	return aColor
end makeNSColor

#-----------------------------------------------------------------------
on stringOnImg(someImage, someAttrStr, xPos, yPos)
	someImage's lockFocus()
	someAttrStr's drawAtPoint:(cA's NSMakePoint(xPos, yPos))
	someImage's unlockFocus()
	return someImage
end stringOnImg


on makeImg(aWidth, aHeight, aRadius, aFillColor)
	set someImage to cA's NSImage's alloc()'s initWithSize:(cA's NSMakeSize(aWidth, aHeight))
	
	someImage's lockFocus()
	set aRect to {{x:0, y:0}, {width:aWidth, height:aHeight}}
	set theNSBezierPath to cA's NSBezierPath's bezierPath
	if aRadius = 0 then
		theNSBezierPath's appendBezierPathWithRect:aRect
	else
		theNSBezierPath's appendBezierPathWithRoundedRect:aRect xRadius:aRadius yRadius:aRadius
	end if
	aFillColor's |set|()
	theNSBezierPath's fill()
	someImage's unlockFocus()
	
	return someImage
end makeImg
#10

Maybe the:
CGContextSetMiterLimit

is the correct thing to use - but how to use?

#11

For anyone else following along, the short answer is that it can’t be done. The only solution is to render the type as bezier path outlines.