Text and lines moving

So I was adding some notation to my city map and noticed an odd phenomenon. I already have plenty of text and lines of various kinds on this and other maps, and I feel like I haven't seen this happen before? Basically, when I had several lines stacked on top of each other, and next to them, several pieces of text also lined up vertically, they seem to move closer together the farther out I zoom.

I.e., when I am zoomed in pretty close, it looks like in the first attached image.

But if I zoom out, it looks like the second attached image, and as you can see, in in this one the lines are overrunning the words. In addition, the position of the word "Rosemont" seems to change as well.

I did a couple quick text exports of this map, and this distortion IS still present - when the exported PNGs are viewed at full res, the lines were pushed over into the words in a 2300 x 3000 resolution image and the "Rosemont" was farther off to right (like in the zoomed out image), but in a 5500 x 7000 image, the lines were cleanly separate from the text and "Rosemont" was more in line with the text below it (like in the zoomed in image).

Is this normal? Is there some setting I could have turned on by accident or something to cause this? Thanks!

Comments

  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    This is unfortunately a result of True Type font handling - it doesn't render exactly the same at different zoom levels, instead showing in certain fixed sizes. There are a number of ways around the problem:

    1. Use proper alignment and insertion points for your text. In your example, align the text "left" (horizontal) and "mid" (vertical) when placing it, and place it using the grid next to your lines. This insertion point will be the "fixed" one, making sure the text will not render over the lines (it will still vary in length on the right).

    2. Explode the text after placing it. That will make it from a text entity in a number of normal entities, which will render in a fixed way. You will lose the ability to edit the text though.
  • I've found that once you've set up your text on the drawing, it's useful to scroll in and out using the mouse-wheel to different resolutions a few times, and watch how the text behaves with each change. If the text starts to overrun something you need to remain visible, it's then easy enough to see where you'll need to move it - or sometimes change the line-lengths if you're using a Multi-line text block.
  • CielCiel Traveler
    @ Ralf - sorry, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "align the text "left" (horizontal) and "mid" (vertical) when placing it". Are you referring to an actual option in the text settings somewhere? I couldn't find anything worded that way... but if you don't mean a setting in that sense, I'm not sure what you're referring to. Being able to "lock" it to one side (to the left side), so that it won't overlap the lines to the left would be great. If it still appears to "move" on the right side, that's not so bad - since the words would be read left to right anyway, I'd rather it be the right side than the left that fluctuates so that works.
  • Alignment of a text entity is controlled by the "Justify" property of the "Text Properties" dialog below. This can be preset by clicking the Text Specs image button or by clicking the "Properties" button on the "Text" dialog. (I think the justification you want is "Mid far Left".)
  • CielCiel Traveler
    Aha!

    ...How did I not see this, lol. For some reason I just didn't think to click on the "Justify" drop-down menu when looking for the option to follow the advice in the post by Ralf. I feel silly now, but at least I know what to look for. And it does seem to work!

    Thanks Ralf, DaltonSpence, and Wyvern for the responses!
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    You can alter the alignment quickly if you have a piece of text on your crosshairs by pressing the following letters...

    Vertical alignments:

    M = middle
    T = top
    B = bottom

    Horizontal alignments:

    L = left aligned
    R = right aligned
    C = centre aligned
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