Need help with better looking fonts please

[pcarlow]

Hi,

I'm using paint.net to create buttons for website menus but I can't figure out how to get my fonts to look better.

I've played around with smooth/sharp and anti-aliasing but no matter what i do the fonts just don't look "clean" enough for me.

What I mean by that, is they appear to have slightly jagged or un-smooth edges.

When I look at other websites with graphical buttons the fonts appear very sharp and professional looking.

What else can I try?

Thanks,

Patrick

[DarkShock]

I'm not sure what to tell you. Font improvements are actually on their way and will be in v3.5 along with more features and improvements. There might be various ways you can do to make the edges smooth on your text. I think their might be a plug-in that can do that, and if not, I think their might be a specific blur you can do to your text that might make the edges smooth. I'm not sure, but I hope you find something. :wink:

EDIT: Ok, I found that there is a Soften Edges plug-in you can download that will be under Effects > Blurs, but for some reason when I tried it my edges were only getting worse. I'm not sure if it's a problem when I downloaded it or if the plug-in is just faulty. Try it if you will...

[BoltBait]

Work at 2x your final size. Then, scale down for your final output. (Experiment with scale modes.)

[Lance McKnight]

Alternatively, you could download (if you haven't) alpha mask, and read LFC's excellent tutorial on gold text.

[pcarlow]

Thanks for your suggestions.

The soften edges pulgin didn't work for me either.

Double the text size then reducing it didn't make much difference.

The tutorial was great and I was able to duplicate the image in the example, but I haven't been able to figure out how to apply what I learned to smaller text on a button.

I guess I'll just have to wait till 3.5 comes out and make do with what I have for now.