Poor text halo quality in ArcGIS Pro PDF output

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02-21-2017 12:14 PM
MarcoBoeringa
MVP Regular Contributor

Hi all,

Anyone else noticed this? When I export a layout to PDF from ArcGIS Pro (1.4.1) at the default 120 dpi resolution, any text label halos are very poorly rendered in the final PDF output.

Now I was well familiar with this issue in ArcMap due to its different display pipeline, where low dpi (< 300 dpi) settings would not only lead to poor text label halo quality, but also loss of fine detail in the PDF output, and often even thin line objects not being exported at all and thus disappearing in the output.

I therefor always use some very high dpi setting in 100% vector maps (e.g. 3600 dpi) in ArcMap, so as to force proper rendering and higher quality text label halos output, and at least a minimum 450 dpi for combined vector and raster output.

However, due to its new architecture, Pro was supposed to solve these issues as far as I understood. Indeed, when looking at the true GIS vector data, the quality of the PDF output even at a low 100 dpi or so, is excellent.

Unfortunately, not for the text label halos though!... Look at the accompanying images (note: 800 or 1600% enlargement), which shows both a high res ArcMap output, and Pro output at different resolutions. Notice how at 120 dpi, the halos are rendered really poorly. Instead of nicely encircling the corresponding label characters, the halos appear skewed, shifted and e.g. the "i" dot is square instead of trapezium as it should be for the italic text.

Notice that with a 3600 dpi setting in Pro, the issues are completely resolved, and in fact, the halo rendering is even better than from ArcMap at the same resolution.

However, a not unrealistically low 300 dpi setting, still leads to big artifacts in the halos... This will be an issue when exporting combined raster + vector data, where you may wish to reduce output size by limiting the dpi setting. As for now, this will lead to poor text halo quality in the PDF output.

Note 1: for the full resolution images, open the attachments of the post instead of clicking on the images.

Note 2: the screenshots are based on Adobe Reader XI 11.0.19, so not the newer "DC".

Marco

Poor text label halo rendering - ArcGIS Pro 120 dpi PDF output

Poor text label halo rendering - ArcGIS Pro 3600 dpi PDF outputPoor text label halo rendering - ArcGIS Pro 3600 dpi PDF output - 1600 percentage enlargement

Poor text label halo rendering - ArcGIS Pro 300 dpi PDF output - 1600 percentage enlargement

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15 Replies
JeremyWright
Esri Regular Contributor

Marco,

Are these truly haloes or are they masking polygons?

J

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MarcoBoeringa
MVP Regular Contributor

Jeremy Wright schreef:

Marco,   Are these truly haloes or are they masking polygons?   J

Well, it depends on who you ask probably . If I look in the interface of ArcMap (where I created the original mxd that I imported in Pro), the setting for this is on the Mask TAB of the Edit Symbol option of an ordinary Text Symbol. But the actual setting is either None or Halo...

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MarcoBoeringa
MVP Regular Contributor

Actually, due to some other very rare bug that I have occasionally seen happening, where the actual black text was shifted completely of the white "halo" in PDF output, I know quite certain that the features created in the PDF output are not "donut" shape, but extent under the black original text. So that is probably what you would call a "mask"? Versus the halo being a "donut" shape with the original text cut out from the white secondary feature?

Anyway, this is more of theoretical value, you know which setting I mean in the symbol editor...

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JeremyWright
Esri Regular Contributor

OK Marco,

Just to be sure (since forum postings are an imperfect communication medium) are the white shapes behind the text generated using a symbology option, or are they a separate feature?

J

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MarcoBoeringa
MVP Regular Contributor

As I wrote, it is just the Halo setting of the Mask TAB of the ArcMap symbol editor. This is a setting of any ordinary Text Symbol in ArcMap, nothing special. So yes, the "halo shapes" are generated using symbology setting. I don't know what - if anything - Pro changes to this if I import and ArcMap mxd.

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JeremyWright
Esri Regular Contributor

OK I'll see if we can repro here and go from there.  Does it happen for any font or only some?

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MarcoBoeringa
MVP Regular Contributor

I doubt font is relevant here, but the actual font used is the common DejaVu font:

DejaVu Fonts 

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MarcoBoeringa
MVP Regular Contributor

By the way, note that the actual font sizes are very small here: typically 5.5 to 7pt in half point increment.

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MarcoBoeringa
MVP Regular Contributor

Actual chosen font is "DejaVu Sans" by the way.

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