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You'd have had a better chance of convincing me of that if you hadn't already said this:
You seem to have this issue with a lot of different things. All that stuff that isn't changing. It's your eyes that are changing. There is no tiny print conspiracy of designers under 40. A visit to the eye doctor and a pair of glasses could solve all of it.
I would like to see them put adjustable fonts in their products too. I am nearsighted, but I don't have any trouble reading the Carrara interface and I sit over 6 feet from my monitor. It might be that the main monitor that I use in my setup is a 47 inch tv ( smile). The app I have the most trouble with is DIM. So, I can understand what you mean by wanting an adjustable font. One wouldn't think it would be THAT hard to add.
Gus
Okay....really NOT helping now, and I do detect either sarcasm or a willful attempt to take me down a peg.
All that stuff IS changing; others will acknowledge it. I have not claimed that a conspiracy is afoot. I'm just saying that it's not natural for some to think about vision issues. And by the way, I see my eye doctor regularly; peepers are fine.
Now that we are being direct with each other, I must ask; are you really going to oppose me at every turn here and in other subjects and continually try to discourage any positive effort or can-do attitude? I just want to know where we stand with each other.
The font sizes need to be adjustable. As resolution increases on computers and monitors, what was a completely readable font on the computers and monitors at the time the interface was developed is no longer sufficient for some users.
If I took monitor resolution down to 640x480 I could probably read everything from across the room, but then I would have a 1" square to compose or edit my image.
I've been using Carrara for over five years, and I have heard people complaining about the font size the entire time. So, this is not a new issue, but instead is something that could have been addressed in the v7 upgrade, or the v8 upgrade, or the v8.5 upgrade.
I've seen it suggested (at least before I ignored the poster) that people should get glasses to fix the problem. People with vision problems usually take their vision seriously with proper glasses and contact and trips to the eye doctor. Even with updated prescriptions, it can be hard to read small print. As people age, vision is affected. Reading glasses and bifocals are designed for reading paper, not computer monitors. The focal length is different.
I am delighted that some folks can read everything with no issue. But, a simple change to the programming interface will correct problems for people with aging eyes or other vision impairments.
Agree with others. This is a common topic. There just isn't any decent way to improve the size of fonts atm. This really should be properly addressed asap(imo). My issue isn't necessarily with the size, but the blur created by the UI translation. I think someone with SDK/coding knowledge said the UI was a type of 3D or graphic type for buttons and some text fields instead of native desktop.
A while ago I used trueSpace when it was free. That program is super full of UI icons and small text options. However, the difference was night and day for being able to see the UI because it was native to my monitors resolution.
There is another possible option see some things better. The Preferences->'UI Colors' and see if changing the backgrounds helps. I wrote up a small list of what each option there does, but as of yet, there are no complete documentation for some of those options.
I don't think anyone here is claiming that the problem somehow *isn't* the limitations of the human eye. We're not saying that at the small font sizes, that the words are misspelled/garbled/strobing. The text isn't to blame. The font isn't misbehaving; it's doing what it's supposed to do.
Yes, basically the fact that some people have vision limitations can indeed be accurately be pointed out as the culprit. If every living human had absolutely perfect vision, then there would be no problem, we'd all be able to see/read/understand/use the small fonts without any problem or complaint
So what we're really talking about is the *solution*, not the problem. So aside from the relatively simple solution of requesting DAZ programmers give an option for increasing font size, what other solutions are on tap?
Eyeglasses is sort of a solution, for some people, in some instances. Maybe head wax can comment on this, as he's a eye doctor, if I recall, but I'm pretty sure that for some conditions, glasses can only do so much.
"Go get a new set of eyes that's better" doesn't really work, not unless you know of some black market place that you can get new eyes like Tom Cruise did in Minority Report. And that's a pretty hardcore approach (I don't want to run the risk of dropping my eyes and have one roll across the floor and through a dirty grate :) )
I guess we could suggest "Well then, don't render in Carrara." But I'm not wild about chasing people out of the community, when I think Carrara is such a great solution that does so much so well. Back to the wastelands of Studio with you, people who don't have fighter pilot eyesight! :)
I don't think it's too much to ask DAZ to address, especially as I think it's in their best interest after all.
Eloquently stated as always. I wholeheartedly agree. This issue needs to be addressed.
There are already enough things that have taken place that resulted in people being chased from this community, we certainly do not need another.
Hello all, and thank you so much for your support; it warmed my heart!
I did find a font that I can use for the time being, but can't verify it because right after I "reset all preferences," Carrara started saying that my serial number is invalid. I'm going to try to reboot just in case there are some pending updates to the registry. Hopefully I'll have it up and running in a few minutes after I post this.
I have been very busy researching and I've learned some cool stuff. I am wiser than I was, but never quite as wise as I think I am...because none of this new found knowledge will help me get a date next weekend, LOL!
1. I've set my desktop DPI setting to 125% and I turned OFF ClearType text. Yes, counter-intuitive, but these settings (for now) seem to have helped make my general windows environment easier to read, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and numerous built in applets and such. It did nothing for the UI fonts inside of Carrara. Time will tell, and this could still end up being a show-stopper the first time I have to open a critical app such as quicken or my web authoring software.
2. I found a font (going from memory here) "Arial Bold Round MT" or something like that, and it seems to make the UI fonts a little bit better in Carrara. We're talking small degrees here, but it was a good change, and combined with occasional use of the Magnifier on a secondary screen, could allow me to start the learning process with Carrara.
3. I found a very interesting article about DPI scaling enhancements that may be forthcoming with the soon-to-be-available Windows 8.1 update. Might make for interesting reading...
4. Based on all my research, I believe that the ball is indeed in the developer's court. The end-user has only so many tools at his disposal (namely two: Resolution and DPI overrides), but the developers could fix this forever and ever.
I think the magic words for DAZ developers might go something like this:
"Please make all DAZ products 'fully DPI aware', and please start with Carrara!"
If I understand this correctly, DAZ developers could also implement independent monitor DPI awareness, so that the UI text would automatically size according to the capability of the monitor it was being displayed on, even if each monitor had a different "best DPI setting".
Ah, well it looks like I got hit by the invalid serial number problem too. No work for me now, and I doubt DAZ will fix it on a holiday.
Serial number back in business. Had a little time left today to work this, but unfortunately, much of the holiday day has passed. But in my downtime (I didn't bother with the clock-trick because I run some system-time dependent processes on my system), I found another thread from back in May about this same topic of User Interface issues with Carrara.
It seems I'm in good company with quite a large number of other people who also have good vision but the same complaints about Carrara's user interface. So I know my passion on this topic is well-placed.
Even if it annoys some who might think I should get glasses and sit down and shut up. ;-)
Besides, I wear contacts and although I'm due for an eye doc appointment, my vision is pretty good.
Nope, I know this is the right thing to do, and I will not stop being an advocate.
Thank you to all who tried (or are still trying) to help!
As I was reading through this thread I thought of two solutions. Using eyeglasses or the above "lower resolution" suggestion. I am not sure why you consider this an unhelpful suggestion, as it is the correct answer.
If you have a larger monitor and need everything (type, toolbars, etc) larger, the answer is to decrease the screen resolution. This will have the same effect as making everything on the screen larger. If you can't clearly read the type at the "higher" resolution, it is hard to argue that you gain a benefit from a higher screen resolution. A screen measures X inches - to fit more on it, you have to make everything smaller. Make everything larger and less will fit. Magnifying the size of the content is the same as changing the resolution of the screen.
I am in a similar situation and simply acknowledged a few years back that I need reading glasses. My eyes are pretty typical for someone >40. I don't think Carrara is any different in this than any other software I use.
As I was reading through this thread I thought of two solutions. Using eyeglasses or the above "lower resolution" suggestion. I am not sure why you consider this an unhelpful suggestion, as it is the correct answer.
If you have a larger monitor and need everything (type, toolbars, etc) larger, the answer is to decrease the screen resolution. This will have the same effect as making everything on the screen larger. If you can't clearly read the type at the "higher" resolution, it is hard to argue that you gain a benefit from a higher screen resolution. A screen measures X inches - to fit more on it, you have to make everything smaller. Make everything larger and less will fit. Magnifying the size of the content is the same as changing the resolution of the screen.
I am in a similar situation and simply acknowledged a few years back that I need reading glasses. My eyes are pretty typical for someone >40. I don't think Carrara is any different in this than any other software I use.
You lose in edit window size. You lose in mouse territory and maneuvering. You lose in resolution, even though it's bigger. I'd prefer easier to read.
I see no good reason a software package based in design shouldn't have considered the GUI-usefulness as monitors evolved. I don't think anything's been made smaller for more territory; the text, the text fields, the tabs may well be the same pixel sizes they were when graphics cards couldn't handle higher than SVGA. Those of us who *use* glasses and have used Carrara for many, many versions have watched this happen. Magnifying the size of the content is not the same as changing the resolution of the printer; it's an enlarged copy of less resolution, instead of a larger improved version in high resolution.
Yes, Carrara is, because it's UI never changed from the times a 17" crt was luxus. I have reading glasses (and I hate to get old and losing my sharp eyes after >40) and even if this works on my laptop, because of the distance, it's a pain on my two desktop monitors. I guess I have to get multi-focal glasses, but that would prevent me from buying stuff at DAZ :)
I also understand that it's not simple to change the font-size. Looking at the Carrara UI with reading glasses I would say it's easier to put dynamic clothing, softbody sims and a fluid simulation into Carrara than bigger fonts. It would be even more work than to write a manual, because the UI was never designed with any thought of continuing accessibility. This is in no way DAZ's fault.
Programs which I wrote in the early 90s of the last century still work (mostly after re-compilation) for an old toad like me okay on the newest operating system with almost trippled resolution because I followed the UI-guidelines then. Carrara wasn't built this way, so there won't be some easy (or even soon) way to make Carrara more accessible for us old rucksacks :)
The original comment was "The contents of the toolbars and working windows are much too small in Carrara and the text is too small to read."
To me, that means the request is for everything to be larger.
Yes, there are tradeoffs, but if one's eyes cannot read standard size text, the additional resolution will not benefit anyway. If you make all the type, menu bars and icons larger, you are losing the screen space anyway. Edit windows will have to be smaller. Unless icons are designed for larger sizes, you will simply have a "magnified" version of the icon if made larger - same result as viewing the icon at a lower screen resolution.
It sounds easy to have type and toolbar items scale. It isn't always the case. It can sometime be very complicated. DAZ (at least on Mac) doesn't use the standard user interface - they have their own custom one.
Definitely worth dropping DAZ a line with the feature suggestion. For me, there are plenty of other things I would rather see them working on. I would rather have a Carrara content installer that works properly or software that doesn't crash. Neither of those things I can do anything about on my own. Type that is hard to read on my large monitor can be cured with a $2 pair of reading glasses.
Nah, it's the text. And scrollbars are kind of thin. Mostly just those; but I would like the option to resize just about any part of the UI. Why not, it's 2013!
And by the way, a good pair of readers is more than $2.00; I should know, I have them in every room of the house, my home office, my work office, my car, and my workout bag.