Aqua-Soft ForumsHello,
I have been reading a lot of Windows to Mac transformation tutorials. But I can't seem to incooperate the smooth Lucida Grande font? What am I doing wrong? What am I missing?
For example:
Smooth Lucida Grande
Do you use ClearType ?
Doesn't that include with TweakGUI? I recall using that program, but I guess that is the ideal program to use in order for it to emulate the Mac's Lucida Grande font. If so, thanks.
-edited-
Whoa, I just tried it and really craps your eyes into a blurry abyss. Is the "ClearType Contrast Setting" the only setting that the little application has? Because it does not seem to emulate as well as the Mac. It's too blurry and the font is not as big as the Mac's font. FYI: it's Lucida Grande Bold 8.
For example:
ClearType Contrast Setting @ 2.2
Are you using a CRT monitor? That would explain why ClearType looks bad to you. Try using Standard font smoothing instead.
As for why the fonts don't look 100% similar... Windows' font rendering sucks. OS X's doesn't. End of story.
Are you using a CRT monitor? That would explain why ClearType looks bad to you. Try using Standard font smoothing instead.As for why the fonts don't look 100% similar... Windows' font rendering sucks. OS X's doesn't. End of story.
Yes, I am using a CRT monitor.
"Try using Standard font smoothing instead."
What do you mean by this?
Control panel, display, appearance tab, effects... button and you should see "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts:" choose "Cleartype" from the drop down menu, click ok, apply.
And turn off the cleartype powertool from MS.
I think that is what Desides mean't? Correct me if I'm wrong.
@Trent Pivot
I think powertool just turns on the Windows Cleartype option and then provide some options to tweak it.
So the way you said will actuallty turn off Cleartype.
Yes MS cleartype is not as good as OSX. You need LCD displays to get a better result from MS's cleartype.
Use avedesk and live happy 
@Trent PivotI think powertool just turns on the Windows Cleartype option and then provide some options to tweak it.
So the way you said will actuallty turn off Cleartype.
Yes MS cleartype is not as good as OSX. You need LCD displays to get a better result from MS's cleartype.
It won't turn it off, it will just use the "default" cleartype without tweaks/powertool and I was just explaining what Desides was trying to say, I don't know for a fact it will help or work..
Control panel, display, appearance tab, effects... button and you should see "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts:" choose "Cleartype" from the drop down menu, click ok, apply.And turn off the cleartype powertool from MS.
I think that is what Desides mean't? Correct me if I'm wrong.
You're quite wrong. I meant use Standard font smoothing, not Cleartype font smoothing. Same directions, but choose "Standard" from the drop-down list instead of "Cleartype."
It is amazing how many people don't know about the existence of Standard font smoothing.
Try using the font "LucidaMACBold." I'm using it, and while it doesn't look exactly like a Mac, the font has a considerable weight difference than Lucida Grande. Plus it appears to have built-in smoothing.
Do a search for "LucidaMACBold", drop it into your Fonts folder, and then change the settings in Displays and Settings (Right-Click the desktop, and go to the Displays, then click on Advanced).
I think windows handles shadows differently than osx so it will never look quite like a mac. I think...
I think windows handles shadows differently than osx so it will never look quite like a mac. I think...
It's not the shadows so much as how XP actually draws fonts. Vista adds anti-aliasing and one or two other rendering tricks, which should help.
Well, i believe that the Screenshot of OSX is made with Lucida Grande 8 Bold. It almost looks exactly like that on Windows. Have a look:
I absolutely agree with kjohnson. I had the same problem, searching for THE Mac-font. I also used Lucida Grande and ClearType smoothing. But in a direct comparison (Mac OS X AND Windows installed on my laptop), I now only use Lucida Mac resp. LucidaMacBold as the perfect font for the whole system.
For example, I use LucidaMacBold for the active/inactive window in size 11 (bold off!) and the top of my windows really look Mac-like. Really much better than Lucida Grande and LucidaMacBold "smoothes" itself.
Well, I used that font smoothing tutorial, and my response is pretty damn good, I must say. Although bold looks kinda funky, I'd suggest you guys take a look at my version of Lucida Grande here, http://rapidshare.de/files/25868471/Lucida_Grande.ttf.html. If you want a picture of how it looks, here's a quickie:
And yeah, remember, as with all smoothed out fonts, Cleartype smoothing has to be off.
I have attached a font called "sLucida Grande" to this post.
This font is included in an iChat skin for Miranda, by Bogo.
Unzip it and put it in C:WINDOWSFonts.
Enable "Standard" font smoothing. This can be done by right-clicking the desktop and selecting "Properties". Click on the "Appearance" tab and click on the "Effects" button. Ensure "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen font" is checked and select "Standard" and click "OK".
RESTART YOUR COMPUTER (trust me on this one).
*NOTE: If you are using Styler, unchecking "ClearType" under the "Desktop" tab turns off font smoothing totally. You still have to go and activate "Standard" font smoothing as described in the above paragraph.
(Font not by me, and methood of turning ClearType to Standard not by me, it is by JesterMania).
Preview:
you can also use the font i bundled with the ichat skin for miranda, just make sure you are using standard font smoothing.
if you want to set it as the system font (font which can't be changed by using a vs/wb) you can use the registry editor. Go to "HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/FontSubstitutes" and edit "MS Shell Dlg" and "MS Shell Dlg 2"
Sorry folks, been busy. I have'nt had the time to visit this website to check on the thread. But yeah! Thanks a lot of the wealth of information put into this thread. I greatly appreciate it!
This is a good thread. Can someone help me with my fonts?
Here are my settings;
u can use the font called "LucidaMAC". It looks exactly like the font on OS X. ^-^