How come text looks so good in AutoCAD?

As I work with DWG-compatible CAD systems, I notice that text on their screens looks dreadful, whereas text looks smooth in AutoCAD. I took a close look to find out why.

Here is what text looks like in non-AutoCAD software (enlarged 10x):



It gets worse when I turn on lineweights:



In contrast, here is how text looks in AutoCAD 2010:



Notice that Autodeks uses anti-aliasing to smooth out the edges of the text. When lineweights are turned on, text is unaffected.

I noticed a change in AutoCAD 2011:



Autodesk now uses color anti-aliasing. To my eyes, however, text looks no different from grayscale anti-aliasing used earlier.

Anyhow, the point is that AutoCAD competitors need to (a) add anti-aliasing to their in-drawing text display, and (b) prevent text from being given lineweights. I dunno if this is an issue the Open Design Alliance needs to fix, or if it is up to each CAD vendor to address.

Update
IMSI/design's Bob Mayer points out that their DoubleCAD XT also does a fine job displaying text in drawings, using grayscale anti-aliasing, as illustrated below:

Comments

[Ed]

Ralph,

The lineweight issue apparently needs to be applied to all CADD software. A bit of advice to CADD users is, before you consider a move to using Truetype fonts as opposed to Vector based shape fonts consider different plotting sizes. A D size print using truetype fonts when reduced via printing, to a B size print may be unreadable.

Also,

Whether using color dictated line weights or user defined ALWAYS think about the text and differing plot sizes.

[Kevin Quigley]

Of course Ralph some apps have done this for years and years.....like Mac native ones.

[Josef Meier]

getting fonts right is extremely difficult, especially when you add 3D. There are many font engines available for OEM licensing to ISVs and my guess is the clones are not making use of any of them.The HOOPS 3D graphics system handles fonts gracefully and can trace a common heritage back to the technology in AutoCAD. They at least share a common development team in their past in Carl Bass' Ithaca Software.