is it possible to increase the size of the menu fonts in studio 4.8.

pwiecekpwiecek Posts: 1,577
edited December 1969 in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

Is there a secret preference or ini or xml file that wsill let me increase the size of the fonts used by DS 4.8?

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Comments

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583
    edited December 1969

    If you're using Darkside, the other styles have larger fonts.

  • pwiecekpwiecek Posts: 1,577
    edited December 1969

    No, I'm talking about the menu bar, not the content lists

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,948
    edited December 1969

    Mike's answer applies to the whole interface - Window>Style>Select Interface style....

  • pwiecekpwiecek Posts: 1,577
    edited December 1969

    The fonts for the menu bar do not change.

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583
    edited December 1969

    I stand corrected, you are right, the menu bar font doesn't change. I wonder when that happened?

  • pwiecekpwiecek Posts: 1,577
    edited December 1969

    Yeah, They're fine when I'm not tired...

    ...but that would require that I limit my DS sessions to 10 hours at a stretch. ;)

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited June 2015

    About the only way I know of...change them at the system level. But then that changes them for everything.

    Maybe if there is a screen magnifier in the OS accessibility tools, that may work too...I just tried it on my system and it does work, to a degree. But since I'm on Linux I'm not sure how Windows or Macs will work.

    Post edited by mjc1016 on
  • System level doesn't work for me either. I hope this is bug being worked on.

  • coastbeachartistcoastbeachartist Posts: 13
    edited July 2015

    Hello,

    I come from a Silicon Valley User Interface Design QA Engineer backgound. (Netscape, Adobe and others). After more than six months of complaining I wrote a kind letter to DAZ's top executive. He kindly told me it was exactly as designed. They have no fix to increase the menu font sizes. The choice was made to hard code the font size independent of the OS font control.

    I am in my mid fifties and the hard coded fonts are way too small. My $250 work around was to buy a 32 inch monitor, and spent a long time finding a screen resolution for the huge monitor that would allow me to read the menu fonts/folder and content names without glasses. Before some smartass says to buy $3.00 reading glasses, I ONLY need the larger fonts for exactly two programs out of EVERYTHING in my computer. DAZ STUDIO and I do not recall the other programs right now. Taking glasses on and off dozens of times within an hour to switch from DAZ to everything else within my multi-tasking computer is just not doable.

    If you could possiblily afford to buy a large screen monitor and if its high resolution screens will work with DAZ then that might be your possible fix. You might consider borrowing a large screen monitor from someone you know and test this work around before buying a similar monitor to your test monitor.

    I have a smaller second monitor and I'm back to straining to use glasses to see my DAZ tool palattes on the second monitor. I cannot afford a second $250 monitor right now.

    I wish you all the best of luck in finding a work around.

    Kindly,

    Grant

    http://coastbeachartist.deviantart.com

     

    Post edited by coastbeachartist on
  • pwiecekpwiecek Posts: 1,577
    edited July 2015

    I had some luck with the magnifier, but its still a pain. I also have multiple monitors so I can afford the space the magnifier takes.

    Post edited by pwiecek on
  • Subtropic PixelSubtropic Pixel Posts: 2,388
    edited August 2015

    I too am having difficulty with the default fonts. 

    I'll bet that 80% of all DAZ Studio users are older than 40 years of age.  Shall we all write to the boss?

    Edit:  Not even changing my system fonts to "125%" helps.  And in some cases, it hurts because it makes hotspots off-kilter from where my cursor is.  Examples might include on-page buttons in the forums ("Save Comment" might need to be engaged by moving cursor to the right and down, which could make it closer to the "Cancel" button).

    Why, oh why, in 2015 do we STILL have bad UI font design?  I'm still convinced that this is why Carrara is not being updated.

    Post edited by Subtropic Pixel on
  • dracorndracorn Posts: 2,345

    YES!  Let's write to the bosses of DAZ3D!

  • Fully Agree.

    It is rediculously small.

    Can't see a thing...

  • MW_HNLMW_HNL Posts: 45

    Put me down for some kind of font control also.  Just a few points bigger on the high resolution monitors would be great!  Even if the option was just a bit bigger and maybe a selection of two or three super standard font types.  I also am into Darkside.

    And in the market for the biggest monitor I can wedge into my computer workspace! (for the same reason).

  • ByrdieByrdie Posts: 1,783

    So it's a feature not a bug? Way to go, Daz, you just guaranteed I will not use Studio now since I can't fix it enough to see what the heck I am doing in it. So it's back to Poser full time for me and no more money on Studio-only stuff for you. no

  • takezo_3001takezo_3001 Posts: 1,979

    I too am having difficulty with the default fonts. 

    I'll bet that 80% of all DAZ Studio users are older than 40 years of age.  Shall we all write to the boss?

    Edit:  Not even changing my system fonts to "125%" helps.  And in some cases, it hurts because it makes hotspots off-kilter from where my cursor is.  Examples might include on-page buttons in the forums ("Save Comment" might need to be engaged by moving cursor to the right and down, which could make it closer to the "Cancel" button).

    Why, oh why, in 2015 do we STILL have bad UI font design?  I'm still convinced that this is why Carrara is not being updated.

    Geez, I hope not, as that would mean that daz won't be doing so well for the future! (IE, we NEED the young, to continue...and 40+ ain't the future!)

    OT: A lot of programmers who consider themselves gamers seem to be deathly afraid of both comic sans and large fonts, as in any fonts larger than their preferred micro-script!

  • Daz, from what I have observed of them as a very commercially aware business, are likely in the same camp as Microsoft when it comes to making their software accessible to all users.  That is, they (Microsoft) take a very calculating approach.  They calculate that people with accessibility issues are in a small minority, and tend not to be high earners, and hence the revenue lost by not attending to their needs is small compared to the costs of meeting their needs (good accessibility tools are difficult to develop).  That explains why the Windows built-in accessibility tools (magnifier, narrator) are so woeful, and the options to change font sizes rather limited. 

    I have no experience with Apple on these issues, but can say that Linux desktop environments are much better equipped to change the font sizes in the system and within applications.  That obviously does not help a Windows user, but goes to show that non-commercial products often have better accessibility options because they are not being produced for profit.

  • Roman_K2Roman_K2 Posts: 1,239

    So far for me the small font size has not really been an issue but for you old-timers out there I wonder if it is it worthwhile to mention ZoomText from AI Squared... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZoomText#Features

    This utility has historically been a bit pricey. On the English Wikipedia page it says it supports multiple monitors which must be freaky... REALLY BIG Daz Studio on one monitor maybe, and your regular stuff on another.

  • It has nothing to do with age or bad vision.

    Everyone who use screen bigger than 1920 x 1200, use DPI scaling. DAZ Studio is blocking OS from resizing UI by setting false value at "SetProcessDpiAwareness".

    Using Daz Studio on 4k screen is like reading those small white stickers on goods. Menu bar 3 mm high and text fonts are 4 to 5 points.

    There is some workarounds by editing executable but why we need to hack application?

    Redesignig UI for Daz Studio is inevitable. Question is, how long Daz wants avoid it. Adobe have already done this.

  • Last response I got from them was that they are working on it. So maybe there is hope. But in the meantime maybe download AutoHotKeys and setup a macro to open Magifying glass by pressing a key while Daz is open.

  • StratDragonStratDragon Posts: 3,168
    edited January 2016

    Many developers are of the opinion the interface should be designed to accommodate themselves on their personal equipment. If Daz is working on it I hope some leeway is given for us who don't agree with their design choices. 

    Post edited by StratDragon on
  • ByrdieByrdie Posts: 1,783
    edited January 2016

    ZoomText ... ugh! I have used it and hate it, slows my system to a crawl and every version I have tried so far does not play nice at all with Windows, from 98 ME right up to Win 7 Pro -- even though it's a Windows program. Too many lags, crashes and even blue screens, especially when running graphics intense apps like Poser and Studio. 

    On the other hand, Dolphin Super Magnifier does the same job ever so much better with minimum fuss. Unfortunately the price is just as high, nearly $800 last time I checked.

     

    Both programs do offer free trials you can download and play with. Demos are complete versions, just time-limited to around 30 days. 

     

    Post edited by Byrdie on
  • Roman_K2Roman_K2 Posts: 1,239
    Byrdie said:

    Too many lags, crashes and even blue screens...

    Ok, have to say I haven't used ZoomText much with DS or graphics in general. My main beef with it I suppose is that it seems to be one of those programs that's real hard to get rid of - I find it a bit like NAV in this respect.

    I suppose Win7 "Magnifier" in the Ease of Access Center isn't of any use... I'm thinking of a 2-screen setup maybe or something where hard-coded, hard-to-see stuff is on one screen, and the main Preview pane goes onto its own "size as" screen.

  • For the person who said that the youth is the future:  This is true.  But the youth don't have disposable income.  People 40, 50, and older often do.  So DAZ should satisfy their biggest market demographic first.  Besides, all these young 20-somethings are going to need vision help sooner anyway because they're all hunched over their phones and tablets with their eyes only 6" away.  I saw a kid crash his bicycle into the back of a car because he was texting while riding.  The younger generation; some of them, can't put down their devices to save their lives.  I'm convinced that neck, spine, and vision problems will hit this demographic faster than it did the baby boomers.

    Somebody else mentioned the various magnifier tools.  The Windows magnifier works well, but at best it's an intermediate stop-gap measure that doesn't really address the issue at its root, which is that the font sizes are too small for modern monitor resolutions.  Magnifier tools also rough up the GPU, making for lags and screen sluggishness in all but the fastest GPUs.

    DAZ should fix the ROOT CAUSE.  The root cause is the application UI was designed for another time.  Fix it!  Fix your software, DAZ!

    By the way, Blender, another free program, allows for the resizing of all UI elements, or even of just selected ones.  I'm not suggesting that everybody should switch to Blender, but I am "going there" and making the comparison.  It CAN be done.  It SHOULD be done.  Fix the software, DAZ.

  • ByrdieByrdie Posts: 1,783

    Remember too, not every young person has perfect vision. I was a young 20-something when my eyesight suddenly went from "ok to drive with glasses" to "extreme low vision" and "legally blind". Needless to say, I did not get my licence ... and barring miracles, I never will.  sad 

     

  • namffuaknamffuak Posts: 4,146
    Byrdie said:

    Remember too, not every young person has perfect vision. I was a young 20-something when my eyesight suddenly went from "ok to drive with glasses" to "extreme low vision" and "legally blind". Needless to say, I did not get my licence ... and barring miracles, I never will.  sad 

     

    I've been wearing glasses since I was 5,

    IIRC, the version of the QT toolkit DAZ is using doesn't fully support changing text fonts or sizes for most objects. There is a (much) newer one that does, but upgrading QT like that will trigger some events DAZ is trying to put off as long as possible. For starters, that would put us at Studio 5.<something>. It would trigger an upgrade to the SDK. This, in turn, would force at a minimum a recompile and re-issue of all plug-ins (AoA, LAMH, Garibaldi, Lux, Reality - and others I can't think of at the moment).

    Net result - mass confusion, foaming at the mouth, and true chaos.

  • The AoA products are shaders, not plug-ins, so should not be affected by the Qt version.

  • KeryaKerya Posts: 10,943

    Many developers are of the opinion the interface should be designed to accommodate themselves on their personal equipment. If Daz is working on it I hope some leeway is given for us who don't agree with their design choices. 

    Me too ... while there is life, there is hope.

  • namffuak said:
    Byrdie said:

    Remember too, not every young person has perfect vision. I was a young 20-something when my eyesight suddenly went from "ok to drive with glasses" to "extreme low vision" and "legally blind". Needless to say, I did not get my licence ... and barring miracles, I never will.  sad 

     

    I've been wearing glasses since I was 5,

    IIRC, the version of the QT toolkit DAZ is using doesn't fully support changing text fonts or sizes for most objects. There is a (much) newer one that does, but upgrading QT like that will trigger some events DAZ is trying to put off as long as possible. For starters, that would put us at Studio 5.<something>. It would trigger an upgrade to the SDK. This, in turn, would force at a minimum a recompile and re-issue of all plug-ins (AoA, LAMH, Garibaldi, Lux, Reality - and others I can't think of at the moment).

    Net result - mass confusion, foaming at the mouth, and true chaos.

    Not if this project is properly planned and executed, with proper notification of the PAs so that they will have time to make their own coding changes.  The PAs are a conscientious bunch, so I doubt that they would drag their feet.

  • KeryaKerya Posts: 10,943
    namffuak said:
    Byrdie said:

    Remember too, not every young person has perfect vision. I was a young 20-something when my eyesight suddenly went from "ok to drive with glasses" to "extreme low vision" and "legally blind". Needless to say, I did not get my licence ... and barring miracles, I never will.  sad 

     

    I've been wearing glasses since I was 5,

    IIRC, the version of the QT toolkit DAZ is using doesn't fully support changing text fonts or sizes for most objects. There is a (much) newer one that does, but upgrading QT like that will trigger some events DAZ is trying to put off as long as possible. For starters, that would put us at Studio 5.<something>. It would trigger an upgrade to the SDK. This, in turn, would force at a minimum a recompile and re-issue of all plug-ins (AoA, LAMH, Garibaldi, Lux, Reality - and others I can't think of at the moment).

    Net result - mass confusion, foaming at the mouth, and true chaos.

    Not if this project is properly planned and executed, with proper notification of the PAs so that they will have time to make their own coding changes.  The PAs are a conscientious bunch, so I doubt that they would drag their feet.

    Unfortunately that's not true of all artists ... (there are some broken ageofarmour products, for example).

     

    My opinion: they could make some presets for different text sizes. Sure, you couldn't change them yourself for whatever you want, but at least small, normal, big should be doable.

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