TALK: font characteristics (was Re: LINE: throwaway tiger)

In article <199...@crosfield.co.uk>,
ra...@crosfield.co.uk (Richard Kirk) writes:

> In article <chr...@central.keywest.mpgn.com>
> chr...@central.keywest.mpgn.com (Christopher Beattie) writes:
>
> >So I ask the asscii-art gurus out there.  What is the best aspect
> >ratio to assume when creating art for this forum?  Standard 24 line
> >IBM PC screens look like 2 characters wide is somewhat a square.

> I have just measured 2.4:1 off my vt320 using the wide character set.
> The narrow character set is very close to 4:1, but I only use that
> for special applications.
>
> The same ratios apply to vt220 and vt100 terminals.

I'm using an X terminal (SGI Iris).  The pics I've created were on a
2:1 font, which appears to be
  -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-c-70-*-1
using a dark-on-light color scheme.  I prefer this because it makes
images easier to print.

> (1) Is there a pos/neg greyscale that works for all terminals?
> (2) Which characters look the same on all terminals?
> (3) Which control characters like ^L work for all terminals?

I'm not sure I can come up with useful data on these, but I'll try.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
> (1) Is there a pos/neg greyscale that works for all terminals?

The short answer is, "probably not."  In the Utah Raster Toolkit,
under the rletoascii documentation, they suggest the string

  @BR*#$PX0woIcv:+!~"., 

for the X 6x13 font.  Only 22 characters ... strange.
It's wrong for my font, though; my grays look better with

  @BQ8HO#$*kfwoxr:+=-,. 

Use a chart like the one shown below to determine good values
for your font.  A good text editor with search-and-replace
functionality should make it easy to try out different values,
or email me for the source code that generates charts like this.

Other fonts I've tried out from the emacs font menu include:

8x8
-schumacher-clean-medium-r-normal--*-80-*-*-c-*-*-1
#$BH8O@k*focr+=^-~:,. 

6x12
-misc-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed--12-110-75-75-c-60-*-1
$@B#8H*Owkfcr+=:,^~-. 

Courier 10
-adobe-courier-medium-r-normal--*-100-*-*-m-*-iso8859-1
#@WHBkf$8xOo*+=^~-,:. 

Fixed
fixed (-sgi-terminal-bold-r-normal--12-120-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1)
$B8HOkf@#xvcri*+:=-,. 


----- ASCII GRAYSCALE CHART -----
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwoo@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
BRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIc**********************
RR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIcc######################
R**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccv$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvvPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
*##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::0000000000000000000000
#$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::+wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++oooooooooooooooooooooo
$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!cccccccccccccccccccccc
PXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
XX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~::::::::::::::::::::::
X00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~"++++++++++++++++++++++
00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
0wwooIIccvv::++!!~~"".~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..""""""""""""""""""""""
wooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,......................
ooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
oIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,                       
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  
@@BBRR**##$$PPXX00wwooIIccvv::++!!~~""..,,  

----------------------------------------------------------------------
> (2) Which characters look the same on all terminals?

Precious few of them, it seems.  And yet general shape is pretty
consistent.  It depends if you're looking for darkness weights or
connecting lines within the character box.

Weights vary greatly, especially for symbols.  Compare my results
above for the #, $, and @ characters.  They move all over.  Even
letters can vary widely; fonts with serifs will be darker than those
without.

Shapes are more consistent; -, /, and \ will pretty much look the
same everywhere.  Shapes to be wary of are:

~  sometimes sits high, sometimes in middle
^  same reason
*  same reason
&  sometimes closed, sometimes open
|  same reason
'  sometimes hooked left, sometimes straight
[] sometimes centered, sometimes far off
<> sometimes touch top and bottom, sometimes centered
0  sometimes with slash, sometimes open
l  sometimes with base, sometimes not
y  sometimes straight tail, sometimes curved

----------------------------------------------------------------------
> (3) Which control characters like ^L work for all terminals?

^L, ASCII code 12, is the only consistent one I'm aware of.  Then
again, I'm pretty ignorant about other termcaps.

          - Dr. Guz
--
* Sean Gugler            //   __        |)            | # # # | # # | # # # | #
* 758 Clara Vista Ave    //  ~T \       /_      __    l_l_l_l_l_l_l_l_l_l_l_l_l
* Santa Clara, CA  95050 //   [ / )^   (' ) / / ,'       I Got My Life
* (408) 249-1683         //  ~~' /  .   j'  `'` ~~               For A Song

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