2 replies to this topic

[Sky Schemer]

I am pretty new to ArcGIS Desktop, so forgive me if I've missed something obvious. I'm running ArcView 9.2, and I can't find any options in ArcMap for anti-aliasing the graphics display or the map output when exporting to a bitmap. Am I overlooking some obscure (or not-so-obscure) menu options for this?

My current workaround for final map images is to export at 4x the resolution and down sample in a paint program. I'd rather not have to do that if possible.

[Charlie Frye]

There are currently no options in ArcMap for anti-aliasing. The only option available is in the Operating system's Display Properties; in the case of XP, it's on the Appearance tab, and accessed via the Effects button, which opens a dialog where you can set the option for smoothing the edges of screen fonts. The option can be turned off, which I think is the worst looking result in ArcMap, or turned on and set to either Standard or OpenType. I prefer the Standard because it produces the fewest ill-effects; the OpenType option does poorly with text that is slightly off-angle from vertical or horizontal; causing obvious stairstepping one larger type sizes.

I say "currently" as we are developing options for anti-aliasing which, I am told, will be available in a future version, and that will not be 9.3.

As for workflow, I use PDF for almost all my screenshots in MappingCenter and that's what I give the printer for my published maps.

I am pretty new to ArcGIS Desktop, so forgive me if I've missed something obvious. I'm running ArcView 9.2, and I can't find any options in ArcMap for anti-aliasing the graphics display or the map output when exporting to a bitmap. Am I overlooking some obscure (or not-so-obscure) menu options for this?

My current workaround for final map images is to export at 4x the resolution and down sample in a paint program. I'd rather not have to do that if possible.

[Matthew Hampton]

I always do the resampling in Photoshop. Their bicubic resampling transformations are pretty awesome IMHO so I just export at 2x my desired resolution - then place the raster in Illustrator for the final vector cartography and PDF export.