Aliased huge text on ipad

I've run into a problem in Unity 2018.4.1f1 where I've got some big digits displayed on screen using TextMeshPro_UGUI objects and the default LiberationSans SDF font asset. They look great in the editor and when making a standalone pc build. The problem comes when making an ios build and running it on an ipad 4. Suddenly the digits have very aliased pixely edges.

To see if the problem was somehow related to my project I decided to make a new empty project in 2019.1.4f1. I then added two "Text - TextMeshPro" objects, entered some digits as text, enabled font size auto sizing, and blew up the object sizes. The font sizes were 492.05 and 1733.25 respectively. Same story here. It looks great in the editor, but has horrible aliasing on the ipad.

Is there something I'm missing? I've attached a screenshot from the ipad. It may need to be viewed in its original size to prevent downscaling from smoothing out the edges...

 

In the event you are not using version 1.4.1 of TextMesh Pro, see if you get the same results with that version. Since the shaders have changed in version 1.4.1, you will need to re-import the shader from the TMP Essential Resources.

Once you are using / testing with 1.4.1, you will notice a new Sharpness property in the Debug section of the material inspector, make sure it is set to zero.

You can then play with the sharpness but before doing so, I would still like to know if you were using the older version or the newer and with or without the updated shaders.

 

For the 2019.1.4f1 test project, which is where the screenshot is from, everything has been left at new project defaults. So that one is using the TextMesh Pro 2.0.1 package. Sharpness is untouched at 0.

My real project using 2018.4.1f1 is using TMP 1.3.0. I can try updating to 1.4.1 there, but seeing what the result is with a fresh 2.0.1 it seems unlikely that'll change anything?

 

If the behavior is the same between 1.3.0 and 2.0.1, no need to update for this specifically.

Issue could be related to SDF Scale and the use of a Canvas Scaler. For testing, please create a normal <TextMeshPro> object and see if the same results can be observed.

 

Creating a 3D Object -> Text - TextMeshPro shows the same behaviour. In this screenshot from the same otherwise unchanged 2019.1.4f1 app the digit on the left is a 3D object and the one on the right a UGUI one. Both still look fine in the editor, just not on the ipad.

 

Any update on this?

 

Thank you for the reminder / poke.

I'll take a closer look later today and provide feedback shortly thereafter.

 

Just tested on an iPad Pro at 2732 x 2048 resolution and the text looks correct.

What resolution are you targeting?

There is a resolution scaling mode option in the Player Settings. Make sure this is disabled.

Please try again using the revised TMP Essential Resources which includes an update LiberationSans SDF font asset. Just to rule out any potential changes / altered setting on the font asset.

 

This is a clean test project and basically nothing has been done except add the text objects. Hence it's running at the ipad4's native resolution of 2048x1536. Resolution scaling is untouched and defaults to disabled.

Could this be due to some kind of resource limitation on the oldish ipad?

I updated the project to use 2019.1.8f1 today and tried looking for updates for TMP, but package manager doesn't show anything newer than 2.0.1. What's the revised TMP Essential Resources you mention?

I'll PM you a zip of the project along with a real photo of the ipad running the app. Am I just failing to turn on some setting? Again, this is a clean test project with two TMP objects added and resized to fill the screen/canvas with auto font size on.