Search code examples
javafontsawt

Java is not synthesizing italic font faces

Main question:

Is there a setting in OpenJDK that will synthesize italic font faces like the Oracle JDK does?

Background:

Using OpenJDK, when drawing text on a Graphics2D object, text will not appear with an oblique style unless there is an italic font face registered with the desired font family. Oracle's JDK does synthesize italic font faces. Swing components also are synthesized.

Notes:

  • Bold is synthesized, bold italic synthesizes just the bold weight.
  • I am aware that for best results, italic font faces should be registered. This is perhaps not a perfect solution for applications that are already taking advantage of synthesized font faces.
  • There is a lot out there about JavaFX and fonts, this is not JavaFX, just AWT.

Here is a simple class that illustrates the issue.

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.GraphicsConfiguration;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;

import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;

public class SimpleFontTest {
    private static Font FONT = new Font("Impact", Font.ITALIC, 18);
    private static String TEXT = "The Quick Brown Fox";
    
    public static void main(String args[]) throws UnsupportedLookAndFeelException {     
        if (args.length > 0 && args[0] != null) {
            String fontName = args[0];
            FONT = new Font(fontName, Font.ITALIC, 18);
        }

        JFrame f = new JFrame("Simple Font Test: " + System.getProperty("java.vendor"));
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        JLabel label = new JLabel("JLabel: " + TEXT);
        label.setFont(FONT);

        GraphicsConfiguration gc = f.getGraphicsConfiguration();
        BufferedImage image = gc.createCompatibleImage(400, 50);
        Graphics2D g = image.createGraphics();
        g.setFont(FONT);
        g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
        g.setBackground(Color.WHITE);
        g.clearRect(0, 0, image.getWidth(), image.getHeight());
        g.drawString("BufferedImage: " + TEXT, 10, 15);
        g.dispose();
        JLabel picLabel = new JLabel(new ImageIcon(image));
    
        f.add(label, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
        f.add(picLabel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        f.setSize(400, 200);
        f.setVisible(true);
    }
}

The output will depend on the JDK used to build and run the class. Here is a comparison image:

enter image description here

Solution

  • Because I don't like seeing questions without answers: it looks like this is just a result of the change from T2K font renderer to FreeType.

    Some workarounds:

    • Make an italic font face (if you are legally allowed to by license)
    • Apply an AffineTransform to the Font object (skew of -20 works well).