Drawing text on glass background becomes blurred as Alpha is lowered

Question

I'm making several updates to the TIceTabSet (Chrome tabs) component. One of these changes is to add transparency. Everything works fine apart from the text. As the alpha channel of the background gets lower, the text becomes more and more blurred. Here's a screenshot.

Here's the code that draws the tabs. Most of it is the original TIceTabSet code. I've simply added a few changes to make the tabs transparent. The code has also been altered a little for the example screenshot. The DrawText command at the bottom is where the text is drawn to the canvas.

procedure TIceTabSet.InnerDraw(Canvas: TCanvas; TabRect: TRect; Item: TIceTab);
var
  graphics : TGPGraphics;
  Pen: TGPPen;
  Brush: TGPSolidBrush;
  path, linePath: TGPGraphicsPath;
  linGrBrush: TGPLinearGradientBrush;
  font: TGPFont;
  solidBrush: TGPSolidBrush;
  rectF: TGPRectF;
  stringFormat: TGPStringFormat;
  DC: HDC;
  marginRight: integer;
  iconY, iconX: integer;
  textStart: Extended;
  startColor, EndColor, textColor, borderColor: cardinal;
  borderWidth: Integer;
  TabProperties: TIceTabProperties;
  Alpha: Byte;
begin
  DC := Canvas.Handle;

  TabProperties := GetTabProperties(Item);

  Alpha := Item.Index * 50;

  startColor := MakeGDIPColor(TabProperties.TabStyle.StartColor, Alpha);// TabProperties.TabStyle.Alpha);
  endColor := MakeGDIPColor(TabProperties.TabStyle.StopColor, Alpha); //TabProperties.TabStyle.Alpha);
  textColor := MakeGDIPColor(TabProperties.Font.Color, 255); //TabProperties.TabStyle.Alpha);
  borderColor := MakeGDIPColor(TabProperties.BorderColor, TabProperties.TabStyle.Alpha);
  borderWidth := TabProperties.BorderWidth;

  graphics := TGPGraphics.Create(DC);
  Brush := TGPSolidBrush.Create(borderColor);
  Pen:= TGPPen.Create(borderColor);
  Font := GetGDIPFont(Canvas, FTabActive.Font); //TabProperties.Font);
  try
    graphics.SetSmoothingMode(SmoothingModeHighQuality);

    pen.SetWidth(borderWidth);

    path := TGPGraphicsPath.Create();
    try
      path.AddBezier(TabRect.Left, TabRect.Bottom, TabRect.Left + FTabShape.LeftEdgeWidth / 2, TabRect.Bottom, TabRect.Left + FTabShape.LeftEdgeWidth / 2, TabRect.Top, TabRect.Left + FTabShape.LeftEdgeWidth, TabRect.Top);
      path.AddLine(TabRect.Left + FTabShape.LeftEdgeWidth, TabRect.Top, TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth, TabRect.Top);
      path.AddBezier(TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth, TabRect.Top, TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth / 2, TabRect.Top, TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth / 2, TabRect.Bottom, TabRect.Right, TabRect.Bottom);

      linePath := TGPGraphicsPath.Create;
      try
        linePath.AddPath(path, false);
        path.AddLine(TabRect.Right, TabRect.Bottom, TabRect.Left, TabRect.Bottom);

        linGrBrush := TGPLinearGradientBrush.Create(
          MakePoint(0, TabRect.Top),
          MakePoint(0, TabRect.Bottom),
          startColor,
          endColor);
        try
          graphics.DrawPath(pen, linePath);

          graphics.FillPath(linGrBrush, path);
        finally
          linGrBrush.Free;
        end;
      finally
        linePath.Free;
      end;
    finally
      path.Free;
    end;

    marginRight := 0;

    if TabDisplaysCloseButton(Item) then
    begin
      if (HighLightTabClose = Item) and
         (FTabCloseButton.ShowCircle) then
      begin
        pen.SetWidth(1);

        pen.SetColor(MakeGDIPColor(FTabCloseButton.CrossColorHotTrack, 255));
        brush.SetColor(MakeGDIPColor(FTabCloseButton.CircleColorHotTrack, 255));

        graphics.FillEllipse(brush, TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth - 7 - 2,
                                    TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top - 7) div 2) - 3,
                                    (TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth) - (TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth - 7) + 6,
                                    (TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top + 7) div 2)) - (TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top - 7) div 2)) + 6);

        graphics.DrawLine(pen, TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth - 5, TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top - 5) div 2),
                               TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth, TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top + 5) div 2));

        graphics.DrawLine(pen, TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth, TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top - 5) div 2),
                               TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth - 5, TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top + 5) div 2));
      end
      else
      begin
        pen.SetWidth(2);

        if HighlightTabClose = Item then
          pen.SetColor(MakeGDIPColor(FTabCloseButton.CrossColorHotTrack, 255))
        else
          pen.SetColor(MakeGDIPColor(FTabCloseButton.CrossColorNormal, 255));

        graphics.DrawLine(pen, TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth - 7, TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top - 7) div 2),
                               TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth, TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top + 7) div 2));

        graphics.DrawLine(pen, TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth, TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top - 7) div 2),
                               TabRect.Right - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth - 7, TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top + 7) div 2));
      end;

      marginRight := 10;
    end;

    solidBrush:= TGPSolidBrush.Create(MakeGDIPColor(textColor, 255));

    stringFormat:= TGPStringFormat.Create;
    stringFormat.SetAlignment(StringAlignmentNear);
    stringFormat.SetLineAlignment(StringAlignmentCenter);
    stringFormat.SetTrimming(StringTrimmingEllipsisCharacter);
    stringFormat.SetFormatFlags(StringFormatFlagsNoWrap);

    SelectClipRgn(Canvas.Handle, 0);
    textStart := TabRect.Left + FTabShape.LeftEdgeWidth;
    iconX := 0;
    iconY := 0;

    if Assigned(Images) and (Item.ImageIndex <> -1) then
    begin
      iconY := TabRect.Top + ((TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top - Images.Height) div 2);
      iconX := Round(textStart);
      textStart := textStart + Images.Width + 4;
    end;

    rectF := MakeRect(textStart, TabRect.Top, TabRect.Right - textStart - FTabShape.RightEdgeWidth - marginRight,
      TabRect.Bottom - TabRect.Top);

    // ****** Text is drawn here *******
    if rectF.Width > 10 then
      graphics.DrawString(format('Alpha: %d', [Alpha]), -1, font, rectF, stringFormat, solidBrush);
    // *********************************

  finally
    font.Free;
    solidBrush.Free;
    Pen.Free;
    graphics.Free;
  end;

  if Assigned(Images) and
    (Item.ImageIndex <> -1) then
    Images.Draw(Canvas, iconX, iconY, Item.ImageIndex, true);
end;

You can download the full source here. Please be aware that this is a work in progress. The source will be submitted back to the original author when it is complete.

Update 1

Changing the code as TLama suggested certainly helps, but it doesn't completely fix the issue. Here's how the text looks now:

...here's how Google Chrome looks:

Update 2

Here's how it looks with TextRenderingHintSingleBitPerPixelGridFit.

I've tried all the options and TextRenderingHintAntiAlias gives the best results.

Answer 1

As an alternative, you can try drawing with the theme api (Vista and later). Playing with various shadow/border/glow settings, it may be possible to come up with readable text. Some tryout on sheet of glass:

  

code (XE2):

procedure TForm1.FormPaint(Sender: TObject);
var
  R: TRect;
  ThemeData: HTHEME;
  Opts: TDTTOpts;
begin
  R := Rect(10, 10, 150, 30);
  vcl.themes.DrawGlassText(Canvas.Handle, 'DrawGlassText Sample', R, 0, 3,
      clBlack, TStyleManager.SystemStyle.GetElementDetails(ttsLabel));


  OffsetRect(R, 160, 0);
  ThemeData := OpenThemeData(Handle, 'textstyle');

  Opts.dwSize := SizeOf(Opts);
  Opts.crText := ColorToRGB(clBlack);
  Opts.crShadow := $D0D0B0;
  Opts.iTextShadowType := TST_SINGLE;
  Opts.ptShadowOffset := Point(1, 1);
  Opts.fApplyOverlay := True;
  Opts.iGlowSize := 3;
  Opts.dwFlags := DTT_TEXTCOLOR or DTT_SHADOWTYPE or DTT_SHADOWCOLOR
      or DTT_SHADOWOFFSET or DTT_GLOWSIZE;
  DrawThemeTextEx(ThemeData, Canvas.Handle, TEXT_LABEL, TS_NORMAL,
      'DrawThemeTextEx Sample', -1, 0, @R, Opts);

  OffsetRect(R, 180, 0);
  Opts.crText := ColorToRGB(clBlack);
  Opts.iGlowSize := 4;
  Opts.fApplyOverlay := True;
  Opts.dwFlags := DTT_TEXTCOLOR or DTT_GLOWSIZE;
  DrawThemeTextEx(ThemeData, Canvas.Handle, TEXT_BODYTITLE, 0,
      'Another Sample', -1, 0, @R, Opts);

  CloseThemeData(ThemeData);
end;

Answer 2

As Ian Boyd suggested in his nice post about How to draw ClearType text on Aero glass ? you should apply antialising when you're rendering the text on a sheet of glass. So to fix your problem, try to modify your code this way:

if rectF.Width > 10 then
begin
  if (GetParentForm.GlassFrame.Enabled) and (GetParentForm.GlassFrame.SheetOfGlass) then
    graphics.SetTextRenderingHint(TextRenderingHintAntiAliasGridFit);
  graphics.DrawString(Item.DisplayCaption, -1, font, rectF, stringFormat, solidBrush);
end;

To simulate your problem it's enough to just render the text on the sheet of Aero glass, like the following code does in a 3 different ways:

uses
  GDIPAPI, GDIPOBJ;

procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
  Font.Color := clWhite;
  GlassFrame.SheetOfGlass := True;
  GlassFrame.Enabled := True;
end;

procedure TForm1.FormPaint(Sender: TObject);
var
  S: WideString;
  GPFont: TGPFont;
  GPGraphics: TGPGraphics;
  GPSolidBrush: TGPSolidBrush;
  GPGraphicsPath: TGPGraphicsPath;
begin
  S := 'This is a sample text rendered on the sheet of Aero glass!';
  GPFont := TGPFont.Create(Canvas.Handle, Font.Handle);
  GPSolidBrush := TGPSolidBrush.Create(MakeColor(GetRValue(Font.Color),
    GetGValue(Font.Color), GetBValue(Font.Color)));
  GPGraphicsPath := TGPGraphicsPath.Create;
  GPGraphicsPath.AddString(S, Length(S), TGPFontFamily.Create(Font.Name),
    GPFont.GetStyle, GPFont.GetSize, MakePoint(20.0, 60.0), nil);
  try
    GPGraphics := TGPGraphics.Create(Canvas.Handle);
    try
      GPGraphics.SetSmoothingMode(SmoothingModeAntiAlias);
      GPGraphics.FillPath(GPSolidBrush, GPGraphicsPath);
      GPGraphics.DrawString(S, Length(S), GPFont, MakePoint(20.0, 20.0),
        nil, GPSolidBrush);
      GPGraphics.SetTextRenderingHint(
        TextRenderingHintSingleBitPerPixelGridFit);
      GPGraphics.DrawString(S, Length(S), GPFont, MakePoint(20.0, 40.0),
        nil, GPSolidBrush);
    finally
      GPGraphics.Free;
    end;
  finally
    GPFont.Free;
    GPSolidBrush.Free;
    GPGraphicsPath.Free;
  end;
end;

And it results to the following image where:

1. the first text was rendered by the DrawString function without text antialiasing enabled
2. the second one was rendered by the DrawString function with text antialiasing enabled, configured to the TextRenderingHintSingleBitPerPixelGridFit mode
3. the third one was rendered by the path filling, inspired by this article with the smoothing mode set to the SmoothingModeAntiAlias style