(v13) ForceStrokeAdjust (system param)

This page applies to Harlequin v13.1r0 and later; both Harlequin Core and Harlequin MultiRIP

The ForceStrokeAdjust system parameter is extended to accept the following names:

For compatibility reasons the RIP will still accept boolean values, such as false (which is the same as

/Default ), and true , (see below). However, if setstrokeadjust is set to false and ForceStrokeAdjust is set to true the RIP does not do full stroke adjusting, whereas with the /ForceTrue value it does. The boolean values may be dropped in a future release.

The boolean values are described below:

When true , forces some stroke adjustment, regardless of the setting given with the setstrokeadjust operator. However, it is best to use true setstrokeadjust as well, to avoid a compensation that results in hairlines being heavier than expected. (Other line weights are affected but the compensation is most visible for hairlines.)

When considering using true with true setstrokeadjust , it will often be preferable to use /ForceTrue instead, as that will ensure full stroke adjusting takes place throughout the job, even if the job itself sets false setstrokeadjust at some stage. In this case there is no need to do anything with setstrokeadjust as full stroke adjusting will take place regardless of the setstrokeadjust value.

When false , it honors the value from the job, as with /Default .

An example may make the options clearer. Assume that we have one device pixel to a point. The average width of a 1 point line, placed at a random coordinate (with an arbitrary fractional part), is 2 pixels, because the PostScript language rule is to paint all the pixels that the line touches. When stroke adjustment is performed, the RIP adjusts line widths as well as coordinates to ensure the painted line width is no more than 0.5 pixels from the intended width.

This adjustment makes jobs that do not use setstrokeadjust (but where /ForceTrue is used) appear rather “lighter weight” than they would be with ForceStrokeAdjust set to false or /Default , because of the thinner lines. When ForceStrokeAdjust true is used and the job does not use setstrokeadjust , the RIP makes the line weight between what it would have been with ForceStrokeAdjust set to /ForceTrue and ForceStrokeAdjust set to /Default or false .

See also (v13) MinLineWidth (system param) and setstrokeadjust , in [RB2] or later.

Default: true .