Labels truncated

[Tristan Croll]

The following bug report has been submitted:
Platform:        Linux-5.19.0-43-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.35
ChimeraX Version: 1.6.1 (2023-05-09 17:57:07 UTC)
Description
When making labels using built-in commands (e.g. "label sel res" as in this case) the label often ends up slightly truncated at the end, as in the attached picture. I've seen this on multiple machines and operating systems, and I usually work around it by just doing custom labels with a couple of extra spaces at the end, e.g.:

label sel res text "{0.name} {0.number}  "

I imagine that this is a bug in some Qt or system library (or even a font) miscalculating or misreporting character widths... would it hurt for the labelling code itself to just automatically append a couple of extra spaces to all labels?

OpenGL version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 515.105.01
OpenGL renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070/PCIe/SSE2
OpenGL vendor: NVIDIA Corporation

Python: 3.9.11
Locale: en_GB.UTF-8
Qt version: PyQt6 6.4.2, Qt 6.4.2
Qt runtime version: 6.4.3
Qt platform: xcb

XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11
DESKTOP_SESSION=ubuntu
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=ubuntu
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME
DISPLAY=:1
Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Model: XPS 8950
OS: Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish
Architecture: 64bit ELF
Virtual Machine: none
CPU: 20 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700
Cache Size: 25600 KB
Memory:
	               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
	Mem:            31Gi        20Gi       2.1Gi       847Mi       8.9Gi       9.8Gi
	Swap:          2.0Gi        37Mi       2.0Gi

Graphics:
	0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GA104 [GeForce RTX 3070 Lite Hash Rate] [10de:2488] (rev a1)	
	Subsystem: Dell GA104 [GeForce RTX 3070 Lite Hash Rate] [1028:c903]	
	Kernel driver in use: nvidia

Installed Packages:
    alabaster: 0.7.13
    appdirs: 1.4.4
    asttokens: 2.2.1
    Babel: 2.12.1
    backcall: 0.2.0
    beautifulsoup4: 4.11.2
    blockdiag: 3.0.0
    build: 0.10.0
    certifi: 2023.5.7
    cftime: 1.6.2
    charset-normalizer: 3.1.0
    ChimeraX-AddCharge: 1.5.9.1
    ChimeraX-AddH: 2.2.5
    ChimeraX-AlignmentAlgorithms: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-AlignmentHdrs: 3.3.1
    ChimeraX-AlignmentMatrices: 2.1
    ChimeraX-Alignments: 2.9.3
    ChimeraX-AlphaFold: 1.0
    ChimeraX-AltlocExplorer: 1.0.3
    ChimeraX-AmberInfo: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Arrays: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Atomic: 1.43.10
    ChimeraX-AtomicLibrary: 10.0.6
    ChimeraX-AtomSearch: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-AxesPlanes: 2.3.2
    ChimeraX-BasicActions: 1.1.2
    ChimeraX-BILD: 1.0
    ChimeraX-BlastProtein: 2.1.2
    ChimeraX-BondRot: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-BugReporter: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-BuildStructure: 2.8
    ChimeraX-Bumps: 1.0
    ChimeraX-BundleBuilder: 1.2.2
    ChimeraX-ButtonPanel: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-CageBuilder: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-CellPack: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Centroids: 1.3.2
    ChimeraX-ChangeChains: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-CheckWaters: 1.3.1
    ChimeraX-ChemGroup: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-Clashes: 2.2.4
    ChimeraX-Clipper: 0.21.0
    ChimeraX-ColorActions: 1.0.3
    ChimeraX-ColorGlobe: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ColorKey: 1.5.3
    ChimeraX-CommandLine: 1.2.5
    ChimeraX-ConnectStructure: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-Contacts: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Core: 1.6.1
    ChimeraX-CoreFormats: 1.1
    ChimeraX-coulombic: 1.4.2
    ChimeraX-Crosslinks: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Crystal: 1.0
    ChimeraX-CrystalContacts: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-DataFormats: 1.2.3
    ChimeraX-Dicom: 1.2
    ChimeraX-DistMonitor: 1.4
    ChimeraX-DockPrep: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-Dssp: 2.0
    ChimeraX-EMDB-SFF: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ESMFold: 1.0
    ChimeraX-FileHistory: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-FunctionKey: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Geometry: 1.3
    ChimeraX-gltf: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Graphics: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-Hbonds: 2.4
    ChimeraX-Help: 1.2.1
    ChimeraX-HKCage: 1.3
    ChimeraX-IHM: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ImageFormats: 1.2
    ChimeraX-IMOD: 1.0
    ChimeraX-IO: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-ISOLDE: 1.6.0
    ChimeraX-ItemsInspection: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Label: 1.1.7
    ChimeraX-LinuxSupport: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-ListInfo: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-Log: 1.1.5
    ChimeraX-LookingGlass: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Maestro: 1.8.2
    ChimeraX-Map: 1.1.4
    ChimeraX-MapData: 2.0
    ChimeraX-MapEraser: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-MapFilter: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-MapFit: 2.0
    ChimeraX-MapSeries: 2.1.1
    ChimeraX-Markers: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Mask: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-MatchMaker: 2.0.12
    ChimeraX-MDcrds: 2.6
    ChimeraX-MedicalToolbar: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-Meeting: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-MLP: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-mmCIF: 2.12
    ChimeraX-MMTF: 2.2
    ChimeraX-Modeller: 1.5.9
    ChimeraX-ModelPanel: 1.3.7
    ChimeraX-ModelSeries: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Mol2: 2.0
    ChimeraX-Mole: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Morph: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-MouseModes: 1.2
    ChimeraX-Movie: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Neuron: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Nifti: 1.0
    ChimeraX-NRRD: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Nucleotides: 2.0.3
    ChimeraX-OpenCommand: 1.10.1
    ChimeraX-PDB: 2.7.2
    ChimeraX-PDBBio: 1.0
    ChimeraX-PDBLibrary: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-PDBMatrices: 1.0
    ChimeraX-PickBlobs: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Positions: 1.0
    ChimeraX-PresetMgr: 1.1
    ChimeraX-PubChem: 2.1
    ChimeraX-QScore: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ReadPbonds: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Registration: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-RemoteControl: 1.0
    ChimeraX-RenderByAttr: 1.1
    ChimeraX-RenumberResidues: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ResidueFit: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-RestServer: 1.1
    ChimeraX-RNALayout: 1.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibMgr: 3.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsDunbrack: 2.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsDynameomics: 2.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsRichardson: 2.0
    ChimeraX-SaveCommand: 1.5.1
    ChimeraX-SchemeMgr: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SDF: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-Segger: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Segment: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-SelInspector: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SeqView: 2.8.3
    ChimeraX-Shape: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Shell: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Shortcuts: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-ShowSequences: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-SideView: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Smiles: 2.1
    ChimeraX-SmoothLines: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SpaceNavigator: 1.0
    ChimeraX-StdCommands: 1.10.3
    ChimeraX-STL: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Storm: 1.0
    ChimeraX-StructMeasure: 1.1.2
    ChimeraX-Struts: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Surface: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-SwapAA: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-SwapRes: 2.2.1
    ChimeraX-TapeMeasure: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Test: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Toolbar: 1.1.2
    ChimeraX-ToolshedUtils: 1.2.1
    ChimeraX-Topography: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Tug: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-UI: 1.28.4
    ChimeraX-uniprot: 2.2.2
    ChimeraX-UnitCell: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-ViewDockX: 1.2
    ChimeraX-VIPERdb: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Vive: 1.1
    ChimeraX-VolumeMenu: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-VTK: 1.0
    ChimeraX-WavefrontOBJ: 1.0
    ChimeraX-WebCam: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-WebServices: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-Zone: 1.0.1
    colorama: 0.4.6
    comm: 0.1.3
    contourpy: 1.0.7
    cxservices: 1.2.2
    cycler: 0.11.0
    Cython: 0.29.33
    debugpy: 1.6.7
    decorator: 5.1.1
    distro: 1.7.0
    docutils: 0.19
    executing: 1.2.0
    filelock: 3.9.0
    fonttools: 4.39.3
    funcparserlib: 1.0.1
    grako: 3.16.5
    h5py: 3.8.0
    html2text: 2020.1.16
    idna: 3.4
    ihm: 0.35
    imagecodecs: 2022.9.26
    imagesize: 1.4.1
    importlib-metadata: 6.6.0
    ipykernel: 6.21.1
    ipython: 8.10.0
    ipython-genutils: 0.2.0
    ipywidgets: 8.0.6
    jedi: 0.18.2
    Jinja2: 3.1.2
    jupyter-client: 8.0.2
    jupyter-core: 5.3.0
    jupyterlab-widgets: 3.0.7
    kiwisolver: 1.4.4
    line-profiler: 4.0.2
    lxml: 4.9.2
    lz4: 4.3.2
    MarkupSafe: 2.1.2
    matplotlib: 3.6.3
    matplotlib-inline: 0.1.6
    msgpack: 1.0.4
    nest-asyncio: 1.5.6
    netCDF4: 1.6.2
    networkx: 2.8.8
    nibabel: 5.0.1
    nptyping: 2.5.0
    numexpr: 2.8.4
    numpy: 1.23.5
    openvr: 1.23.701
    packaging: 23.1
    ParmEd: 3.4.3
    parso: 0.8.3
    pep517: 0.13.0
    pexpect: 4.8.0
    pickleshare: 0.7.5
    Pillow: 9.3.0
    pip: 23.0
    pkginfo: 1.9.6
    platformdirs: 3.5.0
    prompt-toolkit: 3.0.38
    psutil: 5.9.4
    ptyprocess: 0.7.0
    pure-eval: 0.2.2
    pycollada: 0.7.2
    pydicom: 2.3.0
    Pygments: 2.14.0
    pynrrd: 1.0.0
    PyOpenGL: 3.1.5
    PyOpenGL-accelerate: 3.1.5
    pyparsing: 3.0.9
    pyproject-hooks: 1.0.0
    PyQt6-commercial: 6.4.2
    PyQt6-Qt6: 6.4.3
    PyQt6-sip: 13.4.1
    PyQt6-WebEngine-commercial: 6.4.0
    PyQt6-WebEngine-Qt6: 6.4.3
    python-dateutil: 2.8.2
    pytz: 2023.3
    pyzmq: 25.0.2
    qtconsole: 5.4.0
    QtPy: 2.3.1
    RandomWords: 0.4.0
    rdkit-pypi: 2022.9.2
    requests: 2.28.2
    scipy: 1.9.3
    Send2Trash: 1.8.2
    SEQCROW: 1.6.6
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    sfftk-rw: 0.7.3
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    snowballstemmer: 2.2.0
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    sphinx: 6.1.3
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    sphinxcontrib-blockdiag: 3.0.0
    sphinxcontrib-devhelp: 1.0.2
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File attachment: Screenshot from 2023-06-28 09-53-13.png

Screenshot from 2023-06-28 09-53-13.png​

[Tristan Croll]

Added by email2trac

[Tom Goddard]

I have not seen any truncated residue labels. I just tried looking at name and number residue labels of 3000 labels in PDB 7y5a with ChimeraX 1.6.1 on macOS 13.4.1 and all looked fine.

The default font used for ChimeraX labels is Arial. Maybe you are observing the problem on systems that do not have the Arial font and when Qt substitutes another font it gets the font metrics wrong.

I'm not going to hack the code and put spaces at the end of labels without an example (PDB file, ChimeraX version, operating system, commands) that reproduces the problem. Possibly the right solution is to choose a more widely available font for the labels as the default.

[Tristan Croll]

Hmm… yes, come to think of it it might be a Linux-specific thing (I’m
currently using a very vanilla Ubuntu 22.04 with ChimeraX 1.6.1, but I’ve
definitely seen it in other Linux flavours on different machines). In
Windows (ChimeraX 1.6.1) if I do:

open 3io0
label #1 res

… then zoom and rotate a bit I do notice some *very* slight clipping of
rounded numbers (0, 2, 3, 6, 9) that comes and goes depending on position
suggesting the last column or two of pixels are occasionally getting lost,
but it’s barely noticeable.

On Wed, 28 Jun 2023 at 18:26, ChimeraX <ChimeraX-bugs-admin@cgl.ucsf.edu>
wrote:

>
>
>
>

[Tom Goddard]

I can reproduce the problem on Ubuntu 22 with 3io0. Ubuntu 22 does not have Arial font so it must substitute a font. I tried specifying standard Ubuntu fonts such as "DejaVu Sans"

label #1 res font "DejaVu sans"

and they were also clipped. The font "DejaVu serif" didn't appear to clip but we don't want to use a font with serifs. I did not see a current Qt bug report about the font metrics being wrong although there was a Qt 5 bug that had exactly the same issue on Linux of the text width being too small by a few pixels.

I noticed if I add a background color to the labels then they are not clipped

label #1 res bgColor blue

This is because it adds a little bit of horizontal padding when a background is specified.

I think the best work-around for the broken Qt font metrics on Linux might be to add the same extra horizontal padding used when a background color is specified even with no background on Linux.

[Tom Goddard]

In looking at this on a 1920 by 1080 display, the appearance of the labels was horrible. I am used to using a Mac retina display where the poor rasterization of the fonts done by Qt is not apparent. So clipping of the labels is not their only problem.

[Tom Goddard]

Fixed.

I worked around this Qt 6.4 bug by adding 4 pixels to the width of the label textures on Linux. That was enough for the 3io0 test case. But it is unknown how far wrong the Qt fontmetrics text width might be in other cases.