Java 2D Enhancements in Java SE 7

The following topics are covered:

XRender-Based Rendering Pipeline

A new XRender-based Java 2D rendering pipeline is supported for modern X11-based desktops, offering improved graphics performance. The pipeline is disabled by default, but may be enabled by setting the command line property -Dsun.java2d.xrender=true. Older X11 configurations may not be able to support XRender. The verbose form, -Dsun.java2d.xrender=True, can be used to enable a message to stdout indicating whether the pipeline was actually enabled.

This flag is listed in the System Properties for Java 2D Technology page.

Support for OpenType/CFF Fonts

The JDK now enumerates and displays installed OpenType/CFF fonts through methods such as GraphicsEnvironment.getAvailableFontFamilyNames; these fonts are also recognized by the Font.createFont method. See Selecting a Font in The Java Tutorials.

TextLayout Support for Tibetan Script

The TextLayout class supports Tibetan script.

Support for Linux Fonts

For Solaris and Windows, the logical fonts for the JDK are statically specified in the fontconfig.properties file. On various implementations of Linux, there is no assurance of the presence of particular fonts to support particular locales. As of Java SE 7, libfontconfig is used to select fonts to use for the logical fonts for "unrecognized" Linux platforms. See Fontconfig for more information.