funky outlined text in PDF view

[lindygro]

I have a document with Myriad typeface. I outlined my type and saved the file as a PDF. The PDF causes all the "L"s in the document to appear wider on the screen. It's fine printed out. Will this blip show up when I send it to a higher quality printer?

[G4pj]

Most likely it's a screen artifact that makes the type look chunky. However, if you save the file as a pdf, and no furthere edits need to be made. Why not embed the fonts and leave them as they are and save to a pdf file? When viewed on another computer, embedded fonts behave and appear as they should.

And make sure your colors are set up the way they are supposed to be set up, process for process output and spot for spot output. If your black converts out to 75:67:68:90 (CMYK) because the file was set up in an RGB work mode, then the file will need to be tweaked for output, and then and only then, the fonts will be an issue.

[PrepressGuru]

what you have here is a classic case of Illustrator Outlines.
it pickes straight up and down letters (see a lower case L) and it makes it a stroke instead of a box. It shouldn't affect the printer at all unless the printer needs to edit the file, say for color or if you call at the last minute and ask them to fix a misspelled word.

if it's truly an issue with what you see on screen (say your uploading to a website) then select-->same-->stroke color and object-->expand-->stroke

these strokes can also create some havok when going to certain rip devices to make plates for printing (or direct to press systems) you may wish to ask your service provider if they are an issue.

[Paul C]

what you have here is a classic case of Illustrator Outlines.
it pickes straight up and down letters (see a lower case L) and it makes it a stroke instead of a box.
????And what version of Illustrator does this????

peace

[The Repro Kid]

Maybe version 4.5 for Mac System 7?

[Paul C]

I believe he's using the "Special Edition" :)

peace

[PrepressGuru]

hehe, cute,
no I've seen it time and time again, a lot of files I get from clients are that way, and I personally use indesign CS and I've seen it happen on my pdf's.
you only see it in pdf's. it doesn't show that way on EPS's that I've seen.

btw, MS Word is notorius for this, make a pdf from a word file, open in illustrator and outline the fonts and you have all these little sticks you can make thinner and thicker.

[Paul C]

what you have here is a classic case of Illustrator Outlines.
it pickes straight up and down letters (see a lower case L) and it makes it a stroke instead of a box
And what exactly does this have to do with PDF?

This is absolutely fallacious. Outlining text in Illustrator does NOT turn any letter into a stroke.

If you had stroked the letters then yes, you might have to outline the strokes separately but this is not what you stated.

MS Word is notorius for this, make a pdf from a word file, open in illustrator and outline the fonts and you have all these little sticks you can make thinner and thicker.
You mean like an outlined font?

peace

[PrepressGuru]

Wow, friendly people that thinks others are lying, Paul.

Have you ever seen EVERY pdf ever made from illustrator outlines?

Have you seen EVERY Illustrator file with the text converted to outlines?

How can you say with 100% certainty that it never happens?

Can't you think that there is the slightest measure of doubt that I'm not lying?

it's ok, to make you feel better I'll let you think you are 100% right and I'm wrong. Thanks for the great board welcome!

[Paul C]

Fallacious information is simply wrong, not necessarily a lie. I most certainly did NOT call you a liar.

I have no desire to get into a flame war with you and won't.

Perhaps whats going on here is a difference in terminology:
Stroke in Illustrator refers to a very specific thing. You stroke a path. So you can see that your post seemed like it was implying that outlining a font made Illustrator turn lower case Ls into strokes. It doesn't. It turns them into paths or shapes or outlines.

Those little sticks you were referring to are called shapes or paths or outlines.

peace

[The Repro Kid]

Well, now wait a minute, PaulC.

PrePressGuru is describing clearly line segments used to draw the ascenders of a font rather than a true font outline shape.

It's been a while since I've played with font creation programs, but it may be possible to create a font this way, I have my doubts, but it may be possible. The problem would be in the scaling of the font to various sizes and whether it would recognize and scale the stroked line segment.

But it would have to be the downright cheapest poor excuse for a font ever created. No one creating any type of art should be using this poor quality of a font. PrePressGuru mentioned Microsoft Word in his post. The guilty fonts could be PC Microsoft Word fonts, which I would think would be poor quality at best.

But still, PrePressGuru, from the surface it seems like a somewhat questionable claim, I know I'd love to see a screenshot or a posted file, and definitely would like to know the name and foundry of some of the "typical" fonts that do this.

[Paul C]

Wouldn't you know it?

From the experts at Typophile:
There are old-school “plotter fonts” and metafonts as well as new fangled memory-saving stick fonts and stroke fonts out there.

Why someone would use them for layout purposes - I have no idea…
I would still like to see a screen shot…

Foot in mouth, red-faced he prepares to go home…

peace

[The Repro Kid]

Well, I still see a lot of plotter fonts because we use lots and lots of plotter generated die lines at work which are constantly being updated. The plotter fonts seem to outline just fine, but I think the stick fonts do exist. I would definitely think of microsoftword fonts as a likely culprit.

It's a shame that PrePressGurus' travels put him in such constant contact with these oddball fonts. A graphics professional shouldn't have to be subjected to them.

[Paul C]

t's a shame that PrePressGurus' travels put him in such constant contact with these oddball fonts. A graphics professional shouldn't have to be subjected to them.
Or my abuse. I apologize Pre Press Guru. I just never imagined such a heinous thing could exist…

peace

[PrepressGuru]

what happened the other day (and I am sorry to say I didn't keep the file, I overwrote it) I had a logo from a well known advertising company in Michigan, the file was in a later version of Illustrator than what I currenty have. I placed the EPS file in Quark 6, exported it as a PDF and opened it in the version of Illustraor I have (cs). The I's and lower case l's in the logo just happened to be a line segment with a stroke of 0p1. This file was originally created in Illustrator CS, updated to CS2 by the design company, then supplied to me as an EPS file. The font used in the original logo file was Helvetica Neue Heavy Condensed. it's not just the crappy freeware fonts that people get off the net (though that is a huge part of prepress problems that I won't even start to get into here), it's also the manipulation of graphics and fonts that make this phenomona happen.
funny thing about it, now that I think about it, if you track the files that it happens to, they all seem to be upgraded from one version of Illustrator to another, or imported from a different software package entirely.

p.s. apology accepted PaulC if you will accept mine for the flame.

p.p.s I'll look at work for the original file, if I have it, I will post it tomorrow.

[Paul C]

Helvetica Neue? Wow. I would love to see that. Glad you came back…

peace