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I have a customer-provided PDF file with fonts embedded. Very good customer art.
My computer doesn't have these fonts installed, nor do I wish to buy them.
Since the font is embedded, why does my Adobe Illustrator CS1 decide to substitute with a font that resides on my computer? I have the check mark "OFF" where it asks to substitute system fonts (or something similar to that) in Distiller.
I even tried to save the PDF file as another PDF file from my program. It still wants to change the fonts.
I just want to "place" the file into an Illustrator job. I don't want to modify the image/copy. How do I "Place" this file, unadulterated???
-------------------- Gene Golden Gettysburg Signs Gettysburg PA 17325 717-334-0200 genegolden@gettysburgsigns.com
"Art is knowing when to stop." Posts: 1578 | From: Gettysburg, PA | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
The only thing I can suggest is to try and get the designer to convert the fonts to paths for you. It's a PIA, I know. Or maybe he/she can send you the fonts by e.mail so you can install them yourself.
-------------------- Mike gatlinburg Sign Crafters Posts: 1051 | From: Gatlinburg, TN | Registered: Oct 2005
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Okay Mike, I just opened it into Photoshop and it IS pretty acceptable, but...
The sharp edges of the letters tend to pixellate instead of remaining crisp.
This may do okay, but I am still willing and ready to hear other theories. This banner has large enough letters to get away with a bit of blur, but a smaller letter size would be illegible.
-------------------- Gene Golden Gettysburg Signs Gettysburg PA 17325 717-334-0200 genegolden@gettysburgsigns.com
"Art is knowing when to stop." Posts: 1578 | From: Gettysburg, PA | Registered: Jun 2003
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Three different weights of Univers with some of it oblique.
I would have to try to import it again to get the message with the font names. Sometimes it shows, sometimes it gives me a more "generic" message without the fonts named.
-------------------- Gene Golden Gettysburg Signs Gettysburg PA 17325 717-334-0200 genegolden@gettysburgsigns.com
"Art is knowing when to stop." Posts: 1578 | From: Gettysburg, PA | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
My first thoughts are that Illustrator will read the pdf file as a raster image instead of a vector image (some pdf's are "flattened" so you can't revise any text or anything). When "flattened" the artwork will be read as a raster image so it shouldn't make a difference if you print from Illustrator or Photoshop.
There is a possibility of saving a pdf that will save all editability and can be taken into Illustrator. Was the original PDF made in acrobat or Illustrator? When you open the file in Illy is it asking you to replace or substitute the font or is it automatically opening with a different font?
One thing you might try is if the original was done in Illustrator you should have the client send you a file with the text "outlined" (type> create outlines). This will keep the vector data but not the font.
This is all my guess, I'm not 100% sure. Hope this helps, but you have more experience printing large files than I do. I just know the programs failry well.
-------------------- Kelsey Dum Dum Designs Sherwood, AR 72120 501.765.2166 kelsey@dumdesigns.com Posts: 827 | From: Sherwood, AR | Registered: Oct 2005
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Do you have Acrobat Proffesional? You may be able to fix it yourself by opening it in Acrobat Pro. Go to File>document properties. You can change some of the security settings and mess with the fonts.
This is of corse if Acrobat will open it with the correct fonts.
-------------------- Kelsey Dum Dum Designs Sherwood, AR 72120 501.765.2166 kelsey@dumdesigns.com Posts: 827 | From: Sherwood, AR | Registered: Oct 2005
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Adobe Illustrator expects you to have the fonts on your machine if you want to edit the file. But, the postscript information is there, so how hard would it be for Adobe to give the option to convert to outlines instead of substituting the font? That is just one of the things on my Adobe software features wish list.
My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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Russ, I figured there would be a setting for just that!
It acknowledges that the fonts are embedded... and won't do anything with them!!! Why bother to embed them if they assume that you have the font? Doesn't that negate the reason for embedding? In Adobe's own documentation, they mention that they embed so that even if you have a different version of, say American Garamond, that the file will open with the document's Original form of Garamond.
With that said, the file opens absolutely correctly with the proper letterstyles (I have a hard copy of the PDF printed by the customer). Adobe Acrobat 7 reads it perfectly. It is only when I try to "place" this file into Illustrator CS that it won't convert properly. I guess it is some sort of a violation of font copyright.
Kelsey, I've tweaked those settings as much as I feel comfortable. The "common sense" font settings don't work so far. The really advanced Pre-Press stuff scares me!
-------------------- Gene Golden Gettysburg Signs Gettysburg PA 17325 717-334-0200 genegolden@gettysburgsigns.com
"Art is knowing when to stop." Posts: 1578 | From: Gettysburg, PA | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
Open it again in Acrobat. Go to: File> save as> encapsulated postscript. Before you name the file and choose a destination go to: Settings (should be right next to the format choices). Go to: Transparency flattening. In here you should be able to check a box that says "convert all text to outlines". This should save your file as an eps with the fonts outlined.
If this option isn't available at File> save as... set your Acrobat Preferences to do this for you.
Let me know if this works for you.
-------------------- Kelsey Dum Dum Designs Sherwood, AR 72120 501.765.2166 kelsey@dumdesigns.com Posts: 827 | From: Sherwood, AR | Registered: Oct 2005
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You need to have them resend it with text converted to curves for cutting capabilities or open it in a high resolution in Photo-Shop 20-40 meg depending on the finished size. A rasterize window will open & insert the image at a 20-40 meg value. Then re-size it changing the dpi(as it will likely skyrocket if enlarging)to retain the 60-70 meg count.
These options will be available to you when you select the command.
It will be great for point of purchase.
If you hit the zoom tool in photshop, you can hit "print size" on the top bar & it will show you what the result will look like at the size being printed. Hint- you always want "actual pixels" to be a little bigger on the screen than the "print size". Both commands are on the top bar when the magnifying glass is selected.
-------------------- Michael R. Bendel Bendel Sign Co,. Inc. Sauk Rapids, MN Posts: 913 | From: Sauk Rapids, MN | Registered: Jul 2005
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Bill, Because of the layers in the original PDF file, when I tried to print directly to Mimaki, it somehow eliminated some of the layer effects. I can't figure out why, but it did.
It also sent it to print in an 8.5"x11" format, when the final output was supposed to be 50"x120" for a banner. The customer art was a full-sized PDF image. I tried to scale & crop it in Mimaki, which I could have done, but it was still missing layers.
-------------------- Gene Golden Gettysburg Signs Gettysburg PA 17325 717-334-0200 genegolden@gettysburgsigns.com
"Art is knowing when to stop." Posts: 1578 | From: Gettysburg, PA | Registered: Jun 2003
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Gene, sounds like this hasn't resolved itself yet huh?
I may be able to help. I'll be working a bit today, so if I can, I will.
I tried to follow the whole thread... but I'm sure I missed a bit... Kelsey asked if you had the full version of Acrobat Professional. I saw you mention "reader" but I'm guessing you don't have the full version?
One thing I'm confused about is your final printing procedures...
quote:Originally posted by Gene Golden: I tried to scale & crop it in Mimaki, which I could have done, but it was still missing layers.
what does "crop it in Mimaki" mean? I have a Mimaki printer & I'm not aware of any Mimaki software... but there's a lot of things I'm not aware of... Is there a Mimaki software?
I printout of Flexi Pro. It has a rip built in, so all my Mimaki prints flow through Flexi. Almost none of them originate there.
80% - 90% of my jobs get output as rastor images saved as RGB files at 100 - 150 dpi. I have done many prints with excessive text & have never had a problem sending as rastor art.
Banners will never hold as crisp an edge as vinyl anyway, so I would advise a client who has crisp-edge concerns to opt for vinyl mounted to gator foam... but for your Friday deadline, I suggest a 100-150 dpi .tiff file & your could crop out a text-heavy swatch to print as a sample first to see for yourself how the edges look.
I have Acrobat Professional, & Illustrator CS2 so if I can help, we could ftp a file back & forth if some conversions can be done here that can't be done there.
posted
I forgot to mention, I have simply opened .pdf files in Acrobat professional, chose "save as" & then selected the .tiff format & printed very good looking high resolution images with no other complications needed.
Opened the original PDF in Adobe Acrobat 7 - File - Print - Print to Adobe PDF (in effect, I am producing another PDF file from the original PDF)
In Print Setup - Properties - Layout - Advanced -
Graphic - True Type Font - Download as Softfont -
Document Options - Postscript Options - True Type Font Download Option- Outline
So far so good. What this gave me was only part of what I needed, but it was the important part. I sent the file over and gave me OUTLINED fonts in the proper sharp, clean, no-fuzz format.
BUT... as Acrobat Distiller reformatted the other information, it really screwed up areas with gradation and overlapping layers.
SO, I placed the original PDF and this new PDF into one Adobe Illustrator file. Since everything was still editable (except the font) I was able to delete and paste items to make the perfect file!!!
Simple, no?
-------------------- Gene Golden Gettysburg Signs Gettysburg PA 17325 717-334-0200 genegolden@gettysburgsigns.com
"Art is knowing when to stop." Posts: 1578 | From: Gettysburg, PA | Registered: Jun 2003
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Doug, Thanks. Yes it is the Acrobat 7 Professional, not just a reader. As you can see in the image above, there were a few different things happening in this file. It kinda choked Acrobat Distiller, but it worked out beautifully.
The Mimaki "printer" I mentioned is their RasterLink ProII ripping/printing software. It has the Mimaki logo on the box, so I assume it's their own. The colors are dead-on and it is simple to use. All of their profiles are perfect so far. It works like a charm. In the set-up it allows you to crop an image.
The letters are sharp as if they were cut out of vinyl! Absolutely no pixellation whatsoever.
Thanks everyone. Hope this helps someone else.
-------------------- Gene Golden Gettysburg Signs Gettysburg PA 17325 717-334-0200 genegolden@gettysburgsigns.com
"Art is knowing when to stop." Posts: 1578 | From: Gettysburg, PA | Registered: Jun 2003
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interesting... I hadn't remembered hearing of Rastor Link Pro
I may have been told of it, but when my supplier learned that I already owned Flexi, they told me I could use that & I had enough new stuff to learn that I forgot that name.
Well, glad to hear you got it all worked out.
(yeah, that Ultrasnap is so handy... I use it daily to transfer text & images from faxes & emails into an illustrator page where I can begin working on proposals or layouts & have all the client contact pasted around the margins for easy reference. I also set the default to 600 dpi & use it to create all my .jpg proofs for emailing to my clients)
Did you catch that post where Russ posted a link to a free trial of a program called Camtasia Studio 3?
It is another cool program where you can capture video of any process you perform on your comoputer. Great for software training. I had my departing employee capture some good video of setting up files for Mimaki printing so me & my new employee will have them for reference along with the videos we shot of settings on the equipment.
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