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Jack LaVigne
Jack LaVigne
Participant
August 25, 2020
Question

Confusion using findfont on windows 10

  • August 25, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 906 views

I am unable to use all of the installed fonts.

Below is a simple program

%!PS

/TimesNewRomanPSMT findfont
12 scalefont setfont
72 200 moveto
(TimesNewRomanPSMT) show

/HelveticaMonospacedPro-Rg findfont
12 scalefont setfont
72 300 moveto
(HelveticaMonospacedPro-Rg) show

showpage

 

When I convert it with Acrobat Distiller it replaces the Helvetica Monospaced Pro with Courier.

I purchased the Helvetica Monospaced Pro font, it is an ".otf" file and resides not in C:\Windows\fonts but rather in C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts.

 

It appears that postscript doesn't search this directory when using findfont.

 

Would like to know how to modify the code so postscript will search that directory.

 

Further need clarification if it is because it is an ".otf" font that it doesn't work. The "TimesNewRomanPSMT" is a ".ttf" font.

 

Help please

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Legend
    August 25, 2020

    Recent versions of Windows 10 have really mucked-up the font enumeration process. Furthermore, fonts can now be installed either for the current user only or for all users. By default, fonts are installed for the current user only.

     

    There are two ways of getting around this problem.

     

    (1)    Open Distiller and add C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts to the list of locations that Distiller should look for fonts in where <user> is replaced by the appropriate username. Exit Distiller and restart Distiller. Any and all fonts installed for the current user only should now be visible to Distiller.

     

    (2)    Go to C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts, right click on the fonts in question, and select Install for all users.

     

    Personally, I would go with the first solution.

     

    Let us know if that resolves your problem.

     

     

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
    Jack LaVigne
    Jack LaVigneAuthor
    Participant
    August 26, 2020

    Partial success, thank you very much.

    However I still have some problems.

    First the directory

         C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts

    was known to Distiller.

    Secondly, I uninstalled and re-installed using "Install for all users".

    Discovered that the font was now in C:\Windows\fonts and it worked using Acrobat Distiller.

    Success.

    I added another font to the code above (Symbol Regular, symbol.ttf) with the postscript name

           SymbolMT

    This font is located in C:\Windows\fonts

    This also worked using Acrobat Distiller.

    Now the problems.

    When I open the PDF file created with Distiller in Adobe Illustrator the symbol font is bad but the HelveticaMonospacedPro is good.

    I tried opening the postscript file directly with Adobe Illustrator.

    The symbol font looks OK but is actually outlined characters.

    The HelveticaMonospacedPro font shows up as boxes with an enclosed question mark.

    I would be grateful if you could guide me to a solution so that I can view and edit the PDF and/or postscript files in Illustrator.

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Legend
    August 26, 2020

    Glad to know something is working.

     

    With regards to Adobe Illustrator, please understand that despite marketing blather going back over 20 years, Adobe Illustrator is not, repeat is not, repeat yet again is not a general purpose editor of either PostScript, EPS, and/or PDF files.

     

    The only EPS files that Adobe Illustrator can safely open and edit without the possibility of content loss or modification are EPS files saved directly from the current or previous versions of Adobe Illustrator without any subsequent modifications.

     

    The only PDF files that Adobe Illustrator can safely open and edit without the possibility of content loss or modification (including text outlining, font substitution, and color space changes are PDF files saved directly from the current or previous versions of Adobe Illustrator for which the Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities option was specified when the file was saved, no subsequent modifications of the PDF file were made by any other software (including Acrobat), and for which all referenced fonts are installed and accessible on the system on which Illustrator is attempting to open and edit such a PDF file.

     

    If we may ask, exactly what are you trying to accomplish starting with PostScript?

     

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
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