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bobbyp80653215
Participant
January 4, 2019
Answered

Apple Color Font PDF problems

  • January 4, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 1957 views

Hello everybody, first post, I’m a seasoned InDesign user, but I’m very new here.

I’m trying to generate a standard PDF and an interactive PDF that contains a file using the Apple Color Font (SBIX) format.

The font is appearing very sharp, all is displaying / working correctly in InDesign, up until I generate a PDF. The font in the generated PDF is extremely pixelated in comparison to the document.

In contrast to this, I’ve tried generating PDF’s from native OS apps, preview etc… and everything generates / appears as normal.

Has anybody experienced this problem before? How did you solve it?

Cheers from Ireland,

-Bobby

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Dov Isaacs

To be very clear, OpenType fonts with SVG are not directly supported by the PDF specification. This is not an Adobe issue, but rather, an issue of an ISO standard not yet catching up with new OpenType features. PDF hasn't been an Adobe standard for more than a decade; it is an ISO standard. A similar problem is associated with “variable” OpenType fonts. They are not directly supported by the PDF standard, either.

That having been said, if you use an OpenType SVG font within an InDesign document, the latest versions of InDesign indeed export PDF with content formatted with such fonts appearing in the PDF file. What InDesign does is to create Type 3 fonts using the vector information for each OpenType SVG glyph accessed. The resultant Type 3 fonts are embedded and referenced within the exported PDF file.

Attached is a PDF file using Trajan Color Concept (shipped with Photoshop) and Segoe UI Emoji (shipped with InDesign) SVG font as well as the source InDesign document.

Note that there is no pixelation in the PDF file since vectors are used in the Type 3 font (contrary to popular belief, Type 3 fonts are not necessarily bitmap fonts, although they can be). The only real limitation with use of these fonts is that the text in the PDF file using these fonts cannot be readily edited (at this time).

In terms of Apple's SBIX format (which is not OpenType SVG), you are dealing with glyph definitions that are bitmap and as such, you would expect whatever would be exported by InDesign using such fonts to exhibit possible pixelation in the resultant PDF file.

          - Dov

1 reply

Willi Adelberger
Community Expert
Willi AdelbergerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 5, 2019

If you read the manual you will learn that svg fonts are not supported in PDF.

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bobbyp80653215Author
Participant
January 5, 2019

Thanks Willi for your speedy response

Is that in the latest version of the manual? I do not have a copy on my laptop.

SBIX and SVG are different font formats, the Apple Color SBIX format does not include SVG tables, however, you can add them to the format using a custom parameter and make a hybrid, but SBIX are not SVG.

I’ve noticed SVG fonts are gaining popularity (particularly hand drawn calligraphic styles) and people selling SVG fonts with photoshop users in mind. As a typeface designer I can see the trend drifting further towards that direction, so I think it would be in Adobes best interest to start supporting these formats…

Dov Isaacs
Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
Legend
January 6, 2019

To be very clear, OpenType fonts with SVG are not directly supported by the PDF specification. This is not an Adobe issue, but rather, an issue of an ISO standard not yet catching up with new OpenType features. PDF hasn't been an Adobe standard for more than a decade; it is an ISO standard. A similar problem is associated with “variable” OpenType fonts. They are not directly supported by the PDF standard, either.

That having been said, if you use an OpenType SVG font within an InDesign document, the latest versions of InDesign indeed export PDF with content formatted with such fonts appearing in the PDF file. What InDesign does is to create Type 3 fonts using the vector information for each OpenType SVG glyph accessed. The resultant Type 3 fonts are embedded and referenced within the exported PDF file.

Attached is a PDF file using Trajan Color Concept (shipped with Photoshop) and Segoe UI Emoji (shipped with InDesign) SVG font as well as the source InDesign document.

Note that there is no pixelation in the PDF file since vectors are used in the Type 3 font (contrary to popular belief, Type 3 fonts are not necessarily bitmap fonts, although they can be). The only real limitation with use of these fonts is that the text in the PDF file using these fonts cannot be readily edited (at this time).

In terms of Apple's SBIX format (which is not OpenType SVG), you are dealing with glyph definitions that are bitmap and as such, you would expect whatever would be exported by InDesign using such fonts to exhibit possible pixelation in the resultant PDF file.

          - Dov

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