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_Ashton_Treadway_
Participant
March 3, 2009
Question

FrameMaker has correct fonts, PDFs produced with Acrobat 9 don't.

  • March 3, 2009
  • 15 replies
  • 19017 views
We're producing PDFs out of FrameMaker 9 into Acrobat 9, using the Frutiger Next font family. With the exception of a single character format, fonts are coming out correctly embedded in the PDFs.

However, in this one case (Frutiger Next Pro Medium), Acrobat appears to be (for no reason we can tell) substituting Frutiger Next Pro Heavy for medium, which makes the resulting PDF look like crap.

When we print from Frame, it looks correct. This only happens when we save as PDF. The fonts are installed on the machine, Frame uses and shows them correctly.

This only happened after we upgraded to Frame 9 and Acrobat 9, and we're at our wit's end trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
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    15 replies

    S
    Seanb_us
    Inspiring
    March 4, 2009
    Well, it is interesting that:<br /><br />1) Deselecting "Convert CMYK Colors to RGB" causes my font not to be output to PDF.<br /><br />2) Selecting "Convert CMYK Colors to RGB" causes the PDF to be three times larger and take five times as long to generate.<br /><br />I'd be interested in getting my font with the small PDF size and the fast PDF creation. <g><br /><br />At least I have a workaround.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Sean
    A
    Anonymous
    April 18, 2009

    Ashton and Sean,

    If either of you are using SP3, you might take a look at this thread,

    http://forums.adobe.com/thread/418848?tstart=0

    as I believe the font issues you mentioned may be associated with a change to the way Windows handles fonts. The posting concerned Arial, but your description sounds like it is very similar.

    Sheila

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    _Ashton_Treadway_Author
    Participant
    March 4, 2009
    I have to say that this has been an entertainingly odd bug for us. The problems I originally reported respond well both to Frame -> PS -> PDF and selecting "convert CMYK Colors to RGB", so we're going the Save As PDF + convert CMYK option for now. At least until something else goes sideways.
    S
    Seanb_us
    Inspiring
    March 4, 2009
    Fair enough; that gives me a PDF with my font correctly included.<br /><br />What did this print process do with the "Convert CMYK Colors to RGB" setting though? Select it? Deselect it? From the file size and time taken, I'd guess it's the same as selecting that checkbox.<br /><br />See, this is what happens when you install and start testing right away on real projects and you have the previous version to test against. <g><br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Sean
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    _Van_Kurtz_
    Known Participant
    March 4, 2009
    Sean,

    To print to PDF directly, select Adobe PDF as the printer AND do NOT select Save to file in the Print dialog. The PS is created but immediately distilled and deleted, resulting in a PDF.

    Van
    A
    Art Campbell
    Inspiring
    March 4, 2009
    With your file open, pull down the File menu and select Print.

    In the FM Print dialog box, select the Adobe PDF logical printer (the name may vary, depending on your system).

    Make sure that Print to File is NOT activated.

    Make sure that Generate Acrobat data is activated.

    If you have to make any adjustments either to PDF properties or to select a job option in the printer properties, do it now.

    Then click Print. The system will prompt you for a file name....
    And a PDF should churn out.
    S
    Seanb_us
    Inspiring
    March 4, 2009
    Thanks Art.

    How do I print to PDF directly without first going to PS? I am curious about that check box, however.

    Sean
    A
    Art Campbell
    Inspiring
    March 4, 2009
    Sean,

    Over in the other thread, you mention that you've already found a solution by generating a PS file and distilling it. The same process occurs when you Print to the PDF logical printer, but it's only one step.

    Easiest thing to do is to use the Print path until Adobe fixes the SaveAs... which I wouldn't hold my breath for.
    S
    Seanb_us
    Inspiring
    March 4, 2009
    What the ... heck?!

    When I use File > Save as PDF, there's a check box called "Convert CMYK Colors to RGB."

    If I leave this deselected, Distiller takes 4 seconds after printing is done and my ArialMTStd-Black.otf font is missing from my PDF. This is a 2MB PDF.

    If I select this, Distiller takes 3.5 minutes after printing is done and my ArialMTStd-Black.otf is present, as it should be, in my PDF. This is a 6MB PDF.

    Both those were done using the same joboptions.

    Can you tell me what the check box does, why the extra time, why the extra file size, and why it controls whether my font displays, or not?

    Cheers,

    Sean
    Arnis Gubins
    Arnis Gubins
    Inspiring
    March 4, 2009
    Sean,

    That's ["Convert CMYK Colors to RGB."] the toggle between the old RGB
    version and the new CMYK. When it is checked, it behaves as prior
    versions when doing the SaveAsPDF.

    When it is left unchecked, it maintains CMYK definitions on output and
    fools the GDI into leaving them alone. However, it's got a number of
    bugs. It messes up imported PDFs (presents the rasterized preview in
    RGB no less), it drops crop/registration marks, it seems to mess with
    fonts, it generates all Acrobat data (which is really useful for print
    production, not!), etc.

    Printing to the AdobePDF printer that is hooked to the PDF port
    creates your PDF more or less directly, using some sleight of hand,
    i.e. it still creates a temporary postscript file and pipes it through
    Distiller, but cleans up after itself much better than the SaveAsPDF
    route.
    S
    Seanb_us
    Inspiring
    March 4, 2009
    I don't know what you mean. How do I use the CMYK options? How do I use the old RGB option?

    Thanks,

    Sean
    A
    Art Campbell
    Inspiring
    March 4, 2009
    Sean, the SaveAs method should work fine, but it hasn't for a number of years and releases... including in 9.

    Print the book or file to the Adobe PDF logical printer and see if that changes the result. This would be the same workflow as you're using to create a PS file and then manually distill it, but it's only one step, so I expect it to solve your problem.

    Art
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