Creating outlines makes line thicker, how to fix it?

[miz123]

In Illustrator, I created outlines for small body types and now everything looks so thick and bold.

I've learned that once you create outline, you will loose the hinting information so that everything will become thicker.

I'm creating menu for this restaurant but they don't have AI on their computer so I HAVE to create outlines for them..

is there any way to fix or tricks that I can do??

Thanks, Mindy

[Bill Silbert]

No, not really. This is one of the reasons that converting type to outlines is usually discouraged. You may also notice some letters that look slightly taller than the rest of the letters in the outlined text. On the other hand if you have to do it, as in your case, it is usually in a situation where absolute type fidelity is not the client's major concern.

[San25360672n8ra]

I'm facing similar problem but mine is types are looking thinner. I have to change the outlines. I'm creating a logo design. how can I do it please help

[Jacob Bugge]

San,

Maybe you can make it look right if you add a stroke (which will have half its width outside the current outline (the spine) with the default centred stroke).

You can try different values of the Stroke Weight (you can set it exactly as you wish by inserting the value).

[michelew83603738]

So are you creating the outlines just so that they can look at it or do they need the working Illustrator file? You could just hand off a pdf and embed the fonts there so that they will see what the fonts look like there and you will not have this issue. If you need a file to be printed and can't embed the fonts, you can get rid of the fonts in Acrobat and the same sort of thickening won't occur as when you create outlines in Illustrator. So there may be workarounds depending on what your purposes are.

[Monika Gause]

The thickening will occur no matter where you outline the type.

[Jacob Bugge]

miz,

Undoubtedly, the restaurant owner(s) will be best helped with a PDF, so just keep the live (unoutlined) Type and Save a Copy As PDF (or print to PDF) so you have embedding of the fonts and no thickening.

Make sure you keep the original artwork in its AI document.

[paulo461]

I am saving files that must not be editable, therefore have to be saved as outline. Can anyone recommend a professional quality vector graphics software that can handle fonts correctly? Thanks.

Btw, when the file is saved Illustrator still displays the text as should appear instead of how it will actually appear. Once the file is closed the irreversible change to outlined fonts has been made. This has wasted a huge amount of time.

[Monika Gause]

paulo461  schrieb

I am saving files that must not be editable, therefore have to be saved as outline. Can anyone recommend a professional quality vector graphics software that can handle fonts correctly? Thanks.

Illustrator is a professional vector graphics software.

What you're seeing with the tet getting fatter is about how *all* software handles fonts compared to how all software handles graphics.

[paulo461]

OK, thanks. Seems odd that no vector graphics software can save fonts correctly. It would be less problematic if the display was refreshed after saving so that Illustrator displayed the fonts as they will actually appear. At least you would have a chance to undo the changes and save again before closing the program.

Fortunately the font I am using has a light version so I have managed to get a very similar appearance by using that, then adding a 0.1px stroke.

[Monika Gause]

paulo461  schrieb

OK, thanks. Seems odd that no vector graphics software can save fonts correctly.

The way it works is as designed.

You might want to research how fonts work. And especially what "hinting" does.

[Ton Frederiks]

You are creating a menu for a restaurant, but the file must not be editable?

You can save a .pdf without creating outlines and embed the fonts so the will preview and print correctly.

If you don't want the file to be editable, save a copy of the file without Preserve Illustrator editing capabilities.

And use the Security settings to save the file with editing restrictions/

But I wonder if it is really necessary to limit the edting of a menu.

[paulo461]

Thanks, but no I am not creating a menu and the format given to clients must be SVG. It should not be easy to edit, hence the outlining.

I had to abandon the method I described above (using a light version of the font and adding a 0.1px outline) as it causes blocky curves, which are very noticeable when enlarged. I assume this is because it is on top of the hinting.

[Ton Frederiks]

My mistake about the menu, that was the original post.

There is no hinting when fonts are converted to outlines.

Your blocky curves may be caused by the precision set when exporting SVG, changing the decimal to something higher may help.

[paulo461]

You are right. Opening the files with a text editor I see the best versions were saved with 3 decimal places and the blocky ones were saved with 1 decimal point. I thought I had saved them all with 3 decimal places. Thanks for pointing this out.

[AvionD · Accepted solution]

I have had the same problem but found an answer at https://pixelportal.com.au/pixel-portal-blog/adobe_acrobat_showing_thick_l_and_i_characters

[toadlyrad]

I've been looking for the answer to this issue for at least 5 years. 
Thank you! 

[Anubhav M]

Hello @toadlyrad,

We understand that encountering technical issues can be frustrating. Would you mind sharing more details, like the OS/Illustrator version, whether Illustrator behaves this way with all files, if it happens when using a particular font, and public links to sample Ai files before and after creating outlines after uploading them to Dropbox/Google Drive/etc., so we can investigate this further?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav