Low Text Resolution when printing from Illustrator

[Bruno Lindorfer]

Hi,

when i print documents from Illustrator (printing on Canon PRO 10s from an iMac running macOS Sierra) the resolution of any font is low even if i set the preset for the bitmap conversion to high resolution in the print dialog (i do not know the exact name of the option as i use the german version of Illustrator CC).

When i save the document as a high quality pdf and print it with acrobat, i do not have these issues. Is this a common problem? Is there a way to solve this issue?

[Monika Gause]

Probably the printer is not capable of PostScript.

When printing from Acrobat, Acrobat does that job for you.

[Bruno Lindorfer]

Thanks for your reply! It is true that the printer is not capable of PostScript, but this shouldn't be a problem. Illustrator should render the output as a bitmap, but even when selecting a resolution of 2400ppi for bitmap conversion, the problem persist.

[Monika Gause]

Use Acrobat for printing.

[jdanek]

"the resolution of any font is low"...

Fonts do not have any resolution.  I have a few questions:

1.)  Does rendering appear rough on all fonts?

2.)  What type of fonts are you using ( i.e., true type, type 1, open type )?

3.)  Is this a new problem or has it been this way since you got that Canon?

4.)  When was the last time you could print without the fonts appearing rough?  What was the OS at the time?

Hypothetically, you have all of the elements inside a font suitcase to render the font at the smallest size the printer can print it.  But, even office type desktop laser printers print fonts day in and day out with no difficulties. You should not have to print as bitmap, that in itself could be the problem.

[Bruno Lindorfer]

Well, maybe it was a bit of a sloppy description of the problem.

Somehow Illustrator uses a low resolution to render the fonts (i have to check if vector elements are also rendered this way) - see the example.

To answer your questions:

ad 1) yes, rendering is pixelated on all fonts

ad 2) for the shown example i used opentype and typekit fonts (which are also opentype fonts afaik).

ad 3) 4) i can not really say because i just found out about this problem because of a high quality print i was doing. i have not done artwork of this kind before. so it might have already been there without me recognizing

What i do not understand is that prints done with Acrobat are fine while the Illustrator prints show the low resolution rendering effect.

The only settings influencing rendering resolution in Illustrator are the ones in the print menu for controlling the bitmap conversion and the ones in the effects menu.

[niclass39455030]

Hi Bruno,

did you find a solution.

I have the same problem

I would appreciate your help.

Many thanks in advance and greetings from Germany

[Monika Gause]

Your printer probably doesn't support PostScript.

Does it work when you save a PDF from Illustrator and then print that from Acrobat?

Acrobat has its own PostScript interpreter.

[niclass39455030]

Hi, Monika,

thank you for your answer. 🙂

I use a Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 printer. My Mac is running macOS High Sierra Version 10.13.3.

When I save a PDF from Illustrator and print it via Acrobat Pro DC, the printing works fine.

However, this is quite a detour because I need a lot of prints. So I prefer to print directly using Illustrator.

On a Windows computer everything works fine. Also with the printer and printing with Illustrator. Not on my Mac, though.

Many thanks and best regards

Niclas

Same problem here:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2129116

[Monika Gause]

Ask Canon. Maybe it's the driver.

[niclass39455030]

It doesn't seem to be Canon's problem.

Same problem with a Brother printer. Only if I want to print within Illustrator on my Mac.

No problem with Acrobat + PDF.

With a computer running Windows, Illustrator can also print with no problems.

[Monika Gause]

Can you please contact Canon to check if there's newer driver available?

Since it works on Windows, it doesn't seem to be Illustrator's problem. Rather one of Mac OS.

[CaraBenNemsi]

I have the same problem with Illustrator and a HP Printer.

Every other application prints fine on the printer, but Illustrator pints a low resolution on fonts and curvy objects and has artifacts in gradients and shadows.

What should I do?

[Monika Gause]

  schrieb

I have the same problem with Illustrator and a HP Printer.

Every other application prints fine on the printer, but Illustrator pints a low resolution on fonts and curvy objects and has artifacts in gradients and shadows.

What should I do?

Is that a PostScript enabled printer?