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Carlos5C32
Carlos5C32
Participant
August 13, 2020
Answered

Missing characters in a PDF version of an Illustrator artwork.

  • August 13, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 306 views

Hello guys, I am packaging designer in a Food Company and I must keep two languages in our artworks (nutrition facts, ingredients and stuff like that) ... Since few weeks I have noticed that when I create an artwork and make a copy as smallest size  PDF to be checked and approved by my colleagues, some characters just disappear after outlining the texts. Sometimes I can see them because they are big and obvious, but sometimes not because the problem could be in the small texts or even worst, in the language that I can't read and that is causing me a lot of issues since all the workflow needs to restart everytime I have to go and amend the file. Please help me!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Randy Hagan

Mouse type (small-sized characters) can go crazy when you go to outlines. A simple lower-case "g" can contain two compound paths and as many as 100 anchor points — or more — when drawing an elaborate character. Shrink that down into a small character size and "negative space" in the outlined characters can effectively overcome the "positive space" that we process as strokes making up that character. Especially if you're printing relatively low-resolution laser or inkjet proofs.

 

I strongly recommend that you embed your fonts in your created PDF, rather than outline the type. It'll give you a marginally better shot at rendering the type. Also, if you're not already doing so, consider a heavier weight of sans-serif type for your mouse type for nutrition info, ingredients, etc. That is a common trick to get FDA-mandated (US) nutrition labels to reproduce cleanly at small type sizes.

 

Good luck,

 

Randy

2 replies

Randy Hagan
Community Expert
Randy HaganCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
August 13, 2020

Mouse type (small-sized characters) can go crazy when you go to outlines. A simple lower-case "g" can contain two compound paths and as many as 100 anchor points — or more — when drawing an elaborate character. Shrink that down into a small character size and "negative space" in the outlined characters can effectively overcome the "positive space" that we process as strokes making up that character. Especially if you're printing relatively low-resolution laser or inkjet proofs.

 

I strongly recommend that you embed your fonts in your created PDF, rather than outline the type. It'll give you a marginally better shot at rendering the type. Also, if you're not already doing so, consider a heavier weight of sans-serif type for your mouse type for nutrition info, ingredients, etc. That is a common trick to get FDA-mandated (US) nutrition labels to reproduce cleanly at small type sizes.

 

Good luck,

 

Randy

marliton
Community Expert
marlitonCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 13, 2020

Hi. Some fonts could have problems when you create outlines, for example, spaces inconsistencies or missing characters. To avoid those problems I prefer just embed the fonts.

 

Marlon Ceballos
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