Print Booklet to PDF messing up the fonts

[tiffanykustwan11]

I have customer supplied pdfs that I have been setting up in printer spreads for my production department. I place the pdf pages in InDesign and then when I do print booklet, the exported pdf has messed up fonts. See screenshots below showing the supplied pdf vs the printer spreads pdf. It's like it's bolding some of the font and it shouldn't be. It is incosistent as well within words. Any idea why this is happening and how to fix it?? 

Please help!!!

[Peter Spier]

I believe Acrobat Pro's Preflight can merge same-font subsets, but perhaps the simpliest solution is to open the supplied PDF in Acrobat Pro, outline it's fonts, then place it in the master PDF.

By @Dave Creamer of IDEAS

I'd like to know that there's also a problem if the file is exported to PDF rather than printed before recommending the outlining of fonts.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I'd like to know that there's also a problem if the file is exported to PDF rather than printed before recommending the outlining of fonts.

By @Peter Spier

Me too. I've asked earlier but haven't gotten a response. 

[Peter Spier]

Exactly.

I'm also waiting for a response to my questions about bleed, creep and signatures. If these are short enough to saddle stitch one of Dav's free scripts should handle the imposition and then that imposed file could be exported as a test instead of using Print Booklet.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

"Conflicting subsets can be resolved by exporting/printing with 0% subset."

Not after the fact, no.

This may not even have anything to do with subsets anyway. The fact that the exported booklet PDF is substituting an outline from a totally different font points to a different issue, and although I can make guesses as to why this happened (e.g. a badly converted font with an improper internal Postscript Name in one PDF being mistaken for another), the proof is in the PDFudding.

[Peter Spier]

Brad @ Roaring Mouse You might want to take a look at the PDF file posted by @tiffanykustwan11 .

There seems to me to be something really odd about the main font. Document properties list Montseratt-Thin and Montseratt-ThinItalic fasces, but no bold version, and some of the type is clearly bolder than that surrounding it, yet has exactly the same properties when selected as the accompanying body text.

You clearly know more than I about this.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

"There seems to me to be something really odd about the main font"

In fact, if you Google "Montserrat" and "Variable" problems, you'll get lots of hits.

But, the root of the issue is that's how variable fonts work; There are only two main font outlines, in this case Thin and Thin Italic, and all the weights are variations on those two. What they should do instead is NOT use tha varaible versions and use the static versions; This will properly emebed each weight as a sepaarte instance.

(small vent. I hate varaible fonts. They are worse than the old multiple master format)

[Jeffrey_Smith]

In the print menu > Graphics tab > Fonts > Download > Complete. This is different verbiage than export, but I assume will produce the same end result.

[Peter Spier]

I believe that's correct.

But again, I see this as being truly useful only for files the user is creating themselves. I don't see how in many cased it can "fix" and imported PDF with subsets. I really would like to hear an explanation of why I'm wrong because that's a really simple procedure if it works.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Here is my theory: In this example, an Indesign document has two placed PDFs. PDF 1 using Font X and subset to accommodate 125 characters. PDF 2 using same Font X and subset to accommodate 100 characters. Individually the PDFs do not present an issue. However when the Indesign document containing both PDFs is exported, there is a conflict of the font subsetting. Perhaps the subsetting becomes 100 characters, leaving 25 characters unaccounted for, and displaying incorrectly. The complete font download will include all characters regardless if they are used.

I work with publications/magazines where supplied adverts are placed in one ID document. I have encountered this font issue and have resolved it with a complete font embedding. It doesn't happen often, but does occur.

[Peter Spier]

Thanks.

I'm guessing that you're not really getting 100% of the fonts, but rather 100% of the embedded subsets which should be sufficient if what you describe is corect. And that's really interesting.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I suspect that too.

[tiffanykustwan11]

So I have tried unchecking the Rely on System fonts only check box and issue still persists. This file does have full bleeds which is why it is easier for me to set up in printer spreads for my production department-limits guesswork on there end. This is the only client I am having issues with as far as this font issue. I do also pre-flight the files in Acrobat before placing in InDesign to create the printer spreads. I am attaching the file here if you want to try it yourself.

[Peter Spier]

I downloaded your PDF, used the multipage importer script to place it into a new file, set the bleed for .125 top, bottom and outside, and added a 3/8in slug to hold your marks. I cropped off the parts of the PDFs that were overlapping at the inside gutter.

I then ran Daves Buildbooklet.js script to create the readers spreads and exported the new file as spreads to PDF/X-4 including the slug area.

Took only a few minutes.

[Peter Spier]

Back from my dinner break...

If this is helpful to you, the multipage importer script is at Releases · mike-edel/ID-MultiPageImporter · GitHub and you may download Dave's script from me at https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/BBRSteV0Id

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

So: they are using variable fonts:  Both the Montserrat Thin and Bold are saved in the file as the base Montserrat Thin as the Postscript name. like so:

This in itself is not a problem, as they would normally be processed on a page by page basis, but imposing them by using the Print Booklet, the Postscript stream created is downloading and ALL the font isntances it sees, then Distiller is attempting to resubset, so the final PDF that's distilled becomes a mishmash mix of every weight, like so:

If you Print Booklet directly to a printer (as opposed to distilling a PDF), it works fine, as the printer uses the original font instances. In addition, I tried two different imposing programs I have and it works fine with them too.

So, the answer here is, without buying into an imposition program (e.g.  Quite Imposing is my fav Acrobat plugin). is to use one of the imposition scripts offered here, or even just manually make your own imposition document, place the pages accordingly, then exporting a PDF from InDesign. For a 12-pager like this that won't take much time at all.

 

 

[Peter Spier]

Brad @ Roaring Mouse 

Thanks for the explanation.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

After a couple of tests  (I have too much time on my hands, it appears), I figured it out, and have posted the fix... and it was right there in Acrobat!. Since the issue is the embedded subsets from a variable font all have the same Postscript name, the Acrobat fixup to make each font subset instance a unique name solves the situation.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I'll have to tuck that one away in the recesses of my memory!

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse · Accepted solution]

@tiffanykustwan11 : I have a potential fix for you.

Run this fixup in Acrobat's Preflight on the supplied PDF, then try Print Booklet with that. It worked for me here.

 

[reproo2773183]

Brad,

have to say this is inspired.

There is a discussion here

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/variable-fonts/m-p/10956586#M177364

from a good few years back.

Since Variable fonts are not part of PDF 2.0, which still isn't really out in the wild, it looks like PDF creators have to convert the fonts as they make a pdf into something akin to Multiple Master, I'd imagine this "something" really doesn't play nicely with postscript.

I've seen client results similar to this but never been able to reproduce through my PDF Workflow.

[tiffanykustwan11]

Hello Brad,

THANK YOU! That fix-up did indeed work for me as well. I appreciate everyone for their feedback.

Tiffany