[scribus-dev] PDF export dialog for font embed, subset and vectorize

[Leonard Rosenthol]

Quick correction:

- Type 3 fonts are perfectly valid and serve a number of cases that the other formats do not.
- All PDF standards fully support Type 3 fonts. 

But I agree that they should only be used when you can’t use the other types.

Leonard




On 1/14/16, 5:52 AM, "Jean Ghali" <jghali at libertysurf.fr> wrote:

>Le 14/01/2016 10:20, JLuc a écrit :
>> In 1.5, the PDF export dialog enables to choose for each used font
>> whether it has to be embeded, vectorized or none of each.
>
>In 1.5 the "outline" options was not really named properly and triggered different
>behaviors depending on font characteristics:
>- font subsetting as Type3 font subset : Adobe Reader list the font as embedded in this case
>- font vectorization : Adobe Reader would not list the font in this case
>
>Also with Windows 8 and Windows 10, Microsoft started suppressing some tables in their
>TrueType fonts which made the behavior of the options even less predictable. Lots of users
>where complaining about not seeing their fonts as embedded anymore because the change made
>by Microsoft now triggered font vectorization. So the situation was really getting messy.
>
>In 1.5.1.svn, thanks to advance in font subsetting done by Andreas, the subset options now
>does exactly what it says: with most of today fonts a real subset will be produced, the
>Type3 subset option being now mostly used by old Postscript Type 1 fonts. Same the outline
>mode will do what it says, the font will be really vectorized in order to respond to the
>need of print shops which do not want to see any trace of font, even Type 3, in the files
>they receive.
>
>> 
>> In 1.5.1, the new font PDF management options of the export to PDF dialog
>> are different.
>> There are 3 modes :
>> - outline all fonts (no single font option ability)
>> - embed or subset : each font can be either embed or subset
>> - do not embed (no single font option).
>> 
>> Mode 1 and 2 obviously enable to avoid the "undefined font" issue
>> that could cripple a 1.5 RIP
>
>Yep.
>
>> but It's not clear to me how this set of mode
>> is supposed to provide the features that were in 1.5.
>
>It's not supposed to reproduce the feature found in 1.5. It's clearly a breaking change.
>
>> How can I vectorize some fonts ?
>
>True vectorization can be achieved with the "Outline all fonts" mode. But that will affect
>all fonts.
>
>> 
>> Or maybe some 1.5 features, like vectorize ability, are lost ?
>
>As mentioned above 1.5 did not provide a true vectorization capability as usually they
>were still fonts being used, even it is was Type 3 fonts. At the RIP level, the behavior
>is quite different. 1.5.1.svn reintroduce in fact a true vectorization capability which
>was lost at some point after the 1.3.3.x series.
>
>> If so, why were these features not worth keeping and developping ?
>
>Type 3 fonts are falling out of flavor at printers. Some PDF standards do not even accept
>them anymore. Now we have true subsetting capability for most TrueType based fonts, they
>are also less suited for display on screen and some of their aspects make them harder to
>handle by RIPs.
>
>> What happens in "dont embed" mode ?
>
>Fonts are not embedded at all in any kind of form. So that's a mode which you should use
>only at your own risk. Mostly suited for simple forms. I would not mind completely
>removing that mode btw.
>
>> 
>> When opening a 1.5 file with 1.5.1, the 1.5 font options in PDF export dialog
>> seem to be totally ignored.
>> Are they somehow identicaly managed, invisibly in the background ?
>> Or are they really ignored and lost ?
>
>They are totally ignored and lost.
>
>Jean
>
>
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