We all love FONTS, the more the better and they seem to be everywhere now, easy to download and trade. However, that was not always the case and this new freedom does create print issues.
Corel is big on giving many, many, many FREE fonts (not all tested well to be postscript ready under all conditions) to its users through the suite package. We see more issues with Corel users than Adobe users but it can happen to anyone on either side. Random fonts download from unproven websites can also create printing issues.
Years ago Adobe ruled the font market controlling their creation, testing and price and they were very expensive. Now it seems that every Tom, Dick and Harry creates a font then posts it for download. The issue is that fonts like anything else in a computer need to be tested and tested well before it can be considered postscript friendly.
Sure a font may print on its own, but what happens when you combine that font with blends, gradients, fountain fills, masking, power clips, etc? Will it print? Maybe not and for this reason programs allow you to “convert” the fonts to outline or curves. It’s no longer a font being sent to a RIP or printer rather it’s simple vector art and that usually helps process the file.
Be a good user (artist), when sharing a file with a print shop for film production “convert” the fonts to outline before saving and sending. If you do not supply the font or the user does not have the font in their computer it will default to another and or create a print issue. So if the person printing the seps does not need to edit the font in any way, “convert it”. You can always supply them with both files (original and converted).
(c) Freehand Library Article / AccuRIP / Separation Studio NXT / Spot Process / Dmax / Amaze-Ink / DarkStar
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