TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Fixing fuzzy TrueType fonts in PDFs from Frame From:Yvonne DeGraw <ydegraw -at- home -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 30 Jul 2000 13:42:43 -0700
There have been some questions on the list about how to get TrueType fonts
(like Verdana) to stop looking fuzzy or blurry when you generate a PDF from
FrameMaker. I ran into the problem and searched the archives -- found the
question but no answer.
The problem is usually in the PostScript driver, not in the Distiller
settings. So, no amount of changes to Distiller settings will fix it if the
fonts are bitmapped in the PostScript file.
For the record, here's the answer that worked for me, which I got from the
Frame user's forum on Adobe's web site (Win 98, FM 6.0, Distiller 4.05):
1. Downloaded the version 1.0.2 universal installer from http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/pdrvwin.htm.
Arnis Gubins said "If you are using Distiller 4.0.5, then you must use
either
AdobePS4.3.1 or AdobePS4.4.1 on the Win9x or AdobePS5.1.2 on NT
(Win2K
is built in and jointly developed by Adobe & Microsoft). (For
Distiller 3.0.2, you must use AdobePS4.2.6 on the Win9x platforms)."
2. Run the installer, which installs the AdobePS 4.4.1 printer driver for
Win 95/98 driver.
3. During the installation, in the Select Printer Model dialog, browse to
and select the adist4.ppd file as the PPD file. For me, this file is in
C:\Program Files\Adobe\FrameMaker6.0\ppds. There are several other versions
there (for other languages, I guess).
4. In the printer driver properties, under Postscript Options, set
it to
optimize for speed. Under Fonts, set the TrueType fonts to download
as
Type42 or Native Format or Automatic.
5. Recreate and redistill the PDF using this new driver. Your TrueType
fonts should look much better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O-O-O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yvonne DeGraw * Technical writing
DeGraw Technical Services * Online & web-based help
ydegraw -at- home -dot- com * Instructional design
Tel: 805/683-5784 * Database publishing http://members.home.net/ydegraw
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O-O-O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
