Re: Corel/PGMKR Font Problems

["Dan S. Azlin" <dazlin -at- SHORE -dot- NET>]

On Thu, 20 Jul 1995, Brennan, Walt wrote:

>      Hello Techwhirlers,

>      Hope one or more of you can help us out. We recently migrated from Mac
>      to PC and are having problems with Corel graphics printed from
>      PageMaker.

Walt,
Welcome to the land of compatibility chaos!
The heart of your problem(s) lies in the way PageMaker uses fonts and
imports graphics.  In general, PM needs to be able to find the fonts that
you use in your graphic.  This depends on PM.  One workaround is to
output your graphic from Corel as a bitmap.  Unfortunately, PM doesn't
see all bitmaps as being equal.  It doesn't even recognize all dialects
of TIFF files -- the format created for PM!

The best procedure to follow is to make a sample graphic (not too large)
with a variety of graphic elements (lines, curves, splines, bitmaps,
fonts...).  Output this sample graphic from corel in every vector and
bitmap format that PM can supposedly handle.  Then make a test document
in PM and import each of the "versions" of the graphics with an
identifying caption describing the "output rules" used to generate the
graphic.  Some combination should yield acceptable results.

OTOH, junk PM and move to a better product like FrameMaker that can deal
with multiple graphic formats and fonts.

>     When we move graphic images from CorelDraw 5.0 to
>      Pagemaker 5.0, the fonts look as though a third grader painted them
>      with a screwdriver.

This is because PM is performing font substitution or misinterpreting the
bitmap image (they should really do something about their import filters
to fix this problem)
 >
>      Printing directly from CorelDraw works fine.  But no matter what
>      method we have used to go from the Corel environment to the PageMaker
>      world, the results are the same.  We have copied to the clipboard and
>      pasted into PageMaker, saved figures as both CorelDraw 3.0 and 4.0
>      file formats and placed them in the PM file.  We have exported the
>      files as computer graphics metafiles (.cgm), windows metafiles (.wmf),
>      AutoCAD files (.dxf) and encapsulated postscript files (.eps).

avoid using .dxf files as the CAD world uses a totally different way of
specifying fonts which translates poorly at best.

>      (Actually, they don't all work the same:  eps files lock up the
>      computer and cause general protection faults in Windows.)
Ah, Watson.  A clue...


>      The worst font is Arial, but all the sans serif fonts (the only kind
>      we use) suffer the same way.  The Swiss 721 family works slightly
>      better, but it starts out with light weight lines.  Even so, it is not
>      acceptable.

>      We use a Dataproducts 1560 laser printer, and whenever we print from
>      PageMaker, we get a "Output may not look as expected.  Unknown or old
>      postscript printer driver." error message.  Whatever happens to
>      graphics, it has little effect on Pagemaker text, no matter what the
>      typeface.

>      Do we need a new, different or upgraded:
>      1)  printer driver;
Get the latest .eps printer driver for your version of Windows. This can
be downloaded from Micrsoft's BBS or web site (www -at- microsoft -dot- com I
think)
>      2)  output filter for CorelDraw;
Pointless. Corel's reputation for graphic format integrity is bankable
(with minor exceptions)
>      3)  input filter for PageMaker;
This is the best solution as it addresses the root cause of PM's problems
with most graphics. However, this may not be a viable option based on my
past experience with PM.
 >      4)  translator (we've used Hijaak Pro with
the same results);
Translation works -- if you know what to translate to.  Since PM is so
unpredictable with graphics, it's like walking a maze with a blindfold on.
>      5)  something really simple that will make us feel stupid; and where
>      can we find one?
PM is one of the earliest page layout programs and suffers from the
weight of its history; i.e. the way the program is designed and has been
traditionally used. I have had many customers drop PM out of simple
frustration and a need to be more "productive."  Personally, I like
FrameMaker over all of the other page layout tools I have used over the
years.

Good luck.

Dan Azlin  **  WORD ENGINEERS, Technical Writing & Publishing  **
Ph/Fax:    508-921-8908                                  18 School Street
Internet:  dazlin -at- shore -dot- net                        Beverly, MA 01915-4851