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Font Handling
The first font option, Download Type 1 Fonts, tells DRAW to download
either to the printer or to a .prn file any fonts required
to reproduce the text in your document. With a .prn file,
you dont have to worry about whether your service bureau has the
right fonts. Many DRAW users, including most of the members of this writing
team, prefer to work this way, even though an increasing number of service
bureaus accept .cdr files.
Type 1 fonts are the only flavor that PostScript devices actually recognize.
Thats why Type 1 is the primary option in this dialogand its
also why the second option, Convert TrueType to Type 1, exists. When Download
Type 1 is on (which it is by default), the second option is also automatically
turned on. This allows you to utilize either Type 1, TrueType, or both
in your document and still have it print correctly on a PostScript printer.
You might be wondering what happens if you choose not to download fonts.
Does your text not print? Does it print, but in the wrong font? The text
prints correctly, but it is changed when it is reproduced. At print time,
DRAW converts the text to graphic objects, either vector curves or (for
smaller text) bitmaps. This works fine for small amounts of text but is
highly inefficient for large text blocks, particularly paragraph text.
Converting text to curves slows the printing process and can produce very
large and unwieldy .prn files, and that can mean added
expense at the service bureau.
When would you not use these options? Actually, there are situations
where DRAW ignores font selection anyway. Any time you envelope artistic
text, extrude it, or do some other artistic transformation, the text will
be converted to curves at print time. And sometimes its preferable
to convert text to curves. In a page containing many short strings of
artistic text using a large variety of fonts, the .prn
file might be smaller if the text is converted, rather than downloading
all the required fonts. Another reason to convert to curves: too many
different fonts can choke a PostScript device because only a limited portion
of its memory is allocated to fonts. Most of the time, however, you will
want to leave both these options on.
Figure 26.6 shows a large block of copy and a single character. We created
print files from these two elements, alternating between choosing to download
typeface information and to treat as curves. As expected, rendering a
single character as a curve resulted in a smaller file than defining an
entire character set just for it. If the typeface was one of the standard
35 already resident in printer ROM, the difference was small30KB
as opposed to 32KB. If we chose a typeface that had to be downloaded in
its entirety, consumption rose to 91KB.
Treating the long block of copy in the customary way, as text, also resulted
in a 32KB file. But asking DRAW to render the copy as curves sent it off
into PostScript code hell871KB. So youll need a very good
reason to treat blocks of copy as curves, and frankly, we dont think
such a reason exists.
FIGURE
26.6 These two strings of text can tell you
a lot about how DRAW handles typefaces.
Type 1 vs. TrueType
The issue of which fonts are better is always a source of debate.
Many service bureaus claim they always have difficulty with TrueType
fonts, but there really is no inherent reason that their conversion
and printing would cause trouble. Many DRAW users have been quite
successful using TrueType fonts, and you will find font aficionados
supporting both sides of the debate. TrueType fonts do account for
more print problems, but they usually stem from the individual fonts,
not the font format.
Most Type 1 fonts on the market have been carefully crafted by
well-established digital font vendors. The same can be said for
many but not all TrueType fonts. Quite a few cheapie
font packs exist, and they are almost always TrueType. Most shareware
fonts, as well, are TrueType. Some obey the rules of font-mongering,
others dontand those are usually the ones causing print
problems.
Most of the fonts supplied with DRAW are properly crafted, and
either format should work. However, we admit a bias toward Type
1, because it is the language spoken by PostScript devices. Why
do a translation if you can supply the real thing?
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PDF Marks
The options here are used when creating PostScript files destined for
Adobes Acrobat format, also known as Portable Document Format (PDF).
On Start, Display These settings control how Adobe Acrobat displays
a PDF file. To be more precise, these settings affect the PostScript code
that DRAW creates, which in turn is run through Distiller.
Full Screen is a good choice if you are creating PDF files for screen
presentations, as the PDF is displayed without the Acrobat menus and toolbars.
Page Only is the standard display, with menus and toolbars, and the Thumbnails
option instructs Acrobat to open the PDF file with Mini-Previews in a
separate window to the left of the main PDF contents window.
Include Hyperlinks, Bookmarks The Include Hyperlinks and Include
Bookmarks check boxes are used in conjunction with the Links and Bookmark
Manager dockers so that any paragraph text you have formatted as a hyperlink
or bookmark will be formatted as such in the final PDF file. Formatting
objects as hyperlinks and bookmarks will create clickable hotspots in
the final PDF file.
These new settings here in PostScript are part of Corels big commitment
to supporting the PDF format. We have details on these and all of the
other aspects of creating PDF files in Chapter 28.
Maximum Points per Curve
This option reduces the maximum number of control points
PostScript uses to generate curves. Contrary to the implication, reducing
control points is not at all like reducing nodes in an object. A processing
function only, reducing control points will not degrade the quality of
the output, but it may increase output time significantly. If you are
getting limitcheck errors, this is one option you can try. It is a sticky
option that will remain set for each document during your DRAW session.
Another alternative is to simplify the objects. If you have an idea which
objects are causing limitcheck problems, you might break apart complex
elements into several less-complex components (converting stylized text
to curves, for example). The advantage of this approach is in avoiding
drastically increased print time. And its permanentyou wont
have to remember to set an option every time you open this drawing and
print.
Set Flatness To and Auto Increase Flatness
Unlike setting Maximum Points per Curve, adjusting flatness is a bit
like removing nodes from an object. It simplifies printing but may also
reduce printed quality. When a PostScript device creates a curve, it generates
a series of small, connected line segments. (Using many small segments
generates a smoother curve than using fewer large segments.) Keeping track
of all these little lines also increases the demand on the output devices
memory.
So, one way to simplify a drawing is to increase its flatness. Increasing
flatness means producing fewer, larger line segments. You can do this
up to certain levels with no noticeable degradation in quality. How much
increase you can get away with will depend on the artwork in question
and the results you want.
DRAW provides two ways to control flatness. One way is to type a specific
value in the Set Flatness To box. This value will apply to all objects,
and the default is 1.00. Figure 26.7 shows some reproduced samples that
were originally printed on a laser printer. To make it easier for you
to detect the change on the object, weve used extreme flatness values.
(Even so, you may need to examine the figure with a magnifier to fully
appreciate the effect.)
FIGURE
26.7 The phenomenon of flatness
The other way to adjust flatness is with the Auto Increase Flatness check
box. This option only kicks in when your output device encounters an object
that will cause a limitcheck error. PostScript then retries the object
with flatness increased by 2. It continues increasing until the object
prints successfully, or the flatness value reaches 10 over the Set Flatness
To value. The advantage to this method is that it increases the likelihood
of getting every object to print. The disadvantage is that the flatness
value required to get past the error may produce unacceptable results.
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how to determine if you are likely to encounter limitcheck errors
on an imagesetter. Before you burn up expensive film, set an artificially
low flatness value and print to your desktop laser printer. How low?
Divide your laser printers resolution by the destination imagesetters
resolution, and use a setting slightly lower than the result. For
example, divide 600dpi (for the laser) by 2540dpi (for the imagesetter)
for a resulting flatness value of 0.24. This method isnt foolproof,
but if your artwork gets a limitcheck on the laser printer, it almost
certainly will on the imagesetter.
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