![]() I've had to use the flatten transparency trick in Illustrator when a customer's PDF-based artwork had live fonts I didn't also possess. No matter how hard you try to do a good job with the conversion it will never be as accurate as having the authentic corporate artwork. Harvesting company logos out of PDFs takes far less time than it does to manually re-create the logo in vector form over the top of a pixel-based image locked down on a lower layer. On follow-up attempts at providing "vector artwork" they often place the same JPEG or PNG image inside a PDF, AI or EPS container. Then they get annoyed when I can't use that trash. 99% of the time the client will grab the first dopey JPEG or PNG image they find on their computer. I have lost track of how many times I've had to go online to harvest vector logos out of company PDFs because the company's reps fail over and over again to send proper art files. Some of those commandments for using PDFs crash against the even harder wall of reality when users such as myself have to deal with customer provided "artwork." You may end up just having to convert the embedded fonts to outlines and use them as a guide to insert fresh new text objects over the lines that need to be edited. ![]() It doesn't matter if "Convert All Strokes to Outlines" is checked it's an option. In the Flatten Transparency dialog box drag the Raster/Vector Balance slide from "75" to "100." Make sure "Convert All Text to Outlines" is checked. ![]() The Flatten Transparency trick is handy for converting embedded fonts in a PDF to outlines. Since the lettering in your PDF is getting replaced with boxes it has me wondering if the people who generated the PDF on the Windows platform were using old Postscript fonts or even fonts that were poorly converted from another format. Older TrueType fonts are not as compatible and Postscript Type 1 font files are platform specific. Modern OpenType fonts are much more cross-platform compatible. Mulitple builds of the Minion and Myriad typefaces have been created through the years, in multiple font formats and for different computing platforms. However, in order to edit the text without font substitutions you would need the same font files that were on the PC that created the PDF. That should keep any embedded fonts viewable in the placed PDF. The text characters now have editable paths, or outlines, around them - they are no longer text, but vector graphics, and can be edited as such.One of the key things is making sure the "link" box is checked when placing the PDF into an Illustrator document. Now, as you can see, the line beneath the text has gone. The text will become outlined and can't be edited as text (see the image below right). Select Type > Create Outlines from the menu. ![]() It doesn't matter if other graphic elements are selected. To convert text to outlines, go Select > Select All. This is so that you can come back and edit it non-destructively later, instead of having to recreate the artwork with text again. It's good practice to keep an editable copy of your document as an AI file before you convert text to outlines and save the file as an Illustrator EPS file. If the type were centred, the little square would be in the middle of the line. The little blue square at the left end of the line indicates that the text is ranged left. This shows that the text is made up of a typeface, not a graphic. The "PRO" text in the graphic shown below (left) has a blue line underneath it. This effectively means that the text is no longer text - it has become a graphic, and the text cannot be altered.Ĭonverting text to outlines is very easy in Illustrator. This is why you'll find that fonts within most vector logos (containing text) will have been converted to outlines, or paths. If you've used a typeface that your printing house doesn't have, the document will print incorrectly. Fonts can cause problems when sending artwork to press. When using Adobe Illustrator how to (and when to) convert text to outlines for press-ready vector artwork is essential knowledge. ![]() Adobe Illustrator How to Convert Text to Outlines ![]()
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