Convert TTF text to geometry

David Waight

I am having a couple of issues with outputting .pdf files.

If anybody has Adobe Illustrator would they mind trying to open a .pdf created by Bricscad pdf export, as my text (including dimensions) that is 10mm or higher in height doesn't show up.

To circumvent this I have ticked the box in Settings to "Convert TTF text to geometry".

This works OK as a single Modelspace or Paperspace file, but when I publish (even a single page .pdf) it doesn't convert it to geometry.

I am using V17 but will be upgrading to V19, so whatever version anyone is running would they mind trying this before I file a support request?

Thanks in advance.

David Waight

Is nobody willing to try this for me?

"To circumvent this I have ticked the box in Settings to "Convert TTF text to geometry".

This works OK as a single Modelspace or Paperspace file, but when I use Publish (even a single page .pdf) it doesn't convert text to geometry"

Anthony Apostolaros

I don't have Illustrator, but I also don't understand what you want someone to do with it. Are you saying that when 10 mm text in a DWG file is exported to PDF it appears when the PDF file is opened in Acrobat but not when it's opened in Illustrator? And what it "a single Modelspace or Paperspace file"?

If you're saying that the exported 10 mm text doesn't appear in Acrobat, that's something I've never seen. I can successfully print text much larger than that. Can you post a DWG file with 10 mm text so that someone else can test the export problem?

David Waight

Hi Anthony thanks for the reply.

What I am saying is if you view a Bricscad .pdf in a pdf viewer it will show any size text exactly as it should be including any text in the dimensions.
But when I open the .pdf in Illustrator, it complains that a font is missing and any text or dimension that is 10mm or over in height just doesn't appear.

That is part one.

The second part is what I would like someone else to try is to check the text box in Settings for "Convert TTF text to geometry"

This should then give you a .pdf with all the text and dimension text exploded.

It works fine if you export to pdf from modelspace or export to pdf from paperspace.

But if you try to use Publish, even if you have one layout or a dozen layouts in your published .pdf it ignores the "Convert TTF text to geometry"

I'm not too worried about part one as that could be and Adobe problem, but part two is connected with Bricscad, so I need to undersatnd what is happening.

Apologies if my original explanation was unclear.

Anthony Apostolaros

In my v17 Classic, the Export command doesn't have a PDF option in the "Save as type" box.

I tried the Publish and Print commands, but couldn't get text to become graphics in the PDF file with either one, despite having checked "Convert TTF text to geometry" in Bricscad Settings and setting "TrueType Text" to "As Graphics" in the Adobe PDF plotter configuration editor.

But when I unchecked "Enable embedded TTF fonts" in Bricscad Settings, then the text became graphics in the PDF file with both of those commands.

mlwebb

Have you tried a third party pdf program (like BioPdf or Bullzip pdf writer), and printing to pdf?
I find Inkscape a handy program for misc. illustration, pdf, font, and svg tasks -free and available on Windows and Linux.

David Waight

@mlwebb,

Thanks for the reply.

The pdf creators you mentioned are only virtual printers and therefore any arcs/circles would be made from many segments of straight lines.
The built in pdf export in Bricscad is a better quality than these.

Albeit with this little publishing issue.

RSW

@David Waight said:
The second part is what I would like someone else to try is to check the text box in Settings for "Convert TTF text to geometry"

This should then give you a .pdf with all the text and dimension text exploded.

It works fine if you export to pdf from modelspace or export to pdf from paperspace.

But if you try to use Publish, even if you have one layout or a dozen layouts in your published .pdf it ignores the "Convert TTF text to geometry"

@Anthony Apostolaros said:
But when I unchecked "Enable embedded TTF fonts" in Bricscad Settings, then the text became graphics in the PDF file with both of those commands.

Not in V19, when using the built-in "Publish to PDF" when publishing sheets and convert TTF as geometry selected and "enable embedded TTF fonts" deselected still gives editable text in the PDF file. This is not how it should behave. The PDF software properties do show that the Arial font (used in the drawing) is embedded into the drawing.

Perhaps it does not work properly with OpenType TTF fonts but does work with "old-style" TrueType fonts. I'll test this later to see if that is the case.

David Waight

I have finally discovered what this text issue was all about.

The culprit is the Vector Resolution DPI.

If you set it too high Adobe Illustrator doesn't like it.

Bricsys in earlier versions instructed you to increase the DPI for a more accurate .pdf (this didn't actually work).

Unfortunately as the DPI goes up, the size of the text from large to small disappears!

So if I had for example text heights from 5mm up to about 20mm and the DPI set to 15000, then nothing would show.

As you decrease the DPI the smaller text starts to appear until you have lowered it sufficiently for all your text to display!

One thing I do need to add is I think the Bricscad built in .pdf creators are the best for most circumstances and have got better and better in each subsequent version.

Not sure if this will be useful to anybody else.

Regards,

David