Font plot issue

KuboT
KuboT
in Printing and Plotting

Hi all,

Im having trouble to export a file with Helvetica Neue font correctly when the output .pdf shows boxes instead of letters. Im using native bricsCAD print as PDF as i need custom size output. I have installed Helvetica to windows in a standard way. What could be the issue?

  1. Everything looks ok in model view.
image.png

2. In print preview it substitues the font with boxes.

image.png

3. Print settings

image.png

Comments

  • Virgil
    Virgil

    Hello.

    If this is about using Windows OS, the Helvetica Neue font family is known to have some issues on Windows.
    There are quite a few sources on the Internet mentioning similar cases.

    The best solution seems to be to replace Helvetica with something similar.

    If using Helvetica is mandatory, you could experiment with the PDFTTFTEXTASGEOMETRY system variable.

    https://help.bricsys.com/en-us/document/system-variable-reference/p/pdfttftextasgeometry-system-variable?version=V25&id=1650792450967

    Setting PDFTTFTEXTASGEOMETRY = 1 might help.

  • KuboT
    KuboT

    Thank you for your response. I think it might be the issue with bricsCAD native print as PDF driver. As microsoft print to PDF is without issues, but i cant set a custom paper size there which i need.

    For now i used a setting in plotter config TrueTypeText: As Graphics which did output text but with a little jagged edges. For my usecase its good enough.

    image.png

  • MtnArch
    MtnArch

    Also check whether the Helvetica Neue font family is licensed to embed within the PDF. We have a TTF we've used for decades that for some reason changed their licensing within Wiindow$ to not allow it. If you had the font on your computer, you could see it .. if you didn't Window$ substitutes the font with something else. This has been time-consuming to go through entire projects and change the Style to something that WILL embed. Of course, SHX fonts don't have that issue …