Stressed by a Distressed font in Quark and PDFs

[Shawn]

Here's a good one.

I've got a client using a distressed font out of Quark Xpress that doesn't like to print well. It's called NellyScript and they've (fake) styled it bold which adds an outline around the edges. When it is exported to .ps and then converted to PDF the rough edges -- appropriately -- grow horns, with spikes sticking out all over the place. The issue seems to be with how the font is designed and the miter limit for the font. If I convert to outlines and edit the paths with Pitstop in Acrobat they show up with the default setting of 10. If I change the the miter limit 4 manually they work and the horns disappear. The same font, fake bolded in Illustrator or Indesign seems to work fine.

Right now I'm looking at fixing this with Pitstop action list in Acrobat, but I was curious if anyone out there knew of a way to edit the settings in Quark or Distiller to fix this as the file is made rather than in each PDF file after it's created.

I did some poking around in the .ps file and found a line that reads " 4 setmiterlimit". From my very, very basic knowledge of PostScript it would seem to be where the miter setting is stored, but it doesn't seem to have any affect on the font in the PDF file. It still comes out at 10.

It's used in dozens of cases in multiple catalogs, cards, and magnets so a universal fix that could be applied in settings would be a great time saver. Any ideas?

Shawn

[gordo]

It's used in dozens of cases in multiple catalogs, cards, and magnets so a universal fix that could be applied in settings would be a great time saver. Any ideas?

Well here's an idea that I used from way back in the steam-powered days of desktop publishing that may, or probably may not, be of help.
Instead of bolding or outlining the font, use trapping to make the text bolder.

best gordo

[Greg_Firestone]

Hi Shawn,

Just curious what version of Quark you are using and if it makes a different if you export a PDF from Quark versus outputting PS first.

Regards,
Greg

[Shawn]

Well here's an idea that I used from way back in the steam-powered days of desktop publishing that may, or probably may not, be of help.
Instead of bolding or outlining the font, use trapping to make the text bolder.

best gordo

Hi Gordo

Nice idea, but the Roman version and the fake bold version have completely different text flow and I don't want to go there, "Here there be dragons..."

Shawn

[james.bredenhof]

For now, I'll ignore the typography lover in me who wants to scream "Quark fake bold text? Noooooooooooo!"

Shawn, you folks are running Prinergy, right?
If you have Prinergy Preflight, you can correct this (Text and Line Art \ Maximum miter limit is above [4 pt] \ Fix: decrease maximum miter limit to 4).
It would be ideal to fix this in the PDF creation path (Quark\JAWS, Quark\Distiller), or convince the designer to use a "known good" EPS version of the logotype, or avoid the fake bold text altogether.... but if these aren't options, then Prinergy Preflight should be able to fix these jobs en masse.

[Shawn]

For now, I'll ignore the typography lover in me who wants to scream "Quark fake bold text? Noooooooooooo!"

Thanks James,

Adding that preflight to a special refining plan worked like a charm.

I like the idea of having Prinergy shout out a long, drawn-out "Nooooooooooo" every time that it encounters a fake bolded font. Can I file that as a feature request?

If you can't get to it now, don't worry, we and always go back later and add it in retroactively for all jobs processed since 1983.

Shawn