Invisible Text in PDF

almaink

Well-known member
I got a real dosie here. Pagemaker 6.5 to Postscript to PDF. PDF's check out ok. Place them into InDesign CS2 (also tried CS3 with same results). Resulting PDF's have invisible Helvetica text on the same page where it's visible. In Acrobat 6 or 7, if I select the invisible text Pit Stop tells me it's 100% black and Helvetica 11 points no special kerning. Now it gets stranger. In Acrobat 8 the text is visible! But thats the only place it is. Running these files through RAMPage I get nothing at all where that invisible text is. As a work around I converted all the text to outlines on the first placed PDF and re-exported to PDF. As a test I took the old files with the issue text and instead of exporting to PDF I wrote a postscript file and distilled. No missing text at all. What I'd like to know is why can Acrobat 8 see text no other Adobe application can? I guessed the issue what caused by subset fonts as a font check of the offending PDF shows both True type and Type one versions of Helvetica although the original Pagemaker file only used the type 1 version. And the invisible text is also the type 1 version.
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

Many variables could be in play here. Can you attach the file?

Edited by: tate on Jun 25, 2008 12:33 PM
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

Anything related to trapping - overprint on the text? Overprint preview set to on in one app vs. another?
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

What are we supposed to be looking at/for? The file seems quite fine and valid. I don't see any problems with it.

Leonard
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

Check it in Acrobat 6 or 7 . It previews correctly in Acrobat 8 and 9. Thing I don't get is although it previews ok in 8 and 9 it doesn't in RAMpage. Even after saving it from Acrobat 8 I still don't see it. There is missing text on the mini calendar on the upper right hand side.
Here are some screen shot to show you what I'm seeing.
And the last screen shot is if I replace the font with my version of Helvetica.
http://mt13.quickshareit.com/share/picture27d809.jpg
http://mt11.quickshareit.com/share/picture3ba6de.jpg
http://mt11.quickshareit.com/share/picture43a617.jpg

Edited by: almaink on Jun 25, 2008 1:54 PM
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

AH! Now I understand.

What are you seeing is a known bug in those older versions of Acrobat that was (obviously) fixed in Acrobat 8 (and later).

FWIW: the issue is that the "font caching" mechanism used in those older versions had a flaw when handling two different encodings of the same subset font on the same page.

Another reason that people should keep current on their software products....

Leonard
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

Thats all well and good about keeping current, the problem is as I posted the missing text doesn't make it into RAMpage even after re-saving the PDF as an Acrobat 8 PDF.
It's a good thing the customer actually checked his proof, as I may have missed it.
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

I've had problems with RAMpage dropping some text on PDF's when font subsetting was used to create a PDF. If I go back an include all fonts, the missing text will usually be fine.
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

OK. I tried RIPing the ROOM workflow (standard RIP profile) in RAMpage and had the same results ("October" text missing).

However, when using "_Direct input_" or "_PDF Trap Engine_", it came out fine. FYI.
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

What is direct input? I didn't try PDF trap engine but thanks for the tip.
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

Direct Input is used for print-ready files that don't require any RIP processes: e.g. trapping

If you go to make a new profile in RAMpage, it is the 2nd choice on the list.
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

Ah, when I was setup by RAMPage they never said a word about that one. Very interesting...
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

I've never found Direct Input to be all that useful. Trying to think of the limitations that is has. Was thinking it can't be rotated have color remapped or trapped. Can anyone confirm that?
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

Since I have nothing better to do I just yanked out the manual and checked out Direct input.
Can be used to process EPS, Separated Postscript, Composite Postscript, and PDF files.
Pages queued with this profile RIP directly through the system, bypassing RAMPage prescan
and other features, like color remapping, Trapping and OPI. It was developed primarily for ripping composite postscript files. BTW it seems to support rotation and scale. Might be useful for B&W or spot jobs that don't need trapping I guess.
 
Re: Invisible Text in PDF

Yeah, the text was missing in Acro 7, I embedded the two composite fonts (Helvetica and Helvetica-Bold) and the text appeared. Composite fonts usually give us issues..
 

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