TrueType Fonts survey

Tech

Well-known member
Honestly, how many of you would absolutely reject client files with TT fonts due to "it doesn't RIP correctly"? or worry about font licensing issues like fonts you don't own and therefore you can't print etc etc.?
 
It seems our True Type issues went away years ago. Don't even think about it any more.
 
TrueType font survey

TrueType font survey

Clients of mine do not by default reject TT fonts, but there are still some very bad TT fonts around created using poor software which give TT fonts a bad name in the first place.
 
Just as I expected, I can't recall the last time any vendor kick files back "due to TT font usage" or font licensing issues. I'm founding myself in a brand new workflow where someone insist absolutely no TT fonts allow! It'll be both a blessing and a curse, especially with old legacy files that usually include some sort of TT fonts. Moving forward I can agree on no TT fonts usage on new files, but I hope this person doesn't mean we'll waste precious time at changing old legacy files as well.
 
So far we only turned down some jobs that used fonts that had a restrictive license which would not allow embedding and not allow to be used for printing.

We got the original Quark files with the font and a license.pdf for the font which clearly stated that you cannot give the font to other people, including prepress or printing services. As we had no right to use this font in any way and the customer did not want to outline the text himself we turned the job down.

Other than that we never had any problem with truetype or any other fonts.
There were quite a lot bad designed fonts that would look like ... shit when ripped with 2540 dpi, but no actual problems.
 
For TT fonts that doesn't allow embedding we too just outline it. Common usage fonts from internet each have their own corny restrictions but most never states that they won't allow commercial printing. Not that I recommend any designers to use those fonts or legacy fonts in the first place....if they must then we'll do what we can to make it work.
 
As stated before the quality of the font is usually not because of true type, but there are quirky fonts. Find also that some common fonts Arial, Helvetica Neue, Times New Roman, have subtle differences that can cause reflowing or re-leading in some instances, so in as far as possible use customer fonts.

If your rip needs postscript, you can save a PDF as Postscript, check the box convert truetype to postscript, and re-distill.
 
If your rip needs postscript, you can save a PDF as Postscript, check the box convert truetype to postscript, and re-distill.

A good tip, but if your RIP really needs postscript fonts and chokes on truetype fonts, you should upgrade your RIP. Truetype font definition in postscript has been around since when, postscript level 2 around 1991?
 
Never have. I have had my jobs rejected because of TT fonts by two **very** large printers. I was dumbfounded. Then miraculously they removed that restriction...
 
I always preferred True Type fonts to PS fonts because I was always getting the missing printer font warning. Was a bit problem, so I would just TT fonts. Now what with me working with both Windows and Mac, I believe that Open Type is the way to go. That way I could use a particular Open Type font on something I worked on at home and package that font with my artwork and then after installing the font at work, open the file without having to convert the text to out lines first. sure makes for easier typo corrections.
 
Hi Tech

Ahhh, the old TrueType vs Postscript debate. I remember that it came about back when TrueType was introduced and none of the RIPs could handle it. I remember loading floppies into an old Linotype RIP30 to upgrade the firmware allow it process TrueType fonts. It hasn't been a real problem since the early nineties.

Now I always tell people that a well-designed TrueType font will print as reliably as a well-designed PostScript font--with an emphasis on the words "well-designed".

At this point trying to limit the use of TrueType fonts really sends a bad message... It says, either I haven't upgraded my RIP in the last fifteen years or I haven't improved my knowledge of the trade in the last fifteen years. Hopefully you can talk some sense into the offending party.

Good Luck
Shawn
 

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