Handling Text

When you include text in your vector artwork, you have to take steps to ensure that it will print as expected. Of course, you can use the same approach that's recommended for page-layout applications: Gather up the fonts and include them when you submit your vector artwork to the print service provider. FreeHand provides a "Collect for output" option (File > Collect for Output), which harvests fonts and linked images, and then places them in a designated folder. While Illustrator doesn't naturally do this, the Art Files plug-in from Code Line Communications adds the functionality for Illustrator 8.0 through CS2. (As of this writing, the Art Files plug-in is available for Macintosh only.)

The more common methods for dealing with needed fonts in vector graphics, however, are embedding and outlining.

Embedding Fonts

Provided that the font creator has not forbidden embedding, Illustrator and FreeHand can embed fonts in an EPS for placement in other programs. This means that font information should be available for display and printing, but it does not make the font available for editing text in the EPS. To edit text in an EPS, you'll need the appropriate fonts active on your system, and you should open the file in the originating drawing program. (Recall the earlier cautions about the dangers of attempting to cross-pollinate between FreeHand and Illustrator.)

Not all applications can embed fonts in the EPSs they generate. QuarkXPress, for example, does not embed fonts in an exported EPS. However, a number of XTensions provide this functionality, including XPert Print from ALAP (a lowly apprentice production, inc.), the assets and products of which have been acquired by Quark. (By the way, marketing materials from ALAP consistently displayed the company name in all lowercase letters. We were torn: Should we capitalize, as we were itching to do, or should we follow their example?)

It may come as a surprise to you that not all fonts can be embedded. Some font vendors prevent embedding by placing a nonembed flag in their fonts. This won't prevent you from using these fonts to create artwork, nor will it prevent printing. But you will be unable to embed the font in any EPS or PDF that you export. This means you have to ensure that the print service provider also has the necessary fonts to print your job (more about this thorny issue in Chapter Six, "Fonts").

Even if you can embed fonts, there is no guarantee that the embedding will survive what the print service provider might do to your poor, innocent EPS. If there is a problem that requires editing the EPS, they'll need to open the file. Opening the EPS without the necessary fonts loaded will result in the font embedding being munged.

You also have to consider the various processes that affect your job as it passes through the print service provider's workflow, even if nobody attempts to perform surgery on your EPS. Some smaller printers do informal imposition by positioning EPS or PDF files in a page-layout application. Trapping, imposition, and RIP software all must correctly interpret font information. Each step has the potential to drop font information. Don't freak out, these are worst-case scenarios. But the prospects are worth considering.

Now that you fear for the safety of your fonts, what can you do to ensure successful imaging? Well, you might consider converting your text to outlines.

Outlining Text

Fonts contain information, called hinting, which refines the display and printing of text. Consequently, some purists hold that those who outline text should be tarred and feathered. These are people who apparently don't have to actually get their jobs printed. Converting text to outlines eliminates hinting, so text may display onscreen as if slightly bloated and will print slightly heavier on desktop printers. However, the fattening is not usually apparent when outlined text is imaged on high-resolution devices such as imagesetters and platesetters. It's worth mentioning that very small text or type with delicate serifs may lose definition when outlined.

Note

Please read the section on font licensing in Chapter 6, "Fonts." Not all font vendors allow you to outline text.This is probably a surprise to you, but it's an issue that you must consider.

Realists (by which we mean "people who convert their text to outlines") believe that ensuring the safety and portability of artwork is worth enduring the condescending snorts of purists. Converting text to outlines eliminates the worry that font embedding might be undone by incautious editing or a process that fails to honor the embedded fonts.

Realists also have the foresight to save a second version of the file without outlined text to use as a working file, in anticipation of possible corrections or the sobering discovery of a misspelled word.