Can't find a font - though it is functioning?

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Level 1

112 points

Can't find a font - though it is functioning?

Trying to send graphics to CD replicator. He doesn't have the exact same version of the Optima font I am using. So he used an alternate version of the Optima font. But when he converts my good PDF to the PDF format he needs for his printer, the drop shadows all go weird.

When I go to find my Optima font it isn't in the 'admin/library/font' folder. Yet it's in the text box when I am working in Pages, and it appears in my project, and I can print it to a PDF, and everything works fine.

Where, pray tell, IS the Optima font if it isn't in the 'font folder'? How is Pages accessing it?

For me the simplest solution is to find the dang Optima font on my system, and just give it to him to use for the job. All other alternatives have led to problems (like opening my good original PDF in Illustrator CS5 to turn the font into 'outline' mode; only Illustrator is also inexplicably degrading the graphics behind the text - and I don't want to have to solve THAT problem).

Any suggestions would be most appreciated,

Thank you kindly,

Ben

Posted on Jun 17, 2011 3:35 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 17, 2011 3:51 PM in response to Ben Low

It's in Macintosh HD/Library/Fonts/, not user/Library/Fonts.

Note, however, that it's in the .ttc (TrueType Collection) format.

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Answer 2

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Jun 17, 2011 4:03 PM in response to Ben Low

Aha!

Thank you kindly Ast A. Moore. Is there a difference between .ttc and .ttf?

I have a set of Optima.ttf (regular, bold, italic) I just discovered I bought a long time ago, stored on my laptop. If I just dropped them in the Macintosh HD/Library/Fonts folder would they conflict with the Optima.ttc file already there? And how might I see the difference in the 'font window' when I'm working with it?

Actually, I guess I could just try it.

I'm also wondering, if I just pulled the Optima.ttc from that folder, replaced it with the .ttf versions ... then when my Pages project is opened it should automatically assigned the new .ttf Optima font, right? Or am I being naive here?

All ears,

Ben

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Answer 3

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Jun 17, 2011 4:21 PM in response to Ast A. Moore

I'm trying to figure out how to replace the .ttf Optima file with the .ttf Optima(s) files ... so that Pages is using the .ttf ... which may solve my problem with the replication house.

I think there is a protocol I'm not understanding, for neutralizing one version and activating another.??

B

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Answer 4

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,716 points

Jun 17, 2011 5:43 PM in response to Ben Low

Is there a difference between .ttc and .ttf?

Sort of. Both are TrueType fonts. A .ttf font is a single typeface (TrueType Font). A .ttc font is a suitcase of multiple fonts (True Type Collection).

I have a set of Optima.ttf (regular, bold, italic) I just discovered I bought a long time ago, stored on my laptop. If I just dropped them in the Macintosh HD/Library/Fonts folder would they conflict with the Optima.ttc file already there?

By .ttf set, I assume you mean you have fonts which are named something like this:

Optima.ttf

Optima Bold.ttf

Optima Italic.ttf

So when you try to activate them, they will indeed conflict with Optima.ttc since all three of those typefaces are in the one TrueType Collection file. You can only use one or the other at a time.

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Answer 5

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Jun 17, 2011 6:59 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Hi Kurt,

In the Font Book the three regular, bold, Italic, are bunched together automatically, as they are in the 'Font' window when I'm working in Pages.

I imported the .ttf versions into the Font Book ... noticed I had then had doubles in the Optima font folder (it seems to group them automatically). So I 'resolved duplicates' and have one set greyed out.

When I reopened the Pages project some of the text was not visible and the pop up said the Optima-Regular font was missing. I clicked on the text boxes (where there was text missing) and on the Optima in the font window and the missing text appeared. I closed and saved the project.

But now every time I open it, the review window says there is a missing font: the Optima-regular. Of course this proves true for the 20 odd graphic files I've already prepped using those fonts.

Which suggests that I somehow trashed the original Optima family. I notice that the 'review window' says that the Optima-regular is missing. But there is no Optima-regular, only an Optima-normal.

Maybe I should be dig up my original OSx disc and reinstall the font library? Otherwise I'll have to be closing the review window every time I open one of those 20 files.

And I thought this big long job was in the bag. Tsk, tsk.

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Answer 6

Jun 17, 2011 11:16 PM in response to Ben Low

Before doing the song and dance with Optima, consider sending the replicator a sample using any known-good font(s) with text with drop shadows that you create in Pages. See if there's incompatibility somewhere between your Pages document and the final PDF they generate on their end.

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Answer 7

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Jun 18, 2011 12:27 AM in response to Ast A. Moore

I've rescued my missing Optima font (the original Apple version). I'm going to give it to my replicator guy, see if that does the trick.

Your suggestion is perfect though. That's the very NEXT thing I will do, make up a version with alternate fonts. It may be the conversion from Pages to the PDF. I'm using a filter I found in France, that keeps the Pages to PDF document at 300 dpi (instead of having it suddenly go to 72 dpi - how I wish Apple would fix that!). The resultant PDF looks beautiful. The lines and text are all vector files. You can zoom in forever. The graphics etc. stay 300 dpi. The drop-shadows are another matter. In the PDF they look just fine, but studying them in Acrobat Pro it appears they are 72 dpi ... but when I zoom in they don't seem to break up or get artefacted ... as they should at 72 dpi. It's a bit of a mystery.

But I so love working in Pages. I can do a lovely DVD or CD cover in half an hour ... something that would take me 4 or 5 hours in InDesign or Illustrator.

Thank you Ast A. Moore...

Ben

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Answer 8

Jun 18, 2011 1:55 AM in response to Ben Low

I can relate to your love for Pages. I use it for layout and simple graphic design myself.

It's strange that it outputs graphics at 72 DPI, however. As you may know, there are two ways of producing PDFs in Pages: one is to use the Export menu, the other to use the Print command and then choosing "Save as PDF" from the PDF button/menu hybrid (lower left corner). Alternatively, you can choose "Open PDF in Preview" and then save it from there. That should give you more output options.

Also, when exporting from Pages using the Export menu, you can choose the quality. Choose Best and your images should not be downsampled.

Try both methods and see if it makes any difference.

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Answer 9

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Jun 18, 2011 9:02 AM in response to Ast A. Moore

I use the 'Print' command and then choose a plug-in filter I've added on, that makes 300 dpi (or any dpi I choose) PDF's from the Pages document. Except for the drop shadows and reflections, which get converted to 72 dpi regardless. It all has something to do with Apple's quartz filter. Don't ask me what that is.

A lot of folk have been out there trying to find a workaround. As far as I've been able to determine, the plug-in I got from somewhere in France, called Abracadabra, is the only thing that actually works, except for the shadows and reflections.

Crazy Apple. This may have something to do with patents and territory and making accommodation deals with Adobe, who knows.

Thanks for your help Ast A. Moore.

Ben

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