[scribus] Fonts in PDF for Blurb

[Šarūnas]

On 12/6/19 11:10 AM, Gregory Pittman wrote:
> On 12/6/19 10:36 AM, Šarūnas wrote:
>> Hello,
>> 
>> My first post here. Sincere thanks for Scribus developers for
>> creating it!
>> 
>> I have used Scribus on Linux for several years to create and 
>> successfully print magazines (photos and text) with Blurb's 
>> print-on-demand service. (I have also used their other tool
>> Booksmart for many years before.) Despite warning on Blurb's upload
>> webpage regarding possible issues with Scribus embedding fonts,
>> there were never any preflight errors or incorrect printout.
>> 
>> However, I have just received my first Blurb book I made with
>> Scribus NG (1.5.5). This time all font characters printed as
>> rectangles… The fonts (LinuxLibertine, TrueType) were embedded, not
>> subsetted, as usual. Scribus own preflight for PDF/X-3 was happy.
>> 
>> After contacting Blurb support, they converted my uploaded PDFs, 
>> “outlining” fonts. I downloaded the files and while inspecting
>> them, I can see that fonts are still listed as embedded, but now
>> subsetted and Type-1C instead of Truetype. Here is an explanation
>> from Blurb specialist, when I asked, what actually was done:
>> 
>> (lawyer => layer):
>>> What I did with your file is outline the fonts using the tool
>>> called Pitstop, and then I distilled it in Adobe Distiller. In
>>> this way your file is converted into one single lawyer instead of
>>> several lawyers with non embedded fonts.
>> 
>> I haven't yet received reprinted book, but I wonder if anyone here
>> might have any insight on what might be going on with fonts and/or
>> layers in PDF?
>> 
>> P.S. I'm aware of Scribus's option to outline fonts when exporting
>> PDF. I tried that and the resulting PDF doesn't use any fonts as a
>> result, which is expected. Haven't received the printout yet
>> either.
>> 
>> Thanks for any advice,
>> 
> Hi Šarūnas,
> 
> I'm not a font expert, so we'll see what might come from those more
> knowledgeable than me. The fault may not necessarily be with Scribus,
> but rather the software being used by the printer. I would suggest in
> the future to outline the fonts with Scribus rather than this other
> pathway. It shows the importance of looking at your PDFs with your
> own PDF viewer, maybe even more than one. If you can create it and
> view it on your own computer, you can see that the problem lies with
> the printer's software, not Scribus. Sometimes there are some
> imperfections with certain fonts, so you might also try an
> alternative font (this is where using Styles can be very
> convenient).

Thanks, Greg,

Yes, all looked fine in multiple PDF viewers, including Acrobat Reader,
as well as printed on a local laser printer. Blurb specialist confirmed
all looked fine on their devices too. I have heard of some printers,
contracted by Blurb, using outdated RIPs. Maybe I was just lucky until
now, that none of my books and magazines ended up being printed with
them. I never though of outlining fonts, as for years they “just worked”
(the same Libertine font family). I wonder what, if any, downsides to
quality might be, if font glyphs are outlined.

Šarūnas

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