Regarding DRM features with fonts, very few of the commercial fonts I own or my workplace owns will prevent font embedding in PDFs. Nevertheless, the only fonts I keep live in any PDFs I create are the typefaces used for
sign descriptions, material specifications and other info. Everything in the actual design is converted to outlines. Depending on the artwork I may generate PDF-based client sketches in CorelDRAW or do it using Adobe Illustrator. For example, if I fill any objects using free-form gradients (a new feature in AI CC 2019) I'll have to use Illustrator for the design work, making scale drawing sketches and generating PDFs of the sketches for clients.
Only under very rare circumstances will I send actual font files along with art file. Usually it has to do with the artwork having to be output in some special process we can't do in house and have to job it out. Normally I would just convert all the text to outlines, but if big passages of text are involved then you have to do something to package the fonts and any other related assets with the art file. I never give clients copies of font files. We've paid quite a bit of money for our growing collection of commercial fonts. Giving those files to clients would be extremely stupid. Aside from EULA violations, sharing fonts with clients makes it very likely those same clients would share the font files with competing
sign companies. I do a lot of things with my PDFs to make them difficult for rival
sign companies to use. Password protecting the PDF at the edit level is one trick. Another is rasterizing much of the artwork.
WildWestDesigns said:
Here is the thing, keeping the text live, is hit or miss with it working for the next person down the line. It is. The tricks mentioned here, I haven't had much success with them working, if at all. What does work 100% of the time is outlining the fonts. It is a basic procedure that should be known (if it is or isn't is another matter, but it should be known).
For over 20 years now I've been converting all the type to outlines in my designs. I keep good records and do other things to make it very easy to update text in a given
sign design file. There's just too many liabilities with keeping the text live once a design is complete. All sorts of odd things can happen when you open a design file years or even a decade or more later.
A given graphics application can change how it handles type as that application is updated through multiple version upgrade cycles. Paragraph body copy may flow differently. Effects on type (like text on path) may not work the same. And then there can be different builds of the same typeface, even from the same foundry. If you don't have the same exact font files installed when the art file was created years ago there will be font substitution errors. It's easier to convert the type to outlines and record which specific fonts were used if necessary.
richsweeney said:
half offset print and half wide format person speaking, Why do you need to even open up the pdf in AI? We really try not to. If we do, we have one seat of a program called Pitstop pro, that does all kinds of tricks.
When customers provide copies of their artwork, logos, etc the artwork may arrive in PDF format. Gotta open the PDF in Illustrator to extract a logo to use in a
sign design layout. There are many other instances when customers bring in a dopey PNG or JPEG image of their logo. If the company brand is big enough it's possible to go hunting online for PDFs that might have vector-based versions of the logo embedded. For major brands it's still best to get their legit vector logo files along with usage guidelines, color specs, etc. But snagging a big company's logo out of a corporate PDF can at least get the ball rolling quickly.
Sometimes a non-Illustrator-friendly PDF is the best thing they have to submit. I remember having to really bust my *** fixing PDF artwork for a company called Surf City Squeeze. Looking at the original PDF artwork in wireframe view was the stuff of nightmares.
