Problem with baltic fonts

RistoOik

unread,

Jun 26, 2002, 4:08:48 AM6/26/02

to

by the way I use Illustrator 10.02

RistoOik

unread,

Jun 26, 2002, 4:07:55 AM6/26/02

to

I got a baltic text in MS Word (in Times New Roman) which I need to get to the Illustrator, but when I copy/paste (or open) the text into the illustrator all baltic letters (like 'a' with macron) lose their baltic special stuff eg. macron. Text looks fine in MS Word and Windows' and Character Map-program shows that needed letters are included in Times New Roman. So, do I need some special Baltic Times New Roman to get it work or where's the problem?

Ronald Keller

unread,

Jun 27, 2002, 10:28:07 AM6/27/02

to

Works fine here, no special font required...

Greetings from Belgium

Ronald

Andrew Gray

unread,

Jun 27, 2002, 11:14:04 AM6/27/02

to

A REALLY good util for your problem is ClipConvert.

I had the same issue as you RistoOik, and this little beauty did the magic.
(I'm on Windows)

Go to:
http://www.opentag.com/downloads.htm <http://www.opentag.com/downloads.htm>

-Andy

Andrew Gray

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 4:45:46 AM7/2/02

to

Hmmm, Ok, so I had a few probs remembering how I did it but I figured out what it was. You need a font which contains the extended character set containing (in my case) cyrillic characters. I had to source a font first.

It worked for me when I had Russian as my chosen local (and hence 'character set') and then used my font containing the cyrillic characters in illustrator when pasting.

A curious thing. I have only one font on my system with those cyrillic charcaters and yet MSWord displays the Russian fine in Times New Roman (or arial for that matter). The doc came from another PC. How is it that Word has access to the characters in 'Times' and not Illustrator?

-Andy

RistoOik

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 4:10:59 AM7/2/02

to

thanks,Andrew, but I still can't get the right chars...

All I get from the program is the same that I get when I copy text to Illustrator or something other strange stuff....

Which kind of settings you used? I've tried different settings but nothing seems to work. (I use Windows 2000)

RistoOik

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 6:06:03 AM7/2/02

to

I have now few Adobe fonts which has chars I need (at least Character Map shows so) and those are chosable in Illustrator but still when I try to copy text to Illustrator it changes baltic chars to something else (can't get anything reasonable from ClipConvert).

I think that differences between MS Word and Illustrator has to do something to do with Unicode and stuff...I think that I read somewhere that Illustrator doesn't support Unicode fonts or something..

RistoOik

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 6:05:56 AM7/2/02

to

Andrew Gray

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 6:24:50 AM7/2/02

to

In Clipconvert did you hit refresh then convert before pasting? Also try checking the 'Allow entities' option.

As long as my 'cyrillic' font was selected in illustrator *at the insertion point* and I did the steps above copying and pasting Russian text from MSWord went smoothly.

Are you getting characters with accents and stuff or question marks?

RistoOik

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 7:05:47 AM7/2/02

to

Of course special characters didn't work right in my above message....

well anyway I'm getting characters with accents, at least with basic settings (Latvia,baltic)

RistoOik

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 7:00:47 AM7/2/02

to

Refresh automatically is on(I've also tried without it) and I've tried 'Allow Entities' option.

Īpašības
comes out in Illustrator like this
Ipašibas

Andrew Gray

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 7:28:39 AM7/2/02

to

Crumbs! Well, I can repeat your problem if my insertion point in Illustrator is not using the correct font. Change to your desired font first then make an insertion point - then paste. Does that help?

Using a different font, without the characters, then pasting and then changing the font in Illustrator won't work it seems.

Can you type in the special characters you need with the keyboard, in illustrator, using your font? (just as a test)

RistoOik

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 8:02:38 AM7/2/02

to

Leah,have you tried ClipConvert (mentioned before)?

Maybe it would work for you.

Sorry about my terrible English...

RistoOik

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 7:56:27 AM7/2/02

to

no

No, Illustrator does the same thing in typing which it does with copying. Typing works fine in MS Word.

The character which I need are way after the basic characters in font ('Character Map'), which is maybe different with the Russian font you're using. Just thinking that maybe Illustrator can't use those chars. (Basic Open Type(?) fonts which come with Adobe programs have little less chars (doesn't include chars would need))

Leah Berkowitz

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 7:57:47 AM7/2/02

to

I am having a similar problem with Illustrator and Photoshop, using Hebrew fonts (right to left). I am using Windows 2000, English version, with Hebrew as a secondary locale. I have no problem typing right-to-left and using Hebrew characters in a variety of fonts in Microsoft applications, but if I try either to cut and paste from Word, or to type directly into Illustrator with Hebrew keyboard enabled, I get either ?????, rows of rectangles, or gibberish.
Any ideas?

Andrew Gray

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 8:35:59 AM7/2/02

to

RistoOik,

The fonts I'm using have the special characters in the extended character set not the 'normal' or commonly used selections. They are 'way after' the standard characters so I, also, cannot just type the letters in.

Illustrator definatly can use all of the characters (using ALT codes gives you access at least).

Not sure what to suggest now. The only thing I can think of is for you to check the font name is correct when you click your insertion point.

-Andy

PS. Leah: Right to left - No idea, sorry

Andrew Gray

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 9:07:06 AM7/2/02

to

Hope so (re unicode fix).

As far as the alt codes go. Character map no longer shows them, but they still seem to work. Other font management programmes (eg. Typograf) show the codes up if you want to know which is which.

-Andy

RistoOik

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 8:54:21 AM7/2/02

to

thanks anyway

by the way, characters I need doesn't have alt codes (at least Char Map doesn't them)

ps. I'm sure the reason for all this is the lack of Unicode support in Illustrator(check Feature Requests-page). Adobe should really make update or at least add it for the next version of Illustrator.

Ben Salisbury

unread,

Jul 2, 2002, 10:49:42 AM7/2/02

to

If editability isn't a concern, you can create your text in word and then print to file using a Postscript printer driver.

this will vectorize the text and is placeable in Illustrator.

-Ben

Leah Berkowitz

unread,

Jul 3, 2002, 9:02:47 AM7/3/02

to

Andrew and Risto:

After experimenting with cut & paste, insert in different graphics programs, I found that Macromedia Fireworks is equipped for RTL character sets, Illustrator is not. So I can create these RTL text blocks in Fireworks, save as images and then import into Illustrator.

Nissan Dachs

unread,

Jul 15, 2002, 1:55:17 PM7/15/02

to

I have been playing with these types of issues for the last few weeks. My best workaroud so far was saving the Word file as an RTF and then using "Place" to import the file to Illustrator. If you have a Unicode True Type Font installed you should have no problem- regardless of the language.

Also, the Windows Arial and Times Open Type fonts that are pre-installed in Win 2000 are really tricky. Apparently they contain ALL the glyphs for ALL Unicode supported languages. Good for Word bad for Illustrator which cannot handle all those glyphs. Therefore it will only display the English glyphs.

If you're trying to use a regular (non-Unicode) font in Word - good luck. I have had totally unexpected and unpredictable results.

These are all assumptions I've made from my trial and error. If you have different results or know of some reason why the RTF place isn't good, please let me know. Thanks.
-Nissan