Same Illustrator, Same Font, different widths

[Rich_...@adobeforums.com]

I sent my print service shop an Illustrator EPS file but it looks different on their system and I don't know why. We are both using Illustrator CS2 ver 12.0.1, with the Windows XP font Garamond file GARA.TTF (11/10/1998 2:52 p.m. 196,616 bytes).

I have an area type box 174.25 points wide, one line of which is:

Pepperoni, Sausage, Meatball, Ham, Salami, Spinach,

in Garamond as above. This line fits within the box width for me, but for my print shop it breaks to a new line before "Spinach".

The type palette options for this line are

Point Size = 9 pt
Leading = 9 pt
Kerning = 0
Horizontal Spacing: -25 units

They have confirmed that they get the same settings on that line when they open my file.

For me, the text fits on one line if the horizontal spacing is -22 or more negative. For them, they must change the spacing to about -50 before the same text fits on one line.

What do I need to do to ensure that the Illustrator files look the same when they open them as they do on my system?

- Rich

[MisterOwl]

> What do I need to do to ensure that the Illustrator files look the same when they open them as they do on my system?
>
> - Rich

Outline all your fonts.

First, in the Object menu -> Unlock All (just in case you have some
type that was locked). Make sure all your layers are unlocked as well.

Select all (Ctrl-A or CMD-A)

Then in the Type menu -> Create Outlines

This turns all your text into vector shapes, instead of actual type.
Fonts then become unnecessary.

HTH
J

[LenH...@adobeforums.com]

Rich,

Just a thought, but do they have the same version of Garamond as do you?

[Teri Pettit]

Well, I think what Rich meant by being so extremely specific about "we are both using Windows XP font Garamond file GARA.TTF (11/10/1998 2:52 p.m. 196,616 bytes)" was that they had already checked that they had the exact same font file down to the time stamp and the bytes.

But since fonts can be drawn from various different folders scattered about, it might be that on one of the systems, the font file he was checking was not in fact the file that was getting loaded.

[Teri Pettit]

Have you tried sending the printer a .ai file or a .pdf file instead of a .eps file?

These days, EPS files are generally for placing into layout programs that require them. PDF is a better format for sending files to be printed, and if two people both have Illustrator, .ai format is definitely the format to use for exchange.

[Rich_...@adobeforums.com]

Yes, Teri is right, we both have the same TTF file. I even e-mailed them a copy of mine so they could compare it bit-for-bit. I believe they were careful to remove any other Garamonds they might have laying about so as to only use ours.

The printers can work from PDF but for reasons I don't understand they prefer the Illustrator EPS. I could also send them AI if they want it.

- Rich

[Rich_...@adobeforums.com]

By the way, so far we still have no idea why the same software with the same font and the same file gives different results on the two systems.

- Rich

[Teri Pettit]

What happens if they place the EPS file linked instead of opening it for editing, and then print?

If the discrepancy still arises when that is done, then there must be something different about the font environment, but I wouldn't know what.

If it does not happen, it would point to something different in the conversion from EPS to Illustrator's native format. There might be some preferences that affect this process, but if so, I do not know what they would be. (Import/export is not my area of expertise.) Have you tried each moving your preferences to a temp folder and restarting, so that you both start out with the default preferences?

What EPS version was saved to, and what other Save as EPS options were used?

[Rich_...@adobeforums.com]

Thank you, Teri, for your continued interest.

I don't know what would happen if they simply "placed" my EPS file as-is. I do know that they opened my EPS file in Illustrator, reduced the horizontal font spacing until the type fit the box (as it had for me), then saved that and placed it into InDesign. I am nervouss about the fact that they had to adjust the font spacing at all to make it fit.

The EPS file I sent them was saved with the following options:
Version: Illustrator CS2 EPS
Preview Format: None
Fonts: [*] Embed Fonts (for other applications)
Options: [*] Include CMYK Postscript in RGB File
Adobe PostScript: LanguageLevel 2

The EPS was created by and saved from the same Illustrator CS2 12.0.1 installation with which I am opening it.

- Rich