Vectorizing a font in a PDF

[Michael Brady]

Is there a way to convert type in a PDF to vectors if I don't have the font?

I want to use a corporate name, which is only available in a PDF. The font is embedded in the PDF, so it displays correctly, but when I open it in Illustrator, I get a missing font warning.

I dont' want to steal the font and use it to set other text—-and I don't want to spend a ton of money to get the font. I just want to vectorize the logo and grab the outlines in AI and paste them into the layout in ID.

Any way to do that?

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Michael Brady
www.michaelbradydesign.com/Blog/ | mic...@michaelbradydesign.com
www.twitter.com/typehuile | www.linkedin.com/in/typehuile | www.facebook.com/typehuile

"Thinking Like a Designer" at https://www.createspace.com/3462255 or http://snipurl.com/z43se

[Peter Truskier]

1. Place the PDF in an InDesign document
2. Do something to make it transparent - e.g., set its opacity to 99.999%
3. Set up a transparency flattener preset with the "convert text to outlines" option turned on
4. Export the page to a PDF 1.3, making sure to specify the flattener preset above in your export settings
5. Tell Dov Isaacs to close his eyes and ears, and then "Open" the resulting PDF in Illustrator.

--pt

--
Peter Truskier
Premedia Systems, Inc.
Berkeley, CA USA
1-510-655-4454
http://www.premediasystems.com

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[Chuck Miller]

On Jan 12, 2012, at 2:17 PM, Michael Brady wrote:

> I just want to vectorize the logo and grab the outlines in AI and paste them into the layout in ID.
>
> Any way to do that?

Highly unlikely this will appeal to you, but I'd zoom in on the name in the PDF to make it very big and do a screen shot. I'd edit that to get a high res PSD with trans BG and drop that into the ID file.

I suppose one might take the screen shot into Illustrator and have Illy vectorize it - but I doubt the integrity would be maintained as well as in the bitmap.

Chuck M

[Dov Isaacs]

No Adobe product allows you to do that directly. There are some third party Acrobat plug-ins as well as stand-alone programs that will let you convert text to outlines in a PDF file.

Note however, that depending upon the font vendor and the license for the particular font, such conversion and use of the results may be conform to the font's license.

- Dov

> -----Original Message-----
> From: indesi...@googlegroups.com [mailto:indesi...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Michael
> Brady
> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 12:17 PM
> To: indesi...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [ID] Vectorizing a font in a PDF
>
> Is there a way to convert type in a PDF to vectors if I don't have the font?
>
> I want to use a corporate name, which is only available in a PDF. The font is embedded in the PDF, so
> it displays correctly, but when I open it in Illustrator, I get a missing font warning.
>

> I dont' want to steal the font and use it to set other text--and I don't want to spend a ton of money

[Chuck Miller]

On Jan 12, 2012, at 2:29 PM, Peter Truskier wrote:

> 1. Place the PDF in an InDesign document
> 2. Do something to make it transparent - e.g., set its opacity to 99.999%
> 3. Set up a transparency flattener preset with the "convert text to outlines" option turned on
> 4. Export the page to a PDF 1.3, making sure to specify the flattener preset above in your export settings
> 5. Tell Dov Isaacs to close his eyes and ears, and then "Open" the resulting PDF in Illustrator.
>
> --pt

Geez. That's quite a solution. You folks are so dang sophisticated. I'm saving this as ref. Be proud to use it, but probably won't need to. ;)

Chuck M

[Harbs]

Careful! He might hear you! :-D

Harbs

http://www.in-tools.com

Innovations in Automation

[Michael Brady]

Peter

> 1. Place the PDF in an InDesign document
> 2. Do something to make it transparent - e.g., set its opacity to 99.999%
> 3. Set up a transparency flattener preset with the "convert text to outlines" option turned on
> 4. Export the page to a PDF 1.3, making sure to specify the flattener preset above in your export settings
> 5. Tell Dov Isaacs to close his eyes and ears, and then "Open" the resulting PDF in Illustrator.

Verrrrry clever. Thank you.

[Rai Land]

I have to do this all the time. 

You don't need to take the PDF into ID to flatten the transparency, AI will work fine.

Instead of opening the file in AI directly:

1) Create a new AI file, place the pdf into the document

2) Select the placed pdf then navigate to Object > Flatten Transparency

3) Make sure "Convert All Text to Outlines" is checked.

4) Hit OK.

Depending on if there is unwanted text in the document you may need to delete other text and adjust your art board size but save it as an eps or ai file and you are good to go!

Best,

Rai

[Rodney Sigmon]

Here's how I do it.

1) In Acrobat (Pro) 9 ‚ File > Create PDF > From File... and choose the
EPS (if the fonts aren't embedded you'll see). If all is OK, keep the PDF
open. (If it's a PDF already, just open it.)

2) In Acrobat create a watermark (Document > Watermark > Add...) in the
PDF (just type a letter in the text box). Place it at the top left to find
it easier later in Illustrator. Set Opacity to anything less than 100%.

3) Go to Advanced > Print Production > Flattener Preview and select
"Convert All Text to Outlines" (and "All pages in document" if you have
more than 1 page). Click Apply. Close Flattener Preview window.

4) Save As... EPS or PDF.

5) Open the EPS or PDF created in step 4 in Illustrator, delete the
shape/letter used as watermark (view as outlines to find it easier) and do
whatever you want with this file.



On 1/12/12 3:17 PM, "Michael Brady" <mich...@michaelbradydesign.com>
wrote:

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