Freehand 11.02 und Umlaute

[MichaelS]

Hallo zusammen,
heute hat mich FH mal wieder sehr genervt weil der Export als EPS mal wieder sämtliche Umlaute gefressen hat.
Gu, ich könnte den Kram auch aus FH 11.01 exportieren aber nun hat mich der Ehrgeiz gepackt und ich habe mal geschaut wo den der Unterschied in den beiden EPSen ist... Ein kurzer Vergleich der beiden Dateien mit TextWrangler hat dann auch schnell den Unterschied bei der Frontdefinition gefunden. Nun noch ein wenig Zauberei mit Grep und siehe da, die modifizierten EPSe hatten auf einmal die richtigen Umlaute nach der Konvertierung in PDFs.

Wer Lust hat kann bitte dieses mit TextWrangler testen:
Suchen & ersetzen mit Grep
Suche:

Code: Select all

(0 dict dup begin\rend \r/f)(\d*) /([a-zA-z--]*)( FF)

Ersetze mit

Code: Select all

MacVec 256 array copy\r/f\2 /|______\3 dup RF findfont

Wenn das so bei anderen auch klappt dann könnte man ein kleines Applescript schreiben welches EPSe per Drag & drop korrigiert. Entweder mithilfe von TextWrangler oder einer ScriptingExtension die regEx beherrscht. Die kann ja ins Bundle vom Droplet integriert werden.

Wer macht mit?

[FFH Mark]

MichaelS post is very interesting in that Umlauts disappear in exported FreeHand files. I don't know German so ran his post through Google translate and with a little touchup here is his solution:

Hello everybody,
Today made me very annoyed at FH again because the export has once again eaten all umlauts, as EPS.

So, from the FH 11/1 export I had the ambition to look at where the difference is in the two EPS’s ... A brief comparison of the two files with TextWrangler has quickly shown the difference in the first definition found. Now I had a little magic with Grep and lo and behold, the modified EPSs at once had the correct umlauts after conversion to PDFs.

Anyone interested may test this with TextWrangler:
Search & replace with Grep
Search:

Code: Select all

CODE: SELECT ALL
(0 dict dup begin\rend \r/f)(\d*) /([a-zA-z--]*)( FF)

Replace with

Code: Select all

CODE: SELECT ALL
MacVec 256 array copy\r/f\2 /|______\3 dup RF findfont

If others also work then you could write a small AppleScript which EPSs are corrected using drag & drop. Either using TextWrangler or a Scripting Extension regex dominated. They can even be integrated into the bundle from the Droplet.

Who is participating?[/i]

(I hope I got the translation fairly close to his solution —Mark)

[MichaelS]

Hi Mark,
first it's funny that after 2 month someone is answering... I already thought that none is interested in a solution
From my side there was no really interest to write this Applescript because I've added the "logic" in one of my extras which will export just a whole bunch of pages at one time.

In the mean time I've experienced that I shouldn't apply the above fix for Windings. And perhaps all other fonts which have a "custom" character mapping. Because I'm not the Postscript guru I really don't know what the fix above will do (I've my thoughts but that doesn't really matter). I can only say that it worked for me with the Files I had to export.

So first we need someone who can explain what is going wrong in FH MX 11.02 and how it should fixed in a good manor.
And second we don't find this guy we need a whole bunch of files which we can compare so it becomes more clear which fonts go wrong.

For me, I'm currently working with MX11.02 with 10.6.8 in an VM-Ware image. Starting with FontagentPro and not getting all fonts everytime, I'm currently throwing all fonts in my users font folder which gave me the best results. And if some font doesn't appear I use the font finagler and restart the VM which is really fast.

For the Export itself my Workflow ist the following:
- Export as EPS without including fonts (by my extra which will fix the font problem). Others have to use the not existing Applescript or try it manually with Textedit)
- use Adobe Distiller 8 in the VM to generate a PDF
- transfer the PDF for further use to the Yosemite side of my Mac


So far, if anyone has questions or an idea how to do it better: just write

[Handsfree]

Quite a common problem I think for those that deal with embedded texts for EPS into another program (like Quark). I have this problem a lot since (in my own book production) all my own art illustrations are being done in Freehand. The workaround for me is to use PDF (rather than EPS which occasionally fails to embed some font in eps. I I find some fancy 'headline' fonts just don't want to be embedded (even in a PDF) so I convert to outline, same the umlaute symbols or odd letter.

So I think it is the actual font more than FreeHand ignoring it. As an example none (or any) of the standard Apple system 'symbols' are embedded in output PDF or EPS (so I always convert those to outline after final edit). I have the exact same problem when trying to compose a complex mathematical formula - only to find half of it missing when I do the PDF! I also double-check my output in Apple 'ColorSync' and 're-save' that as PDF/X-3 (for postscript print) and checking any RGB to CMYK 'colour shifts' as well 'transparency issues' that do occur in any conversion to PDF/X-3. This also usually shows up any missing characters I may have missed. I also don't use emulation (Tiger 10.4) and use Extensive Suitcase Fusion to check fonts or repair fonts that fail to show up.

Extensis FontDoctor usually fixes and converts truetype to type 1 (which I prefer) over OpenType. Opentype can cause problems sometimes but then not all 'truetype' fonts are well constructed either. I have noticed that some keyboard characters (that I know are like 'Umlaute' or french 'accents' that work as shortcuts in other programs) somehow get ignored in FreeHand. So I usually have to 'cut and paste' them in from a wordprocessor. Its odd but that's the fun of 'FreeHand' for you - and I would not wish to use any other program.

That must make me a bit of a dinosaur but the workarounds are really no hardship compared to its advantages of speed and practicality.