Converting Text to Paths?

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abizrihays

I am trying to use Scribus to format a manuscript for IngramSpark (if anyone has heard of them or, better yet, worked with them).  IS requires PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-3:2002.

Quote from: IS File Creation GuideResolution:600 ppi for 1-bit black & white line art
300 ppi for 8-bit grayscale continuous tone images
Color Space:Grayscale
LPI (lines per inch):106
Preferred file format:PDF (.pdf) file - dimensions vary by trim size (see below)
Bleed:0.125" (3 mm) except on bind side
PDF producer:Acrobat Distiller, Export from InDesign
PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-3:2002
Margins:Recommended minimum 0.5" (13 mm) on all sides.
File naming:Single file naming: isbn_txt.pdf or isbntxt.pdf

My problem is that the Scribus Preflight says everything checks out for both.  But Adobe says there are no embedded fonts, and IS says it is unable to be validated.  When I contacted support:

Quote from: From SupportListed below is the response from our IT department.

'The issue is that they converted all the text to paths. This is causing a problem with the preflight and would definitely not print.  Please have them resolve and try again.

I don't know how I did this or what happened, but this is very frustrating, and I've been fighting with it for weeks trying to get it compliant.  When I export it as a PDF, it has all the fonts embedded (figured out to disable the "subsets" in doc setup and pref). But Adobe says there are no embedded fonts.

On top of that, they require the interior to be grayscale, but I don't know if it's a problem yet because they say they can't even validate the file.

I really don't want to have to pay for Adobe when Scribus boasts compliant PDF/X.  Help. :(

Edit: If it matters, the cover file has the same reqs, but CMYK instead of grayscale.  It is image-only (no text frames) and it was accepted fine.

Edit Edit:

OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Scribus: 1.4.6 (tried downloading 1.5.3, but file crashed the program)

GarryP

Welcome to the forum abizrihays.

I'll leave answering this properly to one of the font experts but it will probably be worth your while if you have a look at this post: http://forums.scribus.net/index.php/topic,2523.0.html

As you will see if you read it, Scribus doesn't always embed fonts that you tell it to (for various reasons) even if the font is embeddable.

I think one "quick" solution would be to use OTF fonts - instead of TTF fonts - but that might cause you a lot of issues with reformatting so it's probably best if you hold off trying that until someone with much more expertise in this area gets in touch.

Unfortunately this is one of those areas where Scribus expects the user to be an expert and know much more about the ins-and-outs than the average user would.

a.l.e

if you have issues with the way fonts are embedded in the pdf, you can try to open a copy of your document in 1.5.3  and print the pdf from there.

(if you save a file in 1.5.3 you cannot open it in 1.4.6 anymore! be sure you have backups!)

the font handling has been  improved in some key parts.

abizrihays

#3
Quote from: a.l.e on July 14, 2017, 03:49:26 PM
if you have issues with the way fonts are embedded in the pdf, you can try to open a copy of your document in 1.5.3  and print the pdf from there.

I tried that but each time the program crashed before it would even load. :/

a.l.e

the you're doing something wrong.

probably, trying to run a 64 bit application on a 32 bit OS...
or you did not download scribus from the official scribus download site (by following the links on https://www.scribus.net .

abizrihays

Quote from: a.l.e on July 15, 2017, 01:18:17 PM
the you're doing something wrong.

probably, trying to run a 64 bit application on a 32 bit OS...
or you did not download scribus from the official scribus download site (by following the links on https://www.scribus.net .

I'm not exactly part of Geek Squad, but I know my computer, thank you.  The program itself worked fine when I opened new projects, or projects that were considerably smaller in size, but not my main one.

Anyway, I think I found a way around it.  Still testing out my theories, but will update if it proves correct.

a.l.e

i'm not exactly a computer god, but i know most people (me included) make errors when using computers. thank you.

and i know that if you correctly download the correct scribus installer and your windows is not broken, the current scribus development version will work on a windows computer.
many people (myself not included) have done it in the past and are doing it right now somewhere around the world.

so: you're doing something wrong.
whether you like it or not.

and the error might simply be, that you forgot to tell us that scribus crashes when opening a specific document and "crashes before it even loads" refers to that document and not scribus itself.

live long and prosper
a.l.e