Embedding fonts in EPS for placing in docs (in progress)

This page discusses what happens when an EPS file that uses a font (as opposed to using outlines) is used in a document, and that document is then printed or used to create a PDF.

Many graphics applications let you choose to embed fonts in the EPS files they create. If you import these into a DTP application, the behavior of those graphics depend on quite a few factors. This is no where near a thorough discussion of many applications.

Presently this page only includes Windows topics. Mac will come later, but I can tell you this: The Mac, at least in OS 9 and below, is a heckuva lot better at this than Windows!

PDFs from docs with EPS graphics

Tools

Illustrator 9, FrameMaker 6, Distiller 5. The Acrobat Distiller PPD has been modified to exclude all fonts from residency other than the Couriers.

Setup

Created Illustrator EPS with one nonresident PostScript font and one nonstandard TrueType font.
Save one EPS with fonts embedded, one without.
Turn off font in ATM.
Import each EPS into FrameMaker (two separate files). Nothing else appears on the page. See "Triggering downloads" below.
Print PostScript and distill each file twice: Once with Distiller having knowledge of where the PostScript and TrueType fonts were located, once without.
View in Acrobat 5, with the fonts still turned off in ATM.

Results

Fonts embedded in Illustrator		Distiller has knowledge of font locations		Result
Yes	No	Yes	No	TrueType	PostScript
	X	X		okay	okay
X		X		okay	okay
	X		X	Courier	Courier
X			X	okay	okay

Conclusion: An Illustrator graphic with an embedded font will distill okay if the font is embedded or if Distiller has knowledge of the font's location.

Triggering downloads

Say for example you have a page with a graphic that uses FontX, and FontX is a font that's not resident on your physical printer. The font is not embedded in the graphic. It is possible to find these behaviors:

There is other text on the page, but that text does not use FontX. Result: The graphic uses a substitute font.
The page has text that uses FontX, and said text appears before (above) the graphic. Result: FontX is downloaded. Since it's called for before the graphic is encountered, it remains in the printer's RAM and is available for the graphic, so the graphic looks okay.
The page has text that uses FontX, and said text appears after (below) the graphic. Result: FontX is downloaded; however, since it's called for after the graphic is encountered, the graphic uses a substituted font.