topic Re: Problem with Calibri font in Installation & update

Problem with Calibri font

Barry Kelly — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:21:29 GMT

Does anyone else out there use the Calibri font.
We are having problems with certain letter combinations in lower case only not printing in the PDF.
They are fine on screen in Archicad and the layout book.
Just a problem when published or printed to PDF - even with other PDF converters.

Only happens in version 11 & 12.
Version 10 is fine.

See the attached image.
Seems that "ft" and some other letter combinations do not print - they appear as a square with a question mark in it.

Would someone else please test this for me.
In particular on a Windows XP machine.

Thank you.
Barry.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Thomas Holm — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:24:25 GMT

Barry wrote:
Does anyone else out there use the Calibri font.
We are having problems with certain letter combinations in lower case only not printing in the PDF.
They are fine on screen in Archicad and the layout book.
Just a problem when published or printed to PDF - even with other PDF converters.

Works fine here on Mac AC12.

I think it's an issue with your copy of this particular font. The letter combinations are "ligatures" (combinations where certain characters overprint more or less, horizontally).

If I remember correctly, it's a Microsoft font, installed with MS Office. Try thrashing the font and then re-install MSOffice! And then restart. If necessary you may have to upgrade Office or search the Net for a newer version of the font.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Link — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:30:11 GMT

I'm currently building a template for a client who wants to use Cailibri as the main font, and can confirm the same problem on AC12, Vista.

I think Thomas is right about the overlap because inserting even the tiniest space (eg. a space between f and t with a height of just 0.1mm) will get rid of the problem.

Annoying workaround, but a workaround, nonetheless.

Cheers,
Link.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Thomas Holm — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:43:18 GMT

Link wrote:
...inserting even the tiniest space (eg. a space between f and t with a height of just 0.1mm) will get rid of the problem.

It's of course possible that there is a bug in the font that surfaces only when it's PDFed or printed. I wouldn't be surprised if the font prints all right on cheap inkjets that don't use PDF or PostScript for printing. Adobe owns both PDF and PostScript, and Microsoft isn't too fond of Adobe, and may be a little sloppy in bug-testing those options.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Barry Kelly — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:36:54 GMT

Thanks for confirming this.
It does seem to be a problem with the text spacing.
I set the spacing factor to 200% and the ft stayed stuck together.
Change the font and they spread apart.
Now do you think I will have any luck in getting Microsoft to fix the font?

Barry.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Greg Kmethy — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:16:23 GMT

This is a known issue with font types that use ligature - when two characters merge for better readability. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typographic_ligature The "Calibri" and "Symbol" fonts use ligature.

The problem is in the font, but the manufacturer of the PDF engine that we license promised a workaround in one of their updates. So we might be able to fix this at a later time, if the Font does not get fixed.
It is not possible to turn off ligature, but we found that on Windows XP it only occurs when asian fonts are enabled (Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options -> Languages -> Install files for East Asian languages)

We found that disabling this option turns off ligature in Calibri font, so that is a workaround on XP.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Barry Kelly — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:42:06 GMT

Thank you Gergely,
That seems to work quite well.
Barry.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 00:00:33 GMT

It's 2014 -- and v17 of AC -- and this problem with the Calibri font still exists, as I've just found out.

I've substituted a similar style of font, "Aller", which is available on a free license, from www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/Aller

And yes, it's a PITA not having a global search & replace function.

It appears to work well upon publishing to PDF, unlike Calibri.

At the very least, ArchiCAD should consult a list of bad fonts, and warn the user upon selection if the chosen font is bad for PDF output.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 14:08:04 GMT

Upon release of AC 18, it seems that my font of choice is no longer supported. I have used Neutraface for almost ten years and now all type in this font has vanished from my publisher pdfs. It is REALLY annoying to have to reformat numerous projects/templates to a different font!

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Eduardo Rolon — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 14:18:49 GMT

bs28083 wrote:
Upon release of AC 18, it seems that my font of choice is no longer supported. I have used Neutraface for almost ten years and now all type in this font has vanished from my publisher pdfs. It is REALLY annoying to have to reformat numerous projects/templates to a different font!

Same thing here with 'Geometric" and "Neuzit" finally gave up and I am using only system fonts.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Eduardo Bell — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 23:50:41 GMT

Same problem with 'FRUTIGER' font family we've been using for eight years.
In fact in our case the problem is specifically with outputting to PDF from the PUBLISHER. The font prints to PDF correctly from any other Archicad window IE: plan, section and directly from layouts via the print window.
We tested the same behavior in Mac systems OSX10.9.4 and 10.8.5 so it is definitely related to Archicad-18/Publisher/save to PDF and not just a font problem.

May we get an evaluation on this problem for a fix from GS perhaps in the next update?

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Robert Nichols — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 20:18:46 GMT

I'm using Trade Gothic on a Mac. It's a super clean font that looks a lot like that produced by old lettering templates. Can't believe it has ligatures built into it. Kerning tables yes, but there's never anything approaching contact between characters.

It's obviously the PDF engine used by Graphisoft, as everything works fine when outputting to PDF via the Print dialog, which relies on the OS to build the PDF.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Katalin Borszeki — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 13:04:23 GMT

Hi All,
the new PDF engine for ArchiCAD18 does not support PostScript font types. In most cases these are old fonts that are not used by many. PostScript font types will not be supported by newer versions of Archicad either, so when the files are opened in ArchiCAD - starting probably from version 19 - these types will be replaced or offered to the user for replacement with TrueType or OpenType fonts. For now, only the PDF publish function does not support them, but this is what the users should expect later on.
Please consider replacing these fonts!

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Robert Nichols — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 14:33:54 GMT

Thanks for the info. Just updated our office standard font to Open Type. Publishing is fine now. Not as painful as I thought.

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Katalin Borszeki — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 14:22:48 GMT

Hi All, let me post a correction with regards to the previous comment on PostScript Font Types.
For now, the PDF engine does not support them, but Graphisoft is still discussing the future of how these Font Types will be handled.
Thanks!

Re: Problem with Calibri font

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 06:16:34 GMT

I was going to use this font for my template, but iv had dramas with it previously in other programs that print to PDF, so iv been avoiding it since.