Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 4/8/2009

Question
Hi, Kevin. I'm a printer and use AI CS3.

1) I have to fatten tiny type all the time to make it "printable". However whenever I stroke type (outlines or fonts) less than .002", the stroke is all askew and not uniform around the letter shape. It prints OK, but looks whacky on the monitor. Is this a known bug?

2) Whenever I try to make a compound path with a solid field and a rule I get a completely unpredictable/undesired result. If I try to make a compound path with any object that's stroked (including type), the main graphic or letter(s) will knock out, but the stroke(s) won't.  Sometimes I need to make type and other graphic elements make "holes" in solid objects to show that the type/graphic is reversing out of a solid field and will show the substrate through the holes rather than overprinting. However, I always encounter a big problem when I have to do this if it involves rules or strokes.

What am I doing wrong? These two areas have been ongoing problems for a very long time. Your advice will be GREATLY appreciated.

Marianne  

Answer
Hi Marianne,

First, stroking type with that small of a stroke is not the best practice and can give you unexpected results on screen due to the scale. If you zoom in to the max magnification, you may find that it looks fine, its just when you are viewing it Fit to Screen or 100% its hard to render on screen. If it prints ok, I wouldn't worry about it.

Next, a compound path is meant to be used with two objects, not a rule and a shape. A rule cannot create a knockout per se because it has no boundaries for Compound Path to drop out the shape with. You can try using a very thin rectangle and your results should be better.

As for the stroking issue with compound paths, Strokes are not knocked out of a compound path. If you need your strokes to knock out as well, this is simple for shapes, but If this is for your text, it is a very long process.

For your stroked type, you will need to create outlines of your type first, then stroke it larger. You will then need to go to Object>Expand to turn your stroke into a shape. Then ungroup your letters and deselect. After you have deselected, you will need to select one letter/stoke object and then open your pathfinder dialogue box (window>pathfinder). Then click the first button in the first row (I think its called merge - they changed the name in CS4). This will turn you letter and its stroked object into one shape. You will have to do this to each letter individually or record a script to automate this a little more. Either way, this takes a lot of work.

Finding a bold of a similar font is the better way to go, it saves you a lot of time and effort.

Thanks

Kevin