Russian text in Illustrator 10

[MDGray@adobeforums.com]

My client has asked me to lay out an ad in Russian. They've provided a text file that I can open in TextEdit and it displays properly. But when I try to place the text in Illustrator 10 I get gibberish (mostly spaces and underscores) regardless of what encoding is selected in the Text Import Options dialog box.

Cut and paste between TextEdit and Illustrator produces the same result.

I have tried reformatting the gibberish text using a variety of Cyrillic fonts after it is imported but that just changes it to a different bunch of gibberish (mostly boxes).

I can also open the text file in Safari and it displays properly, so I know I've got the fonts to display this text.

Through trial-and-error with TextEdit I have determined that the text is encoded unicode utf-16. (If I do a 'save as' in TextEdit and change the encoding to anything other than utf-16, the characters change to gibberish when the file is reopened.)

Does anyone know if Illustrator 10 can handle this text and, if so, what do I need to do to make it work?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

You would probably have to load the Russian language kit, in OS 9.2.2 that would be done in the control panel?Keyboard in OS X.x.x that is done in the system preferences>international>input menu tab.

The select it from the pull down menu under the American flag in the menu bar.

Hope this helps. Also you need to select the font first before inputting or pasting.

[Dee Holmes]

Wade,

Where did you learn all this international stuff?

Wow, amazing.

[MDGray@adobeforums.com]

FYI... I'm using OS 10.3.3.

I have activated the Russian input option (keyboard) in preferences>intl>input but that only seems to affect text that is typed directly in Illustrator. Illustrator does default to a cyrillic font when the keyboard is set to Russian and the Russian characters that I type directly in Illustrator do display properly (at least they appear to) but there's no way i could retype all of the text acurately.

When I use file>place to import text with keyboard set to Russian, the input option automatically switches back to U.S. English and the text that comes in is gibberish.

Reformatting with a cyrillic font still doesn't work even with the input (keyboard) option set to Russian.

I really need to figure out how to make illustrator recognize the text encoding. MS Word can do it, textEdit can do it, Safari can do it, but can Illustrator?

[MDGray@adobeforums.com]

I should point out that I have tried selecting a cyrillic font before importing or pasting text. I've even formatted a paragraph in Illustrator in a Russian font, then tried importing the Russian text from a Word file (formatted with the same font) right into the middle of the paragraph in Illustrator but it still comes in as gibberish.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

Try drawing a text box click in the text frame with the text tool select the font you want in the character palette select for the language Russian or Cyrillic and then paste
or place the text in that text frame. I think that should work.

Dee I had to do some thing in Japanese or Chinese I forgot and could figure out how to do it and know one new so I went to the Mac help Menu and learnt all I know from there.

[Dee Holmes]

Sorry, Wade, you got me wrong. I wish I was that smart.

I had a suggestion for someone with accents for Spanish characters.

In OS9.2.2 or OS8 for that matter - never had a problem with them. (Option e then the letter you want the accent over) but apparently that isn't the case for OSX.

Although, I am in awe of your international education of AI.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

Well Dee that is not the case either in OS X. Option e and the e will give you the accent it is option a and then a that will not work in OS X.

However OS X has a character palette built in that will allow you to input all characters available for any given font with visual input just select the character such à as opposed to å which is what you get when holding the option a in OS X.x.x.

Here these are some of the characters you can input this way:

?àáâãäå???æç???ñÐ?Ø??????

Let's see if the browser accepts these characters.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

Well not all of them worked and some of them were things like pen nibs and check marks.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

None of these worked so I erased them they were arrows etc. I'll make a screen shot an post it tomorrow!

[Dee Holmes]

You just totally confused me.

What are you doing in post 7?

[Dee Holmes]

O.K.

After reading your post 20 times I think I somewhat get you.

OSX doesn't work the same way as OS9. (And we need to find another way if your in OSX)

So, if I'm square off on the first run of my new OSX Panther or whatever it might be at the time (Maybe Sheepdog) what would someone have to do to get accent marks? Which I already can do now but will no longer be able to once I switch over?

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

You don't have that correct, you can access the accents as you can in OS 92.2. in OS X
these are accessed directly from the keyboard using OS 10.2.8…

é í ó á ü ö ë ï ƒ ß ? µ ?¬

There are other accents and symbols which can be accessed from the character palette as well this is built in to OS X. So if you don't know how or where on the keyboard to access a certain accent or symbol you can use the palette to do so with a visual reference.

Look at this Character Palette <http://mysite.verizon.net/wzphoto/Character.jpeg>

[Dee Holmes]

No, I'm stating that you do not need to do anything different in OS 9.2.2

You need to adjust in OSX.

And how are we supposed to know all these adjustments, is there a thorough tutorial?

[Dee Holmes]

And what is a Cryllic font, by the way?

I have Times Cryllic.

Didn't think it was international.

[Dee Holmes]

I think I am way off base on a different topic now.

I have since reread your statement in # 5... sorry.

I miss read your statement. Except my appologies?

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

No apologies Dee, you're great to have with all your helpful tips and tricks.

Also you must keep in mind that one of the big complaints about my postings is that my spelling and grammar are often confusing. But I think those critics are jealous of creative writing skills.

Al I am saying is somethings are different in OS X and most are the same plus you have support for extended characters and Unicode. You can learn about these things mostly by experience but in your case when you move on to OS X.x.x you will have a fair understanding of what it is all about. It will take a little while getting use to the interface and after a while you will kind of get to like it.

Believe it or not the Mac Help is a great place to learn even how to do scripting.

[Dee Holmes]

Thank you, Wade.

Sorry, I tend to babble when it gets that late.

[MDGray@adobeforums.com]

Drawing a text box, setting the font to a Russian font and trying to paste or place text doesn't work for me.

I downloaded a demo of Illustrator CS which seems to import the unicode text with no problems, it even defaults to a Russian font. Looks like I get to write another check to Adobe.

[Wade_Zimmerman@adobeforums.com]

Oh excuse me you don't have CS. Sorry I am working with CS. Yes CS has unicode support and everything is so much easier.

Sorry about that, I couldn't understand the problem but now I do. Yes your original post has AI 10 clear enough.

Well now your problem is solved and Dee if this comes up where you have to open a Russian document and can't do it 9.2.2 then that might be an opportunity to force your boss to upgrade. Keep this in mind.