Text as paths, when below 32 point, "l" and"-" become strokes not boxes

[Brad_Wallwork@adobeforums.com]

Acrobat Distiller 7.0 using Freehand MX

When text is converted to paths before distilling, straight characters such as "l" and "-" become a stroke, rather than an outline, after distilling. This causes them to preview oddly, and in some cases, print incorrectly. My assumption is that this is done to make the file smaller. I hope there is a setting in distiller which circumvents this.

The problem may also be in Freehand. However the fonts, when converted to paths in Freehand, are outline shapes. The conversion from shape to stroke happens after distilling, and can be verified by opening the finished pdf in Illustrator.

In addition, with tests I have done, it also appears that distiller will turn a vertical box, shorter than 4.2mm, into a stroke also.

[Mark_Larsen@adobeforums.com]

Brad, do a search for fat L's or I's this subject has been discussed several times in the past. I had thought this was a resolved issue with CS2 but can confirm I still get the same results as I did with CS1. The only trick that I was able to come up with to avoid this issue was in illustrator to filter/distort/roughen with options size:0% detail: 40ish this fools distiller that it is not a basic object. The redundant path points are stripped but the basic art is still shape not stroke. You should be able to perform something similar with freehand.

[Brad_Wallwork@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for that Mark.
As you suggested, there is a function in Freehand similar to "roughen" called "Add points". This does the trick nicely.