If you've created an Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) file from a TeX document, you may have been disappointed with the results - by default, most versions of TeX produce PostScript files with embedded bitmapped fonts. Although Adobe's Acrobat Distiller can convert these PostScript files into PDF, the resolution-specific bitmapped fonts create a PDF file that looks displays poorly and renders slowly on screen.To create a PostScript file from TeX that can be converted into an optimal PDF file, you need to create a PostScript file that uses scaleable Type 1 fonts rather than resolution-specific bitmapped fonts.
Using Type 1 fonts with TeX is easy if you have the original TeX source or DVI file. For instructions on configuring Tomas Rokicki's popular DVIPS program to use Type 1 fonts, see "Configuring DVIPS to Use Type 1 Fonts," below.
The situation is more difficult if your only electronic version of a document is a PostScript file that already contains embedded bitmapped fonts.
PostScript files created by DVIPS are particularly problematic since the code for the embedded fonts is interspersed throughout the file as each new character is typeset. To further complicate the situation the names of the original fonts have been replaced by arbitrary identifiers.
The FixFont utility (see "Converting Legacy PostScript Files," below) attempts to solve this problem by removing the embedded bitmapped fonts from the PostScript file and creating a new PostScript file that can be used with scaleable, Type 1 outline fonts.
When you have the original TeX source or DVI file the easiest and most reliable way to create a portable PostScript file is to configure your DVI to PostScript driver to use Type 1 versions of the Computer Modern fonts.The following Technical Note describes how to configure Tomas Rokicki's DVIPS to create a PostScript file that uses Type 1 outline fonts.
- Creating Quality Adobe PDF Files from TeX with DVIPS
Adobe FaxYI Document Number: 312143
If your only electronic version of a document is a PostScript file created by DVIPS that already has Type 3 bitmapped fonts embedded, the FixFont utility may be able to create a new PostScript file that can use Type 1 outline fonts.FixFont's SUBSTITUTE program attempts to identify the embedded Computer Modern fonts and extract the bitmapped font code from the PostScript file.
For more information, see the file README.txt.
- FixFont: Unix tar file
Beta Release 1.0 - 96 JUN 01