Font problems between Clients

[frailer]

Have been having some weird errors/won't-RIP problems. Finally nailed it to possible font outa whackery between Clients. I.e. fonts they need to function. Intend to trouble-shoot this further, but talked to a Fuji tech in Melbourne today about the right procedure to re-install my Client, and this came up.
What I won't be doing for the time being is to bring in replacement pages on my Client for a job that was initiated/imposed on the other Mac.
Just a heads-up for anyone using 2 or more XMF Clients.

The other thing I was unaware of is that they are not full-blown apps., just sucker-fish to the XMF server app. I guess this would apply to other setups with the other vendors.

Intend to do full FEX font clean-ups on both Macs tomorrow...see if I can repeat the errors.    :undecided:

[Joe]

That sounds odd. The fonts are in the PDF. I don't see how the client could cause a font problem.

[hotmetal]

That sounds odd. The fonts are in the PDF. I don't see how the client could cause a font problem.

Oh, I'm sure there's a way. If the cached copy of the otherwise identical font is corrupt on one of the machines, it could be throwing that into the hurly-burley. Just because the fonts are "in" the PDF doesn't mean anything if they are called up during processing. The mac could very well helpfully throw in the corrupt cached one as a time-saving enhancement to your workflow!

[Joe]

I'm sure there is a way also but a RIP client that is using fonts from the client OS instead of from the file itself would be less than ideal.

[hotmetal]

Agreed. And Apple's brilliant idea of making Helvetica a required system font was even more less than ideal!

[frailer]

I'm guessing maybe fonts connected with the input of Custom Marks. Or something. Am pushing for them to get some feedback from the UK on it, cos it's pissing me off big time. Have FEX'd both Macs. System font Caches prolly full as both same size before clearing. Shall try a re-run of the sequence that caused the error. Shall see.

May be as simple as a weekly FEX clean. I can live with that.

[jezza]

Is there not a setting in Acrobat or similar that you can choose to use local fonts or document fonts? If you're using local fonts, it won't matter if the fonts are in the pdf. I'm a bit out of practice on this though... Might be helpful to look at something this simple first though

[frailer]

TBH, I don't think it's a document/Source File font issue. I think it's to do with clients being in sync, or not, with each other. To do with bringing in new pages on a job, where that job was imposed/set up on another Client. But I am still trying to suss the exact nature of this so-called font problem.   :undecided:

[frailer]

Here is the relevant part of a reply from Fujifilm tech.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With regards to fonts on XMF clents being an issue.   XMF uses the local system fonts in "slug lines", and non image areas.
For some reason, this causes an issue when moving jobs between computers. So if possible, it is beneficial to keep fonts consistent  between machines.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Am assuming, at this stage, that FEX clean-ups are sufficient to keep the problem at bay. Seems that way at the moment. Bearing in mind there's also a routine for 'Refresh System Fonnts', as well as the Cache Cleans etc.

[jezza]

It's safe to remove Fontbook, but not the fonts. Make sure the fonts are at root or home. It's possible to remove exceptions within FEX. Bear with me. There is no reason to have fontbook installed so long as the fonts are available.

[frailer]

I am going the minimal intervention approach at this stage, jez. IMO, 'keep fonts consistent between machines' could mean all sorts of things. Other op insists on using Suitcase IX, despite my 'sell' on FEX. It's what he's used to. A lot of people are creatures of habit, even at a young age.
Doesn't stop me from firing up FEX on that machine and running 'Tools'.    :evil:
I've never messed with Font Book. Are you saying I could uninstall it, as long as all required System Fonts are in the correct folder? Or can I just let the sleeping dog lie?

[jezza]

System fonts are where they need to be by default. Fontbook is only a manager... hang on, lemme sleep and I'll post more.

Remind me!

[frailer]

S' OK. It's a non-urgent work-in-prog.   :cheesy:

System fonts are where they need to be by default.

...but of course...   :embarrassed:

[DigitalCrapShoveler]

I am going the minimal intervention approach at this stage, jez. IMO, 'keep fonts consistent between machines' could mean all sorts of things. Other op insists on using Suitcase IX, despite my 'sell' on FEX. It's what he's used to. A lot of people are creatures of habit, even at a young age.
Doesn't stop me from firing up FEX on that machine and running 'Tools'.    :evil:
I've never messed with Font Book. Are you saying I could uninstall it, as long as all required System Fonts are in the correct folder? Or can I just let the sleeping dog lie?

Your system requires only a handful of fonts to actually run correctly. I run FEX just like you, and I make it do the work. I removed all the fonts NOT necessary to run my system and put them in a FEX managed folder. Any and all other fonts are done the same way. I run sparse fonts for the very reason of conflicts. I have over 40,000 fonts. FontBook would shit a pink Twinky sideways having to manage half that amount. I liken FontBook to like for example iDVD. Yes it works, but FinalCut Pro is so much better.