Converting fonts with a stroke to outlines screws up the stroke

Ive been having a problem with this for a while now and was wondering what to do about it.
I have some type with a fairly heavy stroke on it. When I convert that to outlines, the stroke gets... what appears to be thicker.. even though I dont think it really is... but the stroke just looks screwed up. How do I get around that?

I did use the lowercase "text" and wasn't causing the distortion in lettershape that Chris shows in the post above. After not being able to reproduce Chris' problem in ID5 or 6, I realized it's because I was not using a fill. When you apply a fill, the outline automatically aligns with the outside. With no fill, it's always centered. So, no conversion problem.
Yes, the counters problem is still present in ID6. Same solution as ID5: after switching alignment to "outside", release path and switch the alignment of the counters to "inside", fill counters with white/paper, group everything. If you can't fill the counters, then place one copy of the outlines (stroke alignment centered), double the stroke width, place a second copy exactly on top, remove stroke and group the two objects.
I did see something else in both ID5 and ID6, besides the "counters problem". In certain typefaces - after switching the stroke to outside" - the lowercase "x" was being rendered with the alignment "inside". In affect, the "X" had developed the "counter problem". Releasing the path and switching stroke to "inside" rendered it properly. Times New Roman PS didn't have the problem, but Times New Roman OTF and Times TT did. Then the capital "T" in Times New Roman OTF also developed the problem, but not with Times TT. It's getting weird.

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How do I change the stroke color while retaining the fill color using eye dropper in Illustrator?

I have a question regarding illustrator.
Let's say I have a circle with blue fill and red stroke. And I place an image in the illustrator file. Now I want to change the red stroke of my circle to let's say a purple color by sampling the color from the image.
How can I achieve that with a eye dropper tool? Every time when I try to sample a color from the image, the whole circle will change to purple instead of just the stroke?
I have tried multiple key combination, shift, alt, ctrl but they all don't work.
Cheers, Venn.

What you were saying is essentially what Mike's screenshot is all about?
Deselect Focal Fill on Picks Up and Applies.
I don't see how disabling them will help?
If you have an image, Illustrator reads it as a transparent shape without any appearance attributes.
Now I have a shape with a stroke, I want to change the stroke color by sampling the colors on the image.
You can't do that with the eyedropper because the image doesn't have a stroke.
Eyedropper only picks and applies appearances.
So I guess you can't do this in Illustrator from the beginning.
The eyedropper isn't built for that.

Outlining font with a stoke changes overall font thickness-Why?

I am working on a project that is being printed in Japan and we have to outline all the fonts in order to elliminate font issues. However, one of the fonts has a black outline and when I create outlines of this font headline, it changes the thickness of the font. I tried changing the stroke on the font before outlining it to the outside, inside and center and nothing is working. Any thoughts??

Let me get the predictable response out of the way. Every day I handle the most complex scripts - Japanese, while by definition "complex," is pretty simple in comparison to Burmese/Karen/vertical Mongolian/whatever. I never need to outline fonts, unless I'm dealing with someone whose print workflow is stuck in the early '90s. Do you really need to outline?
That being said, let's assume that yes, you actually do need to outline. (Faugh.)
However, one of the fonts has a black outline and when I create outlines of this font headline, it changes the thickness of the font.
Does it get heavier or lighter? Outlining destroys hinting (which can cause the text to look crowded), and causes the output to be a bit heavier. However, I think you're referring to the fact that when you convert text to outlines, you're losing the stroke that you've already applied, so it's actually lighter (less "thick?") than what you wanted. Can you clear this up for us?

Stroked text: when converted to outlines can the stroke be "consumed" by the fill shape?

I'm wanting to simplify a logotype. Currently the letterforms are filled and stroked. Is there a way to join the fill and stroke so that I have only a filled object with no stroke but with the same dimensions as the original fill + stroke combined? I had thought this might be a pathfinder operation but don't find one that does what I'm after.
Thanks for any pointers.
w.

One way:
1. Convert letterforms to outlines. Fill and stroke are preserved.
2. Select all and choose Outline from the Pathfinder panel. This will create shapes that are the combined size of fill and stroke but will remove all color.
3. Re-fill the shapes with the original fill color of the letterforms.

Convert fonts within PDF into Outlines?

I do some work for a printing company, and sometimes we get PDFs that need small corrections like adding bleed. Most of these corrections can be done with Illustrator. But opening the pdf in illustrator can substitute fonts if we don't have the exact matching font. Does anyone know of a way to convert fonts within the PDF to outlines (similar to the 'Create Outlines' function in Illustrator), without opening the PDF? Or is there, perhaps, an app for that?
Best::Les

So, is there a way to convert the font into vector patch using Adobe reader X pro?
Not possible with Adobe Reader and not possible with Adobe Acrobat.

Error with Illustrator CS5.1 Outline Stroke & Path Finder

Hey all I've recently been trying CS5.5 on Windows 7 64-bit. I've been playing around with it and have found that whenever I try to outline a stroke of a filled object, the fill moves slightly. Also when using Pathfinder the same type of error occurs. I've tried both in CS5 and they work fine so I don't know whats going wrong, I'm wondering if anyone else has the same problem?

Turn off "Align to pixel grid" for new documents and for your objects in transform panel.

I created an outline font and manipulated to create a new logotype. now i want to created a solid font from the outline as a single stroke -- how?

i created an outline font and manipulated to create a new logotype. now i want to created a solid font from the outline as a single stroke -- how?

g,
As I (mis)understand it, you may have a look at the ways suggested in these threads, increasing the Stroke Weight as desired after creating the centre path:
Re: How to make perfect thin inner outline of text?
Typography effect

White Font with Black Outline

Does anyone know how to create a white font with black outline? I need this for a heading that is on a busy background so the title can be read more clearly.

KOENIG Yvan wrote:
Isn't it what we may achieve in Pages using:
Format > Font > Outline ?
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) jeudi 12 novembre 2009 21:23:00
Nope. You get a transparent letter. Refer to your solution in the above link.
Walt

Fill outline fonts with color and keep it vector

Is there a way to fill the inside of a type that is an outline without rasterizing the font and using the paint bucket?
The reason I need to keep it vector is because the finished graphic will be sized from 50 to 300 dpi and the edges will soften when scaled. Below is an example of the font style with two treatments. For the red fill I rasterized the font, then used paint bucket. The other with the green behind is to show the inside transparency of the font.

I guess the op meant upping the resolution of the document? The poster didn't say why they can't start with a document 300
and maybe it would be better to fill the areas after upping the resolution.
Anyway, this is a 680x480 document at 72 resolution and i did use the magic wand for the intial selection, then used quick mask to fix a few spots, contracted the selected 1px
and then made the work path using a tolerance of 0.5. (400% view)
path
after color fill layer below the text layer
upscaled to a resolution of 300 (100% view)
after fixing the path in areas highlighted above (and a few others)
MTSTUNER

Convert Type to Centerline Instead of Outline

Is there any way to convert type so that Illustrator created a centerline instead of an outline?

There is no
good automatic way. It's easy to see why:
1. Set several lines of text, using various fonts.
2. Type: Convert to Paths.
3. White Pointer: Marquee select around all the former text so you can see all the anchorPoints.
Now look at any particular character, especially one with a counter (a hole in it) like A, B, b, etc. Imagine yourself the programmer and try to come up with a scheme that would intelligently take the anchorPoints that you see and interpolate them into a path that the user would consider a "centerline." Bear in mind, the scheme has to work for a "B" that is set in a blocky sans serif, as well as a "B" that is set in a swirly script.
So such a thing would no doubt resort to some kind of auto-trace routine that traces "centerlines." It would probably also need some kind of shape-recognition routine built in so that when the trace reached, for example, the join between the leg and the bowl of a "b" it would know where and how to make the "fork in the road."
For a starting point in trying to do it with Live Trace in CS3:
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2. Object>LiveTrace>LiveTraceOptions. In the dialog, turn on the Preview checkbox. Set Mode to Black and White. Turn off the Fills checkbox. Turn on the Ignore White checkbox. Set Maximum Stroke Weight all the way to 100px. Set PathFitting all the way to 10. Play with the other sliders and preview the results.
Frankly, though, I've never seen an autotrace program really yield the kind of clean results most people would have in mind as "glyph centerlines."
For some tips on doing it manually, see
this PDF.
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How to replace system fonts with type 1 version

Can system font Helvetica be replaced with the PostScript Type 1 (Older) Version?
Can a system font be deleted?
System: iMac 2012, OS X 10.8.2, Output Device: PostScript Level 1 Imagesetter
We are trying to pring Helvetica to a PostScript Level 1 device
and do not want to convert system font to outlines in Illustrator in order to print
to our output device as we would loose all editing capabilities.
Our device will not accept TrueType or OpenType fonts only Type 1 fonts.
Please explain if possible

Same problem! The only solution I found is to prepare a textbox in a new file with all the font you need. Copy and past in the file you need to change font. Go to type/risolve missing font. Will open the same window in the pic you pasted. Then you find the font in the dropdown menu. I have to change all the Helvetica family ...it's a long go. If some one could save me. Hope to be usefull to your problem.

Simple stroke FROM outline stroke

Hi,
of course, I know how to create outlines from a stroke.
But for a specific project, I need to be able to do the exact opposite.
I have lots of vector illustrations like the one attached, that are made of outline strokes, and I need to convert them to simple lines. I know they will loose their shapes, but this is not a matter.
I would like to get a simple line that will follow the shapes, like an "average center line" of these outline strokes.
Finding a way to do this dynamically would avoid me to re-draw all the lines with the pencil.
Does a solution exist ?
Best regards,
Page Publique

For some of the shapes (e.g. the arrows) it would be possible to just delete one of the lines and then use "offset path"
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Can I flatten/expand stroke to outlines on Export to PDF or EPS?

I have 300 page document that I need to use to send to a sign makers to have 300 different vinyl cut signs made. I've used a heavy stroked line in my document but when exported as EPS or PDF the stroke has not been outlined, meaning the path for the vinyl cutter is in the centre of the stroke, rather than the edge of the stroke.
Does anyone know of a way to outline the stroke in the export options? Or a way of converting the files outside of inDesign?
Thanks in advance

@Linus – since the sign maker rely on CUTTERS that follow paths, instead of a pixel based workflow, the only way is to convert thick strokes to areas. Do it by a proper transparency flattener preset. Check "Convert Strokes to Outlines". Apply your preset when exporting to PDF v1.3 (in InDesign CS5 and above print to PostScript and distill to PDF).
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Check the results in Acrobat Pro with the touchup object tool and Adobe Illustrator (select the touchup object tool in Acrobat Pro, select all, right click and do "Edit Objects…", Illustrator will open the objects. All strokes should have a weight of 0).
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Uwe

Using the "Stroke" feature to outline shapes keeps resizing them. Help!

I'm creating a document with 4-equal sized elements. I need to lock the exact size and placement on the page as these will be printed double-sided. Every time I use the stroke feature to outline to make a border it screws up the size of the element. Is there any way to stop this?
Thanks!

The size of a shape is defined at mid_width of its borders.
So, if you change the stroke, you don't change the mathematical size but you change the 'appearing' one. The soluc is to reduce the mathematical size which is the one returned by the Inspector > Measures
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) mercredi 28 avril 2010 09:11:33

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Thanks. I might use it soon...
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I could read the script but it would be faster for everyone reading, if you leave the answer as a reply.
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Converting fonts with a stroke to outlines screws up the stroke

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