Export Fonts to PDF

There are three font types that can be used for text:

TrueType fonts — Fonts used on Microsoft® Windows® platforms.
SHX fonts — Internal font format for .dwg files.
RSC fonts — Fonts for .dgn files.

Text from the original drawing can be exported to PDF either with geometry (when symbols are drawn as collections of primitives) or with internal facilities of the PDF format. The TTF Text as Geometry flag enables TrueType font text to geometry conversion (when switched on), and the SHX Text as Geometry flag enables SHX font text to geometry conversion. These flags can affect the size of the output PDF file. The effect depends on the quantity of text elements in the source database.

Additionally, a font file can be included in the output PDF file or the document may contain only a reference to a font file. In the first case a font is called embedded, and the text can be drawn even if the specified font is not installed for the operating system. In the second case the font must be installed on the operating system for the correct text to display in the output PDF file. If the Use Embedded TTF flag is on, embedded fonts are used for text display. Using embedded fonts causes a large increase in the output file size but guarantees that the text can be correctly displayed in the resulting PDF file. Using embedded fonts also makes the output PDF file more portable.

To determine the current values of the flags described above, use the respective methods of the PDFExportParams class:

isTTFTextAsGeometry() for TrueType fonts
isSHXTextAsGeometry() for SHX fonts

The Embedded TTF Optimization flag reduces the size of the output PDF file by removing unused parts of the fonts (for example, characters that are not used in the text). However, embedded font optimization restricts editing abilities.

For additional information about handling fonts, see Font Handling.

See Also