[WinMac] Re: Looking to get Mac Powerpoint 4.0 Slides Output

Carver Washburn(clwashburn[at]worldnet.att.net)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 19:39:06 -0500

Dear Amy,

The issue you raise has been very much the topic of this group. The
issue, while raised in the context of Powerpoint, is one of working with
Mac-based fonts cross-platform with the PC and conversely. The sense of
this list and my own experience lead to the conclusion that the fonts
are not really convertible. I say that with the understanding that some
software packages represent that they can 'scale' the 'metrics' between
Mac and PC. Ironically, I first ran into this problem with the Futura
font

While I'm not familiar with the processing houses that make slides, I
work with pre-press houses that output film successfully on Mac-based
imagesetters for offset printing. I prepare my designs on a PC, and
output the design in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format, where all of the
fonts are embedded. There is no reason why the design could not be
similarly prepared in Powerpoint, then converted to PDF. The solution
should be equally applicable for Mac to PC (your situation) or PC to Mac
(my situation).

The process described has been so successful for cross-platform work
that I have recently output designs using PC-based True Type fonts
through a Mac-based imagesetter (traditionally considered a no-no).

The suggested approach solves the problem of being able to select a
'favorite' font, regardless of the source design (PC or Mac). More
importantly, it solves the problem of block overflow (or underflow)
where the position of text is shifted due to the substitution of
dissimilar fonts, even when of the same Type 1 Font name. I found out
the hard way that a Futura BK BT Type 1 font on the PC side is not the
same as the same-name font on the Mac side.

Good luck and please let me know if the suggestion has any merit.

Carver Washburn
clwashburn@worldnet.att.net

____________________________________________________________
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 15:32:35 EST
From: AEKline@aol.com
Subject: Looking to get Mac Powerpoint 4.0 Slides Output

Hi list! This is a bit off-topic, but I'm sure I'm not the only 'print'
person who occasionally puts on a multimedia, slide presentation hat.
I'm hoping that there is a happy, helpful, MAC,
Service-bureau-slide-output person on this list, or someone who knows of
someone who fits that description. You people
are so knowedgeable. I've really enjoyed "our" discussions (Thanks
Joe!).

My problem: I finally dumped Aldus Persuasion, even though it's a dandy
little program) because my 3 local service bureaus finally refused to
accept my occassional Mac Persuasion 2.1 files for lack of support (they
are all using PCs). As I was getting tired of borrowing a collegue's
Windows box to use PowerPoint for Office 97 every time I had to make a
slide, I bought PowerPoint 4.0 for the Mac as recommended, as I was
assured that the Mac version would produce cross-platform slides. Ha.

Now I sit here with a 70-slide presentation, made on a Mac, all done
using the Futura family of fonts, and I've called over 8 different
service bureaus from Boston to California, with unfriendly and unhelpful
responses. No one seems able to handle "those mac fonts." Some are
willing to take a look at the
presentation and convert all the fonts to "something equivalent" in the
PC world (The print designer in me bristles at the suggestion!), and one
even wants to CHARGE me for his time and trouble to do that conversion!

These are NOT complicated slides, folks. I just don't see why I have to
change all my type to "Arial" or "Times New Roman" and jump back on a
Windows machine for that matter. There MUST be good Mac people out there
who do this work. I'd even go with a service bureau on the Windows side
who can seamlessly take my Mac files without whining. Am I being
unreasonable? Any ideas?

Thanks!
Amy Kline
MACS Worldwide

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