LyX ⇒ Q2: PDF generation: bitmapped fonts???

[CSMR]

Now the pdf generated by LyX (dvipdfm, pdflatex, ps2pdf) looks very bad. I'm trying to get it back to the quality I was getting from Scientific Workplace. Possibly the fonts and formats need adjusting.

But what is appalling is that the text in pdf documents seems to be bitmapped! Zooming in, you can see the squares! The characters are decomposed into black and white squares!!
How can I fix this?
Thanks!

[Maksi]

What were your font settings in Scientific Workplace and what are they in LyX? Both applications are just graphical front ends for LaTeX so any font-related problem is a LaTeX problem and could be due to settings.

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi CSMR,

because you didn't mention certain fonts I assume you are using the standard fonts, Computer Modern. Those fonts have OT1 font encoding. If T1 font encoding is used by your document the CM fonts would be replaced. In that case I recommend to install the cm-super package, it contains T1 encoded Computer Modern fonts and should be used automatically by LyX.

Stefan

[CSMR]

Thanks for the reply, putting in some of those terms in to google came up with some sort of solution:
http://www.mail-archive.com/lyx-users@l ... 08273.html
There are some methods there that involve hacking the source code of some installed programs and one that didnt: putting "\usepackage{ae,aecompl}" in the preamble fixed the bitmapping problem. Don't know what this did exactly but I'll looking into choosing the right font later.
It's pretty appaling for any program to use bitmapped fonts, let a lone a typesetting program.
Anyway, problem has mostly gone away for the moment.
Thanks for the advice.

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi,

\usepackage{ae,aecompl} is a solution, it's fine if it's enough for you. I would not use those packages, because they're just emulating T1 encoding. If I used characters like ä, ü, ö in the text, they can't be copied by copy&paste, further the pdf search feature would not find words containing those and some other letters.

My preferred solution is to use T1 encoded fonts. For instance Latin Modern has been derived from Computer Modern fonts, looks very similar and has a high quality. To use them just add

Code: Select all

\usepackage{lmodern}

in the preamble, instead of \usepackage{ae,aecompl}.

If one really wants to use the Standard Computer Modern fonts, one could install cm-super, no need for further packages like ae and acompl then, and no need to change the LyX preamble.

The solution found by you is dated 2000. cm-super and lmodern were'nt even mentioned there. Of course you can also use ae and aecompl if it already suits your needs.

Stefan

[CSMR]

Thanks again. That particular font I don't find that readable and it doesn't have the right mathematical symbols, but it seems that changing fonts is very easy so I'll experiment with some, trying to keep to native T1/truetype/opentype fonts.

[Maksi]

My preferred solution is to use T1 encoded fonts. For instance Latin Modern has been derived from Computer Modern fonts, looks very similar and has a high quality. To use them just add

Code: Select all

\usepackage{lmodern}

in the preamble, instead of \usepackage{ae,aecompl}.

In LyX changing the font is a lot easier. Go to LyX -> Document -> Settings -> Fonts and have fun