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l008com · Nov 17, 2009, 01:40 AM

OS X comes with Skia Regular. So I copied the full Skia font to my fonts folder. My adobe apps only see Skia Regular. Every other app can see all of the Skia fonts. So then I deleted every skia font off my computer, then re-copied the full skia font to my system. No change. I tried double clicking the skia font, and installing via Font Book. Still, no change. Nothing has any effect. It makes no sense. If the old skia font file, that was only skia regular, is gone. How would adobe apps be able to read the new skia suitcase, and see skia regular, but not be able to see all the other varieties??

andi*pandi · Nov 17, 2009, 01:40 PM

I'm gonna bet you'll get more hits on this in the OSX forum... or applications. Which do you want me to move it to?

l008com · Nov 17, 2009, 07:30 PM

Well.... OS X I guess. There used to be a strong graphic designer presence on this forum. Guess thats not so much the case anymore.

Demonhood · Nov 17, 2009, 09:03 PM

that's bizarre. my photoshop has the exact same issue. Mail can see the variants, but CS4 sees (or chooses to see) only the regular.

Oisín · Nov 17, 2009, 09:24 PM

Yup, here as well. How odd. (Just for the record, I’m on 10.4.11)

andi*pandi · Nov 18, 2009, 11:19 AM

Well, this proves me wrong! Maybe it really is a cs4 issue not a font issue.

I don't have Skia or I'd test your theory too.

Thorzdad · Nov 18, 2009, 12:48 PM

Where did you get the full Skia font family? The single Skia font that comes with OSX is a .dfont, isn't it?

It's been awhile since I've had to troubleshoot font issues with Adobe apps (believe it or not)...Could it be that the "full version" of Skia that you're trying to use consists solely of the bitmap information, with no vector information? This is a "reaching for straws" idea, but, perhaps CS4 can only use complete font packages (i.e. OT, PS, etc.) that contain both bitmap and vector data.

As for the other apps being able to see/use the full Skia family...I would bet these apps reference the bitmap information only. They really have no need for the vector descriptions, since they are not intended for use downstream in the professional document workflow (in the way most Adobe apps are used.)

Just a guess.

l008com · Nov 18, 2009, 07:05 PM

I've deleted the included Skia font, so the only Skia I have is the full set.

Here is a screen capture of the full skia set in two different varieties, at 288pt font. I'm pretty sure this excludes the vector/not vector argument:
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2...91118at646.png

The Skia font file is a "Font Suitcase" with no extension, and "FFIL" on it's finder icon. It says it's full name is "Skia REgular" and is (C) 93-94. This is the only Skia on my system so this is where most of my apps are getting the full range of skia typefaces from.

Apps that can see the full Skia set: Textedit, iMovie HD, Pages, OmniOutliner, BBEdit, PixelMator

Apps that can not see the full Skia set: Photoshop CS4, InDesign CS4, Illustrator CS4, Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, Quark 7

Apps I can't tell: OpenOffice, Golive CS1, AppleWorks (don't think it can see the full set)

So here's the feeling I'm getting. Apps that use OS X's built in Font Picker can see the font. And apps that use their on POS font picker can not see it. Sooooo any thoughts about solving this? Maybe a simple way to convert the font file to a more standard kind of font file?

Thorzdad · Nov 18, 2009, 09:37 PM

Are you using Snow Leopard, by any chance? If so, you should be aware that there was a serious issue with fonts in both 10.6 and 10.6.1. The short version was that SL didn't recognize a lot of fonts (especially PS Type 1 fonts). And, for fonts it DID recognize, the kerning, line-spacing, etc. were completely borked. Some fonts simply never showed up. This is, apparently, fixed in 10.6.2, though I have not found any clear confirmation that the fix has worked for all apps.

Of course, if you aren't using SL, I'll keep digging.

l008com · 01:08 AM

I am using Snow Leopard, and i am on 10.6.2. No change in my problem. Plus the problem I'm having doesn't quite sound like the problem you describe. My font problem is app-specific.

Thorzdad · Nov 21, 2009, 02:28 PM

No need to get testy. You never stated what os you were on until now.

l008com · Nov 22, 2009, 01:07 AM

i didn't know bold = testy

Thorzdad · Nov 22, 2009, 08:10 AM

No biggie. We all have our frustrations. My bad.

On the subject at-hand, though, I honestly think this still comes down to the Adobe apps needing to reference the vector information and only seeing Skia Regular.

Have you considered posting this issue over at the Adobe forums? If there was a crowd who would know the answer, it would be over there.

Oisín · Nov 22, 2009, 06:20 PM

Or on Typophile—there are a few Adobe engineers who post about font-related stuff there, too.