[pstricks] font problem using pstricks

[Alan Ristow]

Field.Malcolm at epamail.epa.gov wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am not sure that this is a pstricks problem, but I created two
> relatively simple figures using pstricks for publication in a scientific
> journal article.  Everything appears fine on my end but when I transmit
> the PostScript figures to the journal the fonts appeared garbled (I
> think this occurs with whatever software they are using for journal
> paste-up).  Below is my original source code for one of the figures and
> PDFs of my original figure and the PDF that occurs at the journal
> publisher as well as my original source code.  Thanks for your help.

When I check the fonts in your .pdf files via File -> Properties in 
Adobe Reader I see that your embedded fonts are converted to CID 
Identity-H encoding by your publisher. My first thought is that the 
encoding of the embedded fonts in your Postscript file is what's causing 
the issue, though I'm no font specialist and could be far from correct. 
Try adding \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} to your preamble. This will change 
your font encoding to T1 (LaTeX defaults to OT1), which tends to play 
more nicely with others. It wouldn't surprise me if their conversion 
tool is simply reading your existing OT1 encoding as something that it 
isn't.

If that fails, I suggest re-posting your question on comp.text.tex 
(which you can access via Google Groups if you don't have usenet 
access). There are several font specialists there who can most likely 
give you the help you need. (If you wish to make your .pdfs available 
there, though, I would suggest doing so via a web link rather than via 
attachment.)

On another note, in looking at your .tex file it seems that most of the 
packages you're using are unnecessary. I doubt that has anything to do 
with your problem, but it couldn't hurt to eliminate them. AFAICT, the 
only packages you need are times, SIunits, and pstricks (which 
automatically loads xcolor, so you don't need color). You should be able 
to eliminate geometry by saying \documentclass[12pt,legalpaper]{letter}, 
though I can't see how leaving it in could hurt. I do suggest replacing 
times with its successor, mathptmx. I doubt it will solve your problem, 
but it's good practice (as is using T1 encoding).

Alan