Printing Shadow Style to Non-PostScript Printers

This information was provided by Claris Corporation on 16 March 1998, and incorporated into Apple Computer's Tech Info Library.
If you modify text with the "Shadow" style, you may not get the expected results when you print to a non-PostScript (True Type) printer. Although the text looks OK on the screen, the Shadow effect may be very minimal when printed.

The issue involves the print driver translation of a 72 dpi screen image to 360 dpi printed output. On the screen, shadowed text is offset by one pixel, or 1/72 of an inch. The StyleWriter print driver also offsets shadowed text by one pixel, but one pixel is only 1/360 of an inch. If you look closely enough at the output you can discern the difference.

This affects all non-PostScript (QuickDraw) devices. Shadowed text on ImageWriter II printers at 72 dpi appear fine. With LaserWriter LS printers at 300 dpi, the effect is a little more pronounced. With StyleWriter printers at 360 dpi, it is most pronounced.

Apple is aware of this issue.

The issue occurs with bitmapped and TrueType fonts, but Adobe Type Manager (ATM) allows you to print true drop shadow styled text on QuickDraw based printers, especially the higher resolution ones. When you install ATM, install the fonts that come with it. Because TrueType fonts take precedence over others when printing, the TrueType fonts in your System will need to be removed for this solution to be effective.
Published Date: Feb 18, 2012