Adobe Community: Major font rendering issue (latest OSX build / Quadcore MacBook Pro)

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Major font rendering issue (latest OSX build / Quadcore MacBook Pro)

Mar 21, 2011 9:39 AM

I have this weird issue on my new MacBook Pro (i7 quadcore - 2ghz), the font rendering sometimes goes bezerk (see screenshots).

Possibly the latest OSX build and hardware combination has compromised something…

It's a freshly installed setup, running Mac OS X 10.6.6 (10J3210) & Kernel version: Darwin 10.7.1. Flash 11.0.2.489.

The Font is OK, it works with all my other apps and it has never given problems before.

The issue isn't exclusively related to the font used in this example, it affects other fonts too.

Sometimes, on a freshly booted system and first run of Flash, it is OK in Flash.

But the error can return rapidly.

Especially, after restarting Flash a couple of times (no choice, due to the copy/paste layer bug).

Tried turning off the 'Automatic graphics switching', with no result.

Tried uninstalling my fonts, rebuilding the font library as minimalistic as it gets, with no result.

Switching preview-modes within Flash, didn't work.

Interestingly, switching anti-alias mode on a textfield to 'Bitmap text', resolves the problem… turning the Anti-alias back on, brings the problem back.

In this example, I use 3 copies of a textfield containing the text "Ford Antenna".

From left to right, anti-alias: readability - anti-alias: animation - anti-alias: bitmap text

It goes without saying that this is affecting my workflow tremendously, everything I produce with Flash gets corrupted. I understand that when Apple secretly releases new OSX builds, things can go wrong. That said, apart from running Flash 5 beta in the good old day's, I've never experienced this much problems with Flash before… so I cannot stress enough, that I'm expecting the upcoming CS5.5 update too be free.

15798 Views 72 Replies Latest reply: louisling, May 10, 2011 7:22 AM

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1. Rob Dillon,

Mar 21, 2011 6:09 PM in reply to logic interface

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Is the problem just with this one font? What is the font?

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2. logic interface,

Mar 22, 2011 3:31 AM in reply to Rob Dillon

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Hi Rob,

Tx for your reply. I've shown Ford Antenna (Ford's official font) in the example, something I was working on yesterday. But it's not the only font that Flash at some point starts to render strangely. I've also experienced this with "Myriad Pro" & "Frutiger LT Std". I'm trying to figure out how to reproduce this, it still feels random. Although, when a font goes bezerk, it does that every time until I reboot the system. Restarting Flash doesn't help, some characters may render differently, as you can see in the screenshots (one time it's worse than the other).

At that point, the font still renders correctly in Illustrator, Photoshop, … I tried typing text in Illustrator, copy-pasting into Flash, where it goes wrong in Flash.
I think something goes wrong with the anti-aliasing, possibly related to video graphics/driver.

Yesterday, Apple released an OSX update, but that didn't fix the issue.
Now running Mac OS X 10.6.7 (10J3250), Kernel: Darwin 10.7.3.

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3. Rob Dillon,

Mar 22, 2011 4:47 AM in reply to logic interface

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I'm using pretty much the same hardware and software as you describe and I've never seen this problem. Is this a new computer? Do you have access to another computer that you can use to test on? I'm thinking that this may be a hardware problem.

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4. logic interface,

Mar 22, 2011 5:51 AM in reply to Rob Dillon

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No, not too many new MacBook Pro's laying around here doing nothing.
But true, I guess I can only try to reproduce it on similar hardware.
Either that, or sit and wait till someone else comes by.

It's like the "copy-paste keyframe" feature, working fine, 9 out of 10 tries.
Until you're actually working on something, finding yourself restarting Flash seven times per hour.

It's like the "update asset" bug.
Update a bitmap asset, save. Reopen the .fla, and the old asset returns.

Bugs like that, which are common, still aren't fixed today. You'd think these would get a higher priority, but I think they are skipping all that, focussing on a completely reengineered Flash CS6… in the meantime, hating my job though!!

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5. mononelo,

Mar 22, 2011 10:48 AM in reply to logic interface

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Hi,
I have the same problem with Myriad Pro and Kozuka Gothic Pro. The problem arises when rendering fonts with antialiasing, if we use 'Use devicefonts' rendering without antialiasing goes well (and it's a problem). Please I would be gratefull if someone could send me and email or answer this post to fix the problem. My email is pol@2bemag.com. I attach screen shot of a bad rendering and the same text box but with 'Use device fonts'

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6. logic interface,

Mar 22, 2011 12:30 PM in reply to mononelo

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Yippie, at least it's no isolated issue!
Mononelo, what are you running, Mac/Win, recently bought a new computer or not?
I would like to know if this issue is related to new hardware/software.

I found this document, almost similar issue: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/831/cpsid_83162.html
But it's rather specific on opening CS4 files in CS5, what isn't the case here.
No real solution or explanation tough.

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7. shap3shed,

Mar 23, 2011 1:20 AM in reply to logic interface

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I also have this issue since the upgrade to 10.6.7.

* Flash CS3
* Frutiger font family
* Managing fonts with FontExplorerPro X Pro
* OSX 10.6.7
* iMac, 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 Mhz DDR3

Have tried all the usual - clearing font caches, reboot, applying combo update for 10.6.7. Nothing!

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8. mononelo,

Mar 23, 2011 2:15 AM in reply to mononelo

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I have an iMac 21" 3.06GHz Intel Core i3 with 4GB RAM. New from september of 2010, almost new.

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9. logic interface,

Mar 23, 2011 3:18 AM in reply to logic interface

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Thx guys, I can rule out the Macbook Pro quadcore.
I'm guessing we're all using an AMD/ATI Radeon graphics processor, perhaps we should look in that direction...

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10. logic interface,

Mar 23, 2011 3:22 AM in reply to shap3shed

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shap3shed, that's interesting, because it affects Flash CS3, really thought Flash CS3 would be out of the equation.

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11. chino°,

Mar 23, 2011 6:32 AM in reply to logic interface

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Same problem here with Flash CS4 on a Mac Book Pro (NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT)
The glitches seem completely random, multiple export produces multiples results destroying a different font each time.
Pretty hard to work in theses conditions.

Does anyone tried with CS5 ?

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12. mononelo,

Mar 23, 2011 7:43 AM in reply to chino°

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I've tried with CS5 and it seems to happen the same thing.

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13. spudnut,

Mar 23, 2011 8:26 AM in reply to logic interface

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I have had the exact same issues on my 3 yr old Mac Pro quad-core following the 10.6.7 update. Certain fonts in Flash CS5 being very funky. Here is what has worked so far for me in a few Flash projects I am currently working on.

First I quit Flash. I then disable those fonts in Font Book "computer" list, and enable them in the "user" list. I launch Flash and then my files look like they should. I've had to do this a few times for different fonts, and will probably have to do more. But for now this seems to work for me.

I'd call Apple, but they'd blame Adobe and vice versa....too bad we get stuck in the middle without any help. This is a real pain.

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14. chino°,

Mar 23, 2011 8:50 AM in reply to spudnut

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I think you are in the right direction.

Tried to deactivate the fonts in the "Computer" list, but I didn't copied them in the User list. Worked for me.

So the real problem is that it shouldn't, the font is now deactivated everywhere, there is certainly a mess somewhere and a duplicate font problem.

Also, I noticed that the font who cause problem are all in "Computer" list, never in "User" list (at least for me).

Thanks for pointing us in the right direction spudnut !

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15. chino°,

Mar 23, 2011 9:00 AM in reply to chino°

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Update...

Just open the Font Book app, then open flash and your fla.
Leave the Font Book app open, the font will now display OK.

Quit the Font Book app, close and re-open your fla, the font will go crazy again...

Weird.. but at least it works.

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16. spudnut,

Mar 23, 2011 9:02 AM in reply to chino°

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Glad I could be some help. In my case, the affected fonts seem to be in both "computer" and "User" lists. Deactivating the "Computer" list font and leaving it activated in or installing it to the "User" list is what makes it work again for me.

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17. spudnut,

Mar 23, 2011 9:23 AM in reply to spudnut

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I just got off the phone with AppleCare. Figured it would be a good idea to at least report this issue. I would encourage everyone else with this problem to do the same. If we make enough noise there is a chance someone will hear us.

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18. snigglewidgets,

Mar 23, 2011 2:13 PM in reply to logic interface

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Hi spudnut,

We want to look at this as quickly as possible. Can you send me a fla file that you have that exhibits this problem for you?
The email address to send it to is: FlashAuthBetaBugs@adobe.com

Please note that our filter system doesn't accept .zip files so if you zip your fla before attaching it to the email, please change the file extension from ".zip" to ".zzz".

Also, there's a preference in the Font Book app called "Automatic font activation". Can you try unchecking that option in the Font Book preferences dialog to see whether or not having it unchecked resolves the problem for you and let me know?

Thanks so much.

Marisa
Adobe Flash Authoring Team QA

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19. logic interface,

Mar 23, 2011 3:30 PM in reply to spudnut

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Disabling the font actually worked on first attempt.
The issue returned, but once I had enabled/disabled the font again, it was fixed.
So Spudnut, u rule, you really helped me out here, thx a million!

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20. spudnut,

Mar 23, 2011 6:59 PM in reply to logic interface

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I am very happy to hear that this "fix" is being helpful to others in the same boat. I have sent a file to Adobe as requested. Let's see what happens next

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21. chino°,

Mar 24, 2011 7:44 AM in reply to spudnut

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The Spudnut's fix helped a lot but the problem still arise randomly, at least for me.

Deactivating the font and then reactivating it seems to solve the problem for a few export and without any particular reason the problem arise again.

It seems completely related to font management, cause the swf is broken even on PC computer.

For more infos :
http://hintsforums.macworld.com/showthread.php?p=616255#post616255
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=13274664

I will roll back to 10.6.6 and let you know if it fix the problem.

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22. spudnut,

Mar 24, 2011 8:13 AM in reply to logic interface

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Still having issues today. Opening files that were *fixed* yesterday is resulting in same problems today. Have to keep quitting Flash and opening fontbook to disable/enable fonts. Even leaving fontbook open does not help. Grrrrrrr

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23. snigglewidgets,

Mar 24, 2011 11:34 AM in reply to spudnut

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Hi all,

With the help of spudnut and the bug file that he provided, we are looking into this.

I was able to reproduce it immediately upon opening his file in Flash CS5.0 on OS 10.6.7 under the conditions described below. (Note that his bug file used the Adobe Caslon Pro font but your file may use different fonts, so where Adobe Caslon Pro is mentioned, just substitute that font for whatever font(s) you're using in your fla file(s):

I reproduced the issue as follows:

1. Launch the Font Book app.
2. Bring up the Font Book Preferences dialog. Make sure that “Automatic font activation” is checked, “Ask me before activating” is not checked, “Validate fonts before installing” is not checked, “Alert me if system fonts change” is checked, and the “Default Install Location” specified is “User”.
3. Quit Font Book.
4. Make sure that all styles (eg: "ACaslonPro-Italic.otf", "ACaslonPro-Regular.otf", etc) of the Adobe Caslon Pro font exist in the following 2 locations on your system. If they don’t, then copy them from the one where they do exist to the other:
- HD/Users/Your user folder/Library/Fonts
- HD/Library/Fonts
5. Restart the Operating System. (do not skip this step)
6. Launch Flash CS5 and open the fla file: The issue reproduces.

What I did to “fix” the problem:

1. Launch the Font Book app.
2. Under the “Collection” column, select “All Fonts”.
3. Under the “Font” column, select any font then do “Edit > Select All” to select all of the fonts so that they’re all highlighted.
4. Right click on the selected fonts under the “Font” column > Select “Resolve Duplicates”. (Perform steps 2-4 a second time for good measure).
5. Quit Font Book.
6. Restart the Operating System. (be sure not to skip this step).
7. Launch Flash CS5 and open the fla file: Issue no longer reproduces.

If you're experiencing this issue, please try the 2nd set of steps ("What I did to "fix" the problem) and see if that resolves it for you. Some of you have reported initial success using spudnut's work around only to find the issue reproducing again after a while. I'm not certain, but rebooting the OS (step 6) may be critical to insure that the issue doesn't reoccur again, so be sure not to skip that one, and let us know your results.

Thanks so much for your help with this.

Marisa
Adobe Flash Authoring, QA

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24. tomcrust,

Mar 24, 2011 12:03 PM in reply to logic interface

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This workaround was not successful for me.
I am curious to hear from others...

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25. spudnut,

Mar 24, 2011 2:55 PM in reply to snigglewidgets

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Sorry to say this did not work for me. Now I can't get any Flash file to look correctly. May have to reload OS.

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26. spudnut,

Mar 25, 2011 5:42 AM in reply to spudnut

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I have loaded 10.6.6 back in and of course everything works fine now. Thanks Apple - great job on the update - NOT. Praises to Adobe, who made a real effort to help us with a solution.

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27. Ride595,

Mar 25, 2011 4:53 AM in reply to logic interface

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Suffering the same problems on a iMac 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, since yesterday and latest MacBook Pro, so not hardware dependent.
Thought it was just dynamic text and embedded fonts. But everytime I try and clear and restart the same problem occurs but somewhere else, maybe Medium not Bold the next time, but it returns.
Using Opentype Delta Pro family. So it can clearly happen with any font. So not Font or Hardware specific.
Working on 3 related FLAs I cleaned all font caches and cleaned system font folder using "FontXplorer X Pro". Full restart and thought it had gone away. First FLA worked, opened the second and its back again… deadline driven output being severely hampered.

A solution required from Adobe and or Apple very soon please!

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28. j.delamater,

Mar 25, 2011 8:27 PM in reply to logic interface

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I'm experiencing this issue as well. From what I've been able to tell, it only affects OTF fonts. For me, the font that I need working that isn't is Helvetica Neue Lt Std, but only some variants. 77-Bold Condensed is broken, but 57-Medium Condensed displays normally.

Having Font Book open doesn't fix the issue for me, neither does clearing font caches (system and adobe). Although, from what I've read, converting the font to TTF does, but I don't have any font conversion programs, so I can't verify this.

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29. marcelevy,

Mar 26, 2011 12:46 PM in reply to j.delamater

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You are right!!! i've just convert my fonts to windows fonts and reinstalled them and there is no problem at this time. My problem was also on Helvetica
Thanks!!

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30. roth_ritter,

Mar 28, 2011 11:43 AM in reply to logic interface

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Ditto on everything commented on so far here too.

• OSX 10.6.7
• Flash CS5
• Fonts in question: Avenir, Adobe Caslon Pro, Myriad Pro, Mesquite Std (there are likely more, I didn't test all of them)
• FontAgentPro managed
• iMac 27" 2.93 Intel i7, 16GB RAM

I have a MacPro that almost mirrors the iMac still running 10.6.6 that does not seem to show the issue on the same file, so from what I've read and seen, the OS update seems to be a commonality.

In my particular case, the suggestion of opening FontBook in the background before opening the Flash file does seem to temporarily solve the issue so long as a second document isn't opened.

Flushing the caches seems to have little to no impact.

An interesting observation is creating a SWF with the distorted font keeps the distortion not only running the SWF in Flash Player, but also running the SWF in Flash Player on my MacPro that doesn't exhibit the issue. The mangled appearance of the font seems to be embedded that way in the SWF regardless of the machine played on.

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31. ianstudio,

Mar 28, 2011 1:05 PM in reply to logic interface

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Same issue and only for a few days in AS2 files not AS3 files it seems so far and only with certain OpenType fonts (Officina is the one I noticed first). Since I updated to OS 10.6.7 a few days ago as well I'm wondering if the issue is related. Never had this problem before.. it is FREAKY !!!!!!! And what do I tell my clients.. "oh sorry your files are all messed up and I need to rework them all.. for free.. because I made a poor technical choice by proposing Flash ?!????"

PS: Other issue, buttons do do not show the hand icon in Firefox.. cumulated issues in Flash will definitely get me on the HTML 5/CSS bandwagon.. FOR GOOD. I already started and am in the process of selling my current clients on the idea. I've so wanted to love Flash but I cannot rely on a single piece of software that keeps giving me weird issues time and time again.. especially that it has bad press.. I more and more often get asked if Flash is going to die.. my answer might soon be.. "Yes I think so.. but of suicide".

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32. ianstudio,

Mar 28, 2011 1:36 PM in reply to logic interface

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I never use Flash CS5 on my MacBook but since there is this freaky issue I just tried.. and I have no problem there..

My MacBook
Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz

The issue is on my MacPro.. not sure exactly what model it is.. I'll see tomorrow when I'm back on it.
Both computers are running OS 10.6.7 and Flash CS5 and FontAgentPro.

So it really seems to be an issue related to certain graphics card and the last OS update.. and of course Flash... but why does it affect only Flash ?!?
Any idea Adobe ?

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33. logic interface,

Mar 28, 2011 2:34 PM in reply to logic interface

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Did a banner campaign today, it took me twice the time, 15 hours !
Compiling, restarting Flash, rebooting OSX, enabling disabling the font…
"When a stressful situation arises, our bodies dump massive amounts of hormones into our bloodstream to enable us to fight or flee."

And in the end, I just gave up, used my older MacBook Pro (running 10.6.6) and compiled all my files on that system.
Luckily my deactivated copy of CS5 is still working on that machine, lol.

I guess "j.delamater" is correct, it seems to affect OTF fonts.

Don't wish to break any NDA, hope Adobe takes it seriously and releases a fix before the next CS release.

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34. Capt. Mac,

Mar 28, 2011 3:38 PM in reply to logic interface

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I have a friend who works for apple care. I've informed her and she said she'd forward the email on, so hopefully things will get moving on this. I've also notice the probrlem in InDesign as well.

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35. ianstudio,

Mar 28, 2011 4:15 PM in reply to Capt. Mac

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It's all over the web by now.. (I posted it on Apple's FB page.. I do imagine someone there reads the posts if they have any sense of consumer support..). Apple needs to be flooded with this.. at first I thought this only handicapped Flash but reading all sorts of posts it really is an OTF rendering issue.. so I guess Apple is really at fault here.. and needs to react quickly..

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36. coachmwhite,

Mar 28, 2011 5:57 PM in reply to ianstudio

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This is fixed when you clean the font caches. Use Onyx or Font Nuke.

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37. j.delamater,

Mar 28, 2011 6:06 PM in reply to coachmwhite

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Cleaning the font caches didn't resolve the issue for me.

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38. marcelevy,

Mar 28, 2011 6:21 PM in reply to logic interface

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As I've told before, the only solution that i've found is to convert the font with the problem from OTF to TTF. I've tried with Onyx and other software to clean my mac cache and no one works for me.
I know that is not so funny work, but by the moment i've couldn't find any other solution.

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39. oldmanmac,

Mar 28, 2011 8:00 PM in reply to logic interface

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Hello. I had the exact same problem today (running CS4) with the opentype font GoodPro Wide Light on an existing file. I'm on Mac 10.6.7 with a 2GHz imac Intel Core Duo. It seems to work after deactivating/activating the font. Haven't used Flash in a while so I'm not sure if this is due to specific OS X updates as other people have reported.

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