Adding Composites, remember settings for first member

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MikeW
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Joined: Mon May 20, 2013 2:51 pm

Adding Composites, remember settings for first member

Post by MikeW »

When I make composites, I typically use the exact same settings for each base member. It would be helpful to me if FC would remember those settings during the session for the first added composite member.

As is, I add the base member, double-click on the glyph, check the options I want (which as I mention are almost always the same), add the next member, repeat on the next composite. I would prefer the first time I select the options that these would be applied to the first member, but obviously not on the added members.

Don't know if that is doable or not.

Mike
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Adding Composites, remember settings for first member

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

I am not sure what you're asking, Are you talking about the Composite Glyph Properties dialog? If so, how could you use the same settings for both or several members?

I suspect that you could do something to change how composites are composed by editing CompositeData.xml
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MikeW
Posts: 625
Joined: Mon May 20, 2013 2:51 pm

Re: Adding Composites, remember settings for first member

Post by MikeW »

Sorry for being obtuse.

I always do composites in the same order. Let's say I am working on the lowercase a characters. I first add the a, open the composite glyph properties by double-clicking on that lowercase a and set the options, then add the diacritic and set any options (mainly position values). Then move to the next lowercase a, double-click on it, set the exact same options, add the diacritic and so on.

If FC remembered the settings from the first lowercase a and used those for the next new composites I add in subsequent glyphs, it would speed up the process.

That was my thinking anyway.
MikeW
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Joined: Mon May 20, 2013 2:51 pm

Re: Adding Composites, remember settings for first member

Post by MikeW »

Looking at the CompositeData.xml file, I am thinking that only comes into play when FC generates the composites. Might be reading it wrong, though. But yes, there are the features in it, like which composite to use the metrics from, which is mainly the only option I set for the base member when manually adding them.

Why manually add them? Because the fonts I am working on have one or two alternates for each glyph and they all need diacritics added as well. Cannot think that adding in such options into the CompositeData.xml would be anything other than onerous.
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Re: Adding Composites, remember settings for first member

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

There's a much better way to do this than entering x,y co-ordinates in dialogs.

You can probably work out a variation on the method that I use to add Small Capitals to my fonts that also have Petite Capitals. Since CompositeData.xml has only one set of data for Petite/Small Capitals if I want to add both sets to my fonts I have to use some tricks:
  1. Create and edit all of the required base glyphs for Petite and Small Caps
  2. Complete Composites for the Petite Caps
  3. Tag the Petite Caps with Tag 1 (Recently Added), all 194 of them
  4. Tag the Small Caps with Tag 2 (ToDo), again 194 glyphs
  5. Select the 194 Petite Capitals and copy them
  6. Select the 194 Small Capitals and paste special Codepoints (only), overwrite same codepoints
  7. Alter the x-height to the CapHeight of the Small Caps (1145 funits)
  8. Complete Composites for the Small Caps
  9. Copy the Small Cap glyphs
  10. Paste Special to copy the code points back to the Petite Caps
  11. Recalculate the metrics to reset x-height to what it should be (958)
Complete Composites uses the x-height value to position diacritics vertically, and centres them on the base glyph (except for accents like ogonek).

What I end up with is two full sets of composite glyphs, which both use the low profile diacritics that were designed for Petite Capitals (i.e. I use smaller accents than for Uppercase). Manually adjusting the diacritics horizontally where necessary is a simple task once the vertical position is set correctly.

You could do something similar with regular glyphs and alternate sets, even if there are several alternate sets. It would take some effort to develop the optimal strategy, but once you have the method it will be a hundred times quicker than what you're doing now.

I attach my Garava Project file so that you can see how the tagging works. I have left it in the unfinished state after completing composites for Small Capitals, and before pasting back codepoints to the Small Capitals.
Attachments
Garava Regular.7z
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MikeW
Posts: 625
Joined: Mon May 20, 2013 2:51 pm

Re: Adding Composites, remember settings for first member

Post by MikeW »

Thanks, Pesala. I'll take a look.
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