Multiple metrics values in 1 font

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1

I’ve just upgraded Fontcreator from version 11 to 14 and now I find one of my fonts has different values for a number of metrics. A problem that did not occur in v. 11. The font uses glyph variants, so every character has a standard glyph, an .ss01 version and a .ss02 version. After I moved from FontCreator 11 to 14, each one of them uses a different value for the Cap Height, x-Height and Baseline. Both standard values and version specific values are visible as guidelines. It’s very cluttered and confusing.

I suspect this might have something to do with Masters, even though this is not a variable font. I only have 1 Master but I did create a second, just to see what it did and later deleted it.

I want to use the same metric values for alle glyph versions, but I can’t find a way to do this.
How did this happen? How do I solve it?

2

It is not related to masters, but a feature we introduced a couple of years ago.

It is mainly useful when you design numerators for example; not so useful with stylistic sets.

3

The extract metric lines are useful when designing superscripts to ensure that they share the same baseline, and overshoot the baseline where necessary.
Superscript Metrics.png

4

The manual seems to suggest that these additional guidelines are added automatically, based on whether glyph names contain certain suffixes. Is that correct? Or is there a way to switch off these suffix related guidelines? I assume that the only other altermative is switching off the specific guidelines (like CapHeight) altogether.

5

Yes, the CapHeight.sups guidelines only appear when editing glyphs with the *.sups suffix, where they are useful.

I opened Gabriola, but I see no extra guidelines for glyphs with *.ss01, *.ss02 suffixes.

Specific guidelines can be enable/disabled in Tools, Metrics Options, but metrics with suffixes are automatic.

Can you provide a screenshot or a sample font project?

6

Guidelines.jpg
As you can see, three guidelines are duplicated. It’s not a big problem, but because all guidelines have the same color it is confusing. Since this is a handwriting font, it’s undesirable to maintain exact and uniform heights and positions, inevitably leading to multiple guidelines.

7

I think I have found a solution.

  • Find “.ss02” and list in a search category
  • Select them all
  • From the Tools menu, Glyph Names, Find and Replace
  • Replace .ss02 with ss02

Find and Replace Names.png
Because the glyphs no longer have a suffix, the extra guidelines will not be displayed. The renamed glyphs will still work as a Stylistic Set.

8

That is indeed a solution, but also a bit of a hack :wink:
I fear it may lead to other problems that may even be bigger than this one.

But thanks, I appreciate the suggestion

9

I tested it with a Stylistic Set single substitution and it worked just fine.

10

It will undoubtedly work, and as such it is a good solution. But removing the suffix means that other features (in FontCreator or other software) may no longer function properly.

Just as an example, I noticed that FontLab automatically recognizes that A.ss01 is a variant of A, and automatically tags it as such allowing for easy organization when viewing the font (or using tools on glyph collections).

For another example, this font contains a good chunk of OpenType features code that becomes harder to read (and do a search/replace on) when glyph variants no longer use a dot notation. Since writing and adjusting that code consumes much more time, requires far more concentration and has bigger consequences than the rather straight forward and visual task of adjusting the shapes of glyphs, I’d rather not remove the suffixes.