Animated character?

[Bernie Cossentino]

So, this will certainly come as a stupid question, but here goes:

Has OpenType evolved to allow character animation as a function of the font itself? Does such a feature exist? Otherwise, is there any way to simulate this effect with current OT features? Say, something as simple as a blinking character?

Please go easy with the tomato throwing

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

OpenType Specs - SVG

SVG documents may include <desc>, <metadata> or <title> elements, but these are ignored by implementations.

Support for the following capabilities is not required in conforming implementations, though some applications may support them. Font developers should evaluate support for these capabilities in the target environments in which their fonts will be used before using them in fonts. To ensure interoperability across the broadest range of environments, use of these capabilities should be avoided.

• Internal CSS stylesheets (expressed using the <style> element)
• CSS inline styles (expressed using the style attribute)
• CSS variables (custom properties) — but see further qualifications below
• CSS media queries, calc() or animations
• SVG animations
• SVG child elements
• <filter> elements and associated attributes, including enableBackground
• <pattern> elements
• <mask> elements
• <marker> elements
• <symbol> elements
• Use of XML entities
• Use of image data within <image> elements in formats other than JPEG or PNG
  Interactivity capabilities (event attributes, zoomAndPan attributes, the cursor property, or <cursor> elements)

[Bernie Cossentino]

OpenType Specs - SVG

SVG documents may include <desc>, <metadata> or <title> elements, but these are ignored by implementations.

Support for the following capabilities is not required in conforming implementations, though some applications may support them. Font developers should evaluate support for these capabilities in the target environments in which their fonts will be used before using them in fonts. To ensure interoperability across the broadest range of environments, use of these capabilities should be avoided.

• Internal CSS stylesheets (expressed using the <style> element)
• CSS inline styles (expressed using the style attribute)
• CSS variables (custom properties) — but see further qualifications below
• CSS media queries, calc() or animations
• SVG animations
• SVG child elements
• <filter> elements and associated attributes, including enableBackground
• <pattern> elements
• <mask> elements
• <marker> elements
• <symbol> elements
• Use of XML entities
• Use of image data within <image> elements in formats other than JPEG or PNG
  Interactivity capabilities (event attributes, zoomAndPan attributes, the cursor property, or <cursor> elements)

Thanks for the info Bhikkhu,

I'm not too concerned about its "interoperability across the broadest range of environments" as the font would only be used in one target application. If it works there, then it's all good. Besides, the animation I'm thinking of providing will not be required for printout anyway; it's only an on-screen effect.

There's a lot of info to sift through here for a simple function. But then, it would seem most functions that appear simple on the outside require quite a bit of code on the inside. I'll keep reading...

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I think the point is that the specification recommends not supporting animations in font applications, so FontCreator won't ever support it.

[Bernie Cossentino]

I think the point is that the specification recommends not supporting animations in font applications, so FontCreator won't ever support it.

Understood.

Thank you