alternate glyph

[Boni]

Hello.
I am a new arrival, thank you to accept me.
I am trying ti create a Handmade font.
Is it possible to alternate different glyphs for one character ?
I looked for an answer on the web but nothing clear.
Thank you.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Moved topic from Tutorials to Support.

You can define OpenType Layout Features to substitute different glyphs.

[Boni]

Thank You.
But I don't want just substitute glyph but alternate glyphs for one character,
different A differrent C etc ...
to have different glyph in one word.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

There are several different kinds of substitutions that can be made.

The subject is too complex to repeat here. Study the manual, and look at sources like Microsoft Typography

[Boni]

OK...
There is nothing about my question in the manual, thank you,
I looked at the sources but no clue neither, sorry.
I found the context alternate etc...
What i would is to not have always the same "a" when I type "a".
Sorry to bother you.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The information is there, both in the manual and online.

Much though I would like to help you, I haven't got time to repeat myself.

See Adding OpenType Features.

[Boni]

Sorry but no, there aren't.
Doesn't matter,
are you alone to discuss in this forum, maybe someone else would have an idea...
I think you don't understand my question,
nothing to do with ligature or substitution,
i 'm going to find this by myself.
Thank you for your time.

[PJMiller]

This is a BIG subject so I hesitate to get into this because it is a can of worms. No Bhikkhu Pesala is not the only one on the forum answering questions but he is just the kindest and most helpful one.

There are many different types of substitution which can be made with open type features, standard ligatures, discretionary ligatures, historical ligatures, stylistic alternatives, character variations, etc. but all these have the same behaviour in that when activated they will switch one character for another if you place a 'single substitution' table in the feature.

For instance if you always want to swap 'a' for a different style of 'a' then they will do this when that feature is activated in a word processor or other application. (Standard Ligatures are always on by default, others are always off by default)

You can make the behaviour of the 'single substitution' table more sophisticated by adding a 'chainingcontext' to it so the single substitution table is only used when certain criteria are met, i.e. when the 'a' appears after a certain character or string of characters have been typed.

Reading your original post I think you want the random substitution where a character is substituted for a random selection from a set of characters. This is often used for achieving a handwritten effect where the same character appears different for different instances of it's use. Unfortunately this is more difficult to achieve with Open Type Designer as you have to implement it in the code rather than from the GUI. It is easy enough to write the code but you need to know what you are doing.

There are a lot of details I have glossed over and it is not easy, I found it very difficult when I was designing my first font. The thing to do is read the available documentation, the sources Bhikkhu Pesala suggested are good and they do contain the information you need but there is no substitute for getting in there and making mistakes, just start experimenting, look at an existing font and study it's open type features, make changes and see what happens.

It is complex but rewarding when you get it right. Hope this helps.

[Boni]

Yes, it helps !
You understood what i'm trying to do,
I felt it wasn't going to be simple,
Did you succeed to do it ?
Thank you for all these advices.
Have to find a font to look at.
Have a nice day.

[MikeW]

The Glyphs app people have a good introduction to using the calt feature Bhikkhu linked to:

https://glyphsapp.com/learn/features-pa ... alternates

The link is to the third part of the tutorial, uses different syntax but is doable in FC...and no, I have not ever needed to do this. calt used in this way takes a bit to get one's head around, trial and error, and sweat & tears...

[Boni]

Ok,
Oooh !... I like to suffer so much !
Thank you.

[PJMiller]

I'm sorry but I have never had occasion to use the random selection feature.

[Erwin Denissen]

Our tutorial about OpenType features is also a good starting point:
Enrich Your Fonts with OpenType Features

[Boni]

Thank you !