Bracket trick doesn't work in illustrator

Glyphs
1

Hello everyone,

I am working on a variable font with 3 axes, the first one is “weight” and the other two are custom.

I am using the bracket trick to switch shape to a letter, this should only change when using the third variation axes (I call it INSIDE).
Testing the font on Font Gauntlet and AxisPraxis works without problems, but in Illustrator (version 2022) it does not work. I have tried it in InDesign, however, and it works there.

Does anyone know why? If I use the bracket trick on the first axis (weight) it works, it is only when I use it on the other two that it seems not to work. (I have Glyphs version 3.1)

thanks a lot in advance!
Schermata 2023-05-23 alle 10.18.48

2

This is an Illustrator bug. You can set the custom parameter Feature for feature variations (or something like that) and set it to rlig. This makes it work in Illustrator (I think that was the feature, I might be wrong).

1 Like
3

thanks for the answer! I had already set the Feature for Feature Variations, but it still doesn’t work, no idea why

Schermata 2023-05-23 alle 15.25.29

4

Are you using the Adobe Fonts folder for testing? Otherwise it might be a font caching issue.

5

Yes I’m using the Adobe folder. I also tried to change the order of axes or use default axes instead of custom one but nothing works

6

Illustrator is frustrating. A lot of times I try the same file on my machine and it works fine, or not.

7

Rule of thumb: if it works in FontGoggles or in the web browsers, it is an Illustrator bug.

1 Like