How to keep composite glyphs aligned to each other while respecting their sidebearings?

Glyphs
1

Hi,

I’m trying to keep a composite glyph aligned in a certain position, so that the metrics of the underlying glyphs can be modified without affecting the composite glyph.

I first tried locking the components, only to realize that does not have the intended effect. Next I tried anchors.

This almost works with anchors. But using auto-alignment to enable the anchors ruins the metric values.

For example, let’s look at Lje-cy

This glyph is built out of El-cy and Softsign-cy

Here’s El-cy with an anchor named rightcenter:

Screen Shot 2021-08-14 at 12.51.05 AM
Screen Shot 2021-08-14 at 12.51.05 AM914×930 58.1 KB

And here’s Softsign-cy with an anchor named _rightcenter:

Screen Shot 2021-08-14 at 1.05.13 AM
Screen Shot 2021-08-14 at 1.05.13 AM716×962 68.1 KB

And finally, the composite glyph Lje-cy which maintains the metrics of El-cy , resulting in a right sidebearing of -336.

Screen Shot 2021-08-14 at 12.51.39 AM
Screen Shot 2021-08-14 at 12.51.39 AM1256×1168 95.8 KB

Which leads to my question: is there actually a way to keep composites like this aligned to each other, while respecting both components’ sidebearings, even when the underlying glyphs referenced by the components have their metrics changed? I thought anchors might solve it, but like so many things in font making and in life, I was wrong. Any help appreicated! :slight_smile:

Cheers
Jeremy

2

Use the #exit and #entry anchor pair (instead of rightcenter and _rightcenter).

3

Aha, perfect! Thank you, Georg!

4

And now I’ve made a script for it. Thanks again!