Italic Angle

When setting the Italic Angle in Masters Info, why does the app not slant the EM box from 0,0 rather than offset it as it does now?

It slantes around the half x-height. If you use the same metrics values as in the upright, it gives better results when mixing upright and italic text.

Can’t the user override the origin? While the half-x-height itself is sensible, it becomes problematic in other masters when they have different height setting, or in small cap of the same master.

I understand about the need for the italic offset to the left but I have always done it manually after everything else is done. Having a portion of the EM having a negative value tends to make it a bit confusing.

On the next project I’ll give it another try but for now I’m too far into this one to change it all.

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What do you mean by that?

The 0,0 point in this case is located 152 units (2000u EM) in from left side of the EM so any node below and to the left of the rotation point will show a negative value.

When I set the italic angle I was expecting rotation to happen at 0,0 which to me is more logical because I am used to doing the offset manually.

Tosche’s suggestion about enabling the user to override 0,0 has merit worth considering. For instance, it would allow me to do the offset after all the work is done simply by setting 0,0 to my desired values rather than manually moving all the glyphs (which invites errors). It would also allow me to determine my own offset rather than depending upon a fixed algorithm.

If you are so uses to the old way, you can keep the glyphs where they are? Only the display of the side bearing values will be a bit different.

I see what I can do about the manual setting if the slant origin.

Yes. You can leave the angle at 0 and the origin stays put. Instead, you would be setting the italicAngle custom parameter in the instances, which makes sure the appropriate angle settings are saved in the OT tables.

Thanks, Georg. What I think would be ideal would be the ability to specify it as -nnn,0 with -nnn being the amount of offset desired, in EM units.

I would specify the height of the slant origin.

I had written a lengthy reply and during the process I realized I can, if I wish to, set the app key metrics (x-height = 0) so the italic box rotates from 0,0. That takes care of that request.

As for offset, I also realized I was letting my decades-old habits from drawing board artwork days affect my thinking too much. What you have already built-in is perfect. I just need to adapt my thinking a little and make some changes.

However, Tosche’s idea still has a lot of merit so I urge you to consider it. It certainly could be useful.

Also, a script or feature to allow moving all selected glyphs and their associated anchors a user-specified fixed amount to the left or right would be helpful. This should work by selecting characters (usually all of them) from the font window rather than individual glyphs.

This is called Anchor Mover 2, you'll find it in the Anchors section of my GitHub repository: http://github.com/mekkablue/Glyphs-Scripts
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Thanks Rainer. I’ll try it.

You can use the Transformation Filter (Transform > Translate > y) to move the hole font.

Thanks Georg; that’s even better.

That is not quite good, if you look at glyphs that have component and outline together; component repeats movement. Also the fraction glyphs, purely made of components, somehow got messed up.

In addition to (or instead of) overriding slant origin, there needs to be movement filter parameter so that you can do it after decomposition.

Mark the glyphs that are used as components, build a custom filter that excludes them and then run the filter over the rest. They should be auto aligned and thous should fix themselves.

Hi,

If I understand correctly I cannot set a custom x offset when working with an italic. It would be helpful to know how the offset is calculated then. I find it important to be able to set it myself.

Sorry to revive this, but has the idea of letting the user set the height for the italic slant been abandoned?
I know I can just offset glyphs at export or work with asymmetrical side bearings but none of those is the ideal solution.
My point is that the fitting of italic with roman is very much a design decision, and choosing to center between lowercase, uppercase, or anywhere in between should not prevent the user from enjoying the very nice perk of a ui with slanted bb and symmetrical side bearings because he wants something different from Glyphs’ default :slight_smile:

Can you show a situation where you would profit from a different pivotal point?