Kerning groups

Glyphs
1

Hello!

I am unsure if I am going about this the wrong way, so I could use some help understanding working with Kerning Groups a little.

I understand to make the glyphs adhere to the group, the lock icon must be engaged, but I’m finding that all my pairings seem to be unlocked and I have to go in pair by pair to lock it, which is tedious. Is there a quick way to lock them all down and then I can go in and set exceptions?

I am also wondering if the process I used somehow set them all to be unlocked first. What would be the best practice going forward to have my groups locked down first, and from there set the exceptions?

Thanks so much, I am really loving this program.

2

If you first did the kerning and then aded the groups, you can use the “Compress” button in the kerning panel (press it twice). This closes all locks for all glyphs.

All kerning pairs that are added after the groups were assigned have there locks properly set.

3

Thank you! That is exactly what I was hoping for.

4

I also have a question concerning kerning pairs. I’m very new to font creation so please just assume that I don’t know the basics.

Here’s my situation: I’m creating an all-uppercase font where all of the lower and uppercase glyphs are exactly the same. I’ve built all my uppercase glyphs and kerned them with each other using the cmd+option+left/right arrow shortcuts but I haven’t used the kerning pair classes. In all of the lowercase glyphs, I’ve added the component of it’s corresponding uppercase glyph. How do I transfer all of the uppercase kerning information to all of my lowercase glyphs?

Can I somehow use kerning pairs for this? I believe that’s the purpose of them, no?

// I figured this out and it works perfectly!

But now I have a new question. When I export as an .otf, my font is no longer kerned properly (I am testing it in Photoshop & FontExplorer Pro). Am I missing some export setting?

5

There are no export settings.
Can you export with a new font name name and see if it works then?
If not, can you send me the .glyphs file and the .otf.

6

Is there some more convenient way to assign glyphs to classes other than typing in each glyphs left and right class field? I tried to group select all “A” like glyphs to enter the class at once but could not figure out how to do it.

7

You can select all the glyphs in the font view and then edit the kerning groups in the info box in the lower left corner.

8

Thanks, Georg!

9

How do I select a Kerning Groups Glyphs? – I can set a group up by selecting the glyphs I want to be part of the Kern Group and name it. But then if I want to check which glyphs are part of a certain Kern Group, how do I do that?

10

Is there a way to save the Kern Groups and their contents as a text file? edit and import back in?

11

I can see the Kern Group in the Metrics Export, so I guess I can edit this and import back in. Though when I try to Import / Metrics / Import Kerning Classes, nothing happens. What is supposed to happen? Is there an option to overwrite, append/merge?

SEGMENT CLASSES
#Name;Elements
@MMK_R_A;A Agrave Aacute Acircumflex Atilde Adieresis Amacron Abreve Aring Aringacute Aogonek
@MMK_L_A;A Agrave Aacute Acircumflex Atilde Adieresis Amacron Abreve Aring Aringacute Aogonek

12

When using the File > Import > Metrics > Import Kerning Classes, select all the glyphs in the Font View before selecting the File > Import of that .glyphs file to import the kerning classes, otherwise it’ll only apply to the glyphs currently selected. See section 15.6.1 Import Metric Data of the Glyphs Handbook: https://glyphsapp.com/get-started

@mekkablue: That detail should perhaps be added to the Kerning tutorial.

13

Best to switch the Font view into list mode and sort by left or right group:

12

14

Select (some or all) glyphs first.

15

Might be useful to have an option to ‘View selected kern group’ on the Kerning window panel. This could list the group contents, allow text editing, select them in Font View/List View.

55

1 Like
16

Possibly this, in a similar way to GlyphOrder

Kern%20Group%20Members

1 Like
17

I’ll have a look.

18

Reviving this topic - visualizing groups, esp. when sharing the file with someone unfamiliar with the font, isn’t possible with Glyphs. The solution Jeremy proposed is very logical. Fingers crossed?

2 Likes
19

I second that. The closest thing to an easy visualization of kerning groups right now is the Font view in list mode, sorted by left or right kerning group, and that’s assuming they’re already set.
I’ve been thinking of an interface for a script to manage groups, sort of like @JeremyTankard’s mockup, also with a way to add and remove groups.
Of course a built in solution would be the best. Maybe the kern panel could have + and - buttons to add/remove groups, and the content of a group could be shown when right-clicking its name (as for filters or missing glyphs in Categories)
The thing with the kerning panel is that it displays pairs (as it should be), but even with G3’s improved view, it’s still not made to preview groups in a straightforward way, like FL5 used to do with its classes window for example.