I am trying to create variable font with ‘Remove Overlap’. Custom Feature in instances – filter: RemoveOverlap doesn’t work. Do you know any other solutions? Thanks!
What are you trying to achieve? Overlap isn’t removed in variable fonts. That would make compatibility impossible.
And filters and most other settings are ignored for variable fonts.
I see. Thanks
It would be good to remove overlaps for selected glyphs, where they play no role for compatibility/interpolation
Why?
For the same reason why overlaps are removed in static files — to avoid or at least minimize rendering errors, leaving as few exceptions as possible (the overlaps that are necessary for interpolation).
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I disagree. Overlaps ensure proper interpolation. Removing overlaps in variable fonts will very likely introduce a range of kink artifacts:
The whole font already works with removed overlaps. That’s not a case for me. Users shouldhave ability to have lined version. That is the reason.
You could add a “Variable Font Setting” (in the Exports pane) and add a “Filter: RemoveOverlap”.
but you will get a different interpolation. In this case it is only subtle but can be worse in other cases. e.g. if you a width axis, you need a self overlap at the top of the counter space. It would be technically compatible without but would not interpolate well.
No, removing overlaps changes the interpolation. Here is an extreme example to demonstrate the effect:
Master 1 and 2:
Interpolation:
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Exactly. The kinks may sometimes be small or easy to oversee, but they are there.
Perhaps negligible or acceptable in fonts intended for small sizes only. But outlining is something that can be expected for larger sizes. So, better to make Adobe fix their bugs rather than break our fonts for working around a bug in third-party software.
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There can be overlaps that have no relation to interpolation at all (some designers build glyphs from smaller parts to share shapes), and it causes rendering artifacts in variables fonts while it looks fine in static fonts. Sadly, it is not easy to tell which is which automatically, and often removing overlaps renders the masters incompatible. I ended up removing the overlaps manually glyph by glyph and fixing any compatibility issue that happens.
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You can also add a filter to the variable instance: RemoveOverlap;exclude:a,b,c
It would be nicer to have some sort of a checkbox within the glyph itself, but at least that 
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