True italic in masters

Glyphs
1

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working on a variable font and I’d like to include, within a single file, both upright and oblique masters.
In the oblique version, some glyphs won’t just be slanted but will actually change their design.

I’m wondering what the best approach is to handle this:

  • Should I use OpenType substitutions (for example via .ital or .rlig)?

  • Or is there a more appropriate method in the context of variable fonts (axes, conditional glyph substitution, etc.)?

If anyone has experience implementing this kind of behavior (switching to alternate glyphs depending on an oblique/italic axis), I’d really appreciate your insights or best practices. Thanks.

2

I would recommend using rlig here, yes.

Add the variants as .alt or .ital glyphs (or whatever else you want to name them) and then substitute them with an axis-based rule in rlig.

1 Like
3

Did you see this: Switching shapes | Glyphs

1 Like
4

Yes. Scroll down to “2. Alternate Glyphs”.

You want to change kerning groups, which you cannot do with alternate layers. So you have to use alternate glyphs.

1 Like