Using bracket + brace layers on a single glyph: inconsistent in static vs variable exports?

1

There are various posts about related topics, but it’s hard to find a clear answer…

Is it possible to use bracket + brace layers on a single glyph, in both static & variable builds?

It seems like what I want is working in a variable export, but not in static exports.

Goals:

  • I am trying to export an /f that uses a bracket layer to swap to a low crossbar at about wght=450
  • I am also trying to use brace layers to preserve the roundness of the ball terminal on the /f
  • Ideally, I would build this with FontMake, but this setup definitely doesn’t work there… but that might hopefully be fixed in glyphsLib with the glyphs3-merge branch? :crossed_fingers:

Here are the layers:

layers@2x
layers@2x3488×4413 239 KB

The variable font works as expected, but static fonts don’t:

outcome@2x
outcome@2x3488×3651 307 KB

A strange thing is that the static Black weight font does get the expected swap, but it’s the only one.

Have I done something obviously wrong here? I’m happy to share the sources and fonts via email, if that is helpful.

Thanks for any insights!

2 Likes
2

I guess you could do the lower crossbar via brace layers too, as the topology of the outline doesn’t change. Maybe that’s more reliable than mixing both approaches?

3

@jkutilek I hadn’t considered that, but it’s a good idea for this one!

In general, I do have a few projects that would benefit from good brace+bracket layer support, but the updates to glyphsLib/FontMake are where I would most love that to work well.

Thanks for the quick and helpful pointer! That will unlock me today.

4

I’ll have a look at the static export.
For situations like this, where bracket layers get too complicated, you can use an extra glyph (f.bold) and add custom feature variations (for variable fonts) and Replace Glyphs parameters in all instances that need it.

5

this also won’t work with glyphsLib unfortunately. it has been a problem for 3.5 years

6

Could you send me the file for testing?

7

I did on Jan 15 (to support@), but I’ve replied to that email thread to boost it in your inbox. Please let me know if you need anything else, though (probably via email is best, or I may miss it for a bit…)

8

Thanks for the reminder. I think I fixed it.

1 Like
9

Awesome, thanks for the speedy fix! Looking forward to using that upgrade at some point.