View multiple masters in one view

Glyphs
1

how to view all layers of a glyph in one window overlayed?

2

You can click on all the ‘eye’ icons in the layer panel.

3

thanks,

How do I draw different layers in different colors.

if all layers are in grey shade, it difficult to see.

4

And did you try the “Show Master Compatibility” from the View menu?

5

yes, I did.

I need to overlay the masters and be able to review different weight with different color.
Its very difficult to comprehend the curves in different masters, when they are crisscrossing each other.

Also, it is useful turn on/off the control points of all layers.

If this is not possible now. Please consider this is a feature request.

6

What exactly are you trying here. Why do you need that comparison? Can you send a screenshot?

7

How are your Python skills? Perhaps you want to write your own View menu plugin?

8

@GeorgSeifert I have old fonts, I am trying to update them.

  1. old fonts has either 2 or 4 weights in one axis (normal, bold, light, medium)
  2. read fontforge source sfd to glyphs.
  3. update feature file to address known issues
  4. I want to create one axis multiple masters to generate variable fonts.
  5. nodes are not matching between different weights. So, I want to copy the original to a layer and adjust the nodes without losing original font design.

Btw how to read fontforge sfd to glyphsapp?
Fontforge source is ascii and opensource, is there a script to read in in the fontforge file?

9

@mekkablue

I have written many python scripts for fontforge and other applications.

I really do not want to focus my attention in writing scripts rather than font making.

10
  1. Why do you need to see al the other masters but not their points? How would that help you in this case?
  2. Writing a plug-in for the view menu is quick if you have some experience in Python. I can help you with that if you like.
  3. About converting from Fontforge: perhaps @cthalmann can chime in how he did it? Or again, if you’re good in Python, you can set up something yourself.
11

I want to see draw the outlines of different masters in different colors.
If I can draw with the points, it would be great.

that would be great. I am surprised we don’t one already.
Please point to a similar function open source plugin. I will start with it and seek your help when needed.

Fontforge is open source, we should have ability to read in sfd natively in glyphsapp.
We should be expected to write our own code for every single function.
We could as well contribute to fontforge and make it more robust.

12

I still don’t understand why the existing tools are not enough.

  1. I would merge all the masters into one file.
  2. put the outlines into the background layer for references.
  3. use “Show Master Compatibility” and “Fix compatibility” to better understand the path/point structure.
  4. Redraw/fix the outlines

I have played around with sfd files and have a half finished plugin. I can publish it if anyone is interested.

1 Like
13

I want to try. I have all my previous project in sfd.

14

You don’t happen to know a bit of ObjectiveC? Because then I could send you the source code, too. :wink:

15

I need to add/remove some nodes.
Wouldn’t it be nice, when I select the curve, it shows the node number in sequence in all the masters.
1, 2, 3, 4, … in all the masters.
say light has 7 nodes, demi 6, bold 8, medium 7.

Then I understand, which node is first node (1) and plan to maintain 7 nodes.
add one to demi
remove one from bold
re-assign a corner as first node and direction of the curves

if there is different approach, please explain.

I am not understanding, what am I doing in this window.
We have 12 choices, am I supposed to chose something, based on something
I am not following.
Please explain.
If this already explained in tutorial. My mistake, please point me to it. thank you

16

@GeorgSeifert I appreciate it. I really want to focus on making fonts.

My suggestion was, if we could read sfd directly into glyphsapp, it would be great for all users.

I am not too keen on developing the glyphsapp.

If you don’t want to support sfd format, its fine.
I can use UFO format. There is always a small risk of losing data.

I don’t want to waste my time on developing plugins for glyphs.

17

Did you see this: https://glyphsapp.com/tutorials/multiple-masters-part-2-keeping-your-outlines-compatible

1 Like
18

I will go thru it

How to convert corner to curve node?

like we do in fontforge

19

To change a connection from smooth to sharp, double click the node. Or select one or more and press Enter.

To change a line segment into a curve, you click the line with the option key pressed. The opposite is done by just deleting one of the offcurve points.

20

My question was why you need that. What are you trying to achieve?

Different colors for outlines should happen already if you have added a Master Stroke Color parameter to Font Info > Masters > Custom Parameters, and the colors should be visible while switching through masters or when displaying more masters with their respective eye symbols, or when using the Select All Layers tool.

But I just saw that it is currently not working the way it is supposed to. In the current app version, all outlines are always displayed in the color of the current master. I assume this is a bug.

You can start here: Writing plug-ins | Glyphs
Put this under your pillow: https://docu.glyphsapp.com

Look for View menu plug-ins that interest you in Window > Plugin Manager. The vast majority is open source. You can find clickable GitHub links below the descriptions.

Well. It would be a small extra for users who used to work in Font Forge. I assume you can already export a CFF, UFO or PS file, and import that into Glyphs.

Perhaps you want to take a little time and have a look at the Get Started page, the handbook has an Edit View chapter (starting at page 16), and maybe the basic tutorials.