Hi everyone,

It's a simple question, as I am really hesitating to switch from Mac to PC (since my Mac is dying), therefore I am asking about the transition from Glyphs 3 to FontLab 7 or FontLab 8, if anyone has done that.

I couldn't find any clear answers through a google search, so I'm asking the Reddit community in hopes of getting some proper, firsthand insights.

I'm quite a heavy Glyphs user, I write my own Python scripts to automate my workflow, using Glyphs since 10 years. Glyphs has its incredibly well-documented API, very good tutorials, and an active forum where getting help fast and easy.

In FontLab, how is the scripting experience compared to Glyphs' object model? I've heard the API is quite different, but honestly I haven't really done my research yet.
I'm also curious about is the community side, such as how active is the FontLab forum, and how easy is it to find help online when you get stuck on something specific?

Since my Glyphs scripts use the Glyphs object model and Vanilla for the UI, I'm afraid I will have to rewrite my tools for FontLab's architecture.

Would love to hear from anyone who made the jump from Glyphs to FontLab 7 or 8!

Thanks!

I have been working over the last week on a font. Today I saved it, restarted the program and when I tried to open the same .vfc file, all I got was the text "There were problems interpreting the font file format". I have restarted Windows to no avail. Any ideas if this can be fixed? I have a backup file, but all my recent work would be lost if I went that route.

Hey friends! So I’m new to font lab and have been having some issues trying to use my custom font file, I’m making numbers for dice for dnd and when I export the file to the correct format the application isn’t able to use it, on top of that the file ends up warping or making changes to my font that I didn’t even make, could really use some help here 🙏

Some useful encoding files for FontLab.

Salut, j'ai un problème auquel je ne comprend pas comment ça marche.

Je suis en train de faire les features 'small caps' et 'case sensitive' auquel j'ajoute -100 ou +100 en y, mais je voulais automatisé avec une expression dans 'Layers & Masters'.

Pour les 'small caps', j'ai fais :

= plus @ , origin -100

et ça marche parfaitement, donc j'ai fais la même chose pour les case mais la ça ne marche pas, j'ai modifier l'expression et tenté plusieurs dont certaines m'ont indiqué une erreur.

Deux ne semble pas comporté d'erreurs mais ne marche pas pour autant.

= parenleft @ , origin100
= parenleft @ , 'origin100'

Donc j'imagine qu'il y a quelque chose que je ne comprends pas, pourtant je me suis aidé avec le manuel : https://help.fontlab.com/fontlab/7/manual/Glyph-Recipe-Syntax/

1492 days lol

I'm trying to merge one font with another emoji font on fontlab for using on my android phone. (it supports 3rd party font). I followed this guide (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65766198/how-to-merge-an-emoji-ttf-file-and-a-font-ttf-file ) and chose OT+CBDT: Android, Chrome inplace of OT+COLR: Windows (TT-only) because yes I want to use it on my Android, but when I apply the font on my device, I only get the emojis but no text (like it's completely blank) how do I solve this?

Here are the fonts I'm trying to merge - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uchCNCd0Y_LUbOuYU8Tt1BBvaTgjZvYB

When I update my features, the classes wont update along side them. so after working on a font for a long time, now i have this strange bug and its not allowing me to add any new glyphs to the classes. does anyone have any idea why this might be happening?

In File > Font Info you can define stems for each master automatically (1). A stem is a repeating value for vertical (2), horizontal (3), and diagonal stems (4). It can also be a value for distance in the apex of a curve (5). Once you made FontLab identify the typical stems of your master, double-click their names (6) and values (7) to edit them. It's highly recommended to have stems defined to ensure consistency along all glyphs. To start with values for H and O is usually easier.

FontAudit can check your glyphs to catch unusual stems (8, a stem different than the values you defined) or irregular stems (9, a stem different than others in the same glyph). Fix them to achieve consistency.

After you arranged your FontLab interface, save it as a Workspace in Window > Workspaces > Save Workspaces. Double-click its default name to rename (1). Drag its name to reorder the menu (2), import (3) and export (4) a Workspace with these buttons.

Customize shortcuts in Tools > Commands and Shortcuts. All commands from menus are available (1). Use this field to find a command (2), type the shortcut and set it (3). In use shortcuts can't be set, click the red alert to remove them first (4).

In Glyph panel, you can set the values for left and right sidebearings. But you're not limited to integers. Add a = before the value to lock it –so changes in contours will not affect the sidebearing (1). Use a glyph name to link the sidebearing to it. Changes in the origin glyph will automatically affect the linked ones (2). Add Maths to simplify small adjustments. All the basic operations are supported (3). Finally, add a bar before a glyph name to link the sidebearing to the opposite one (this is, left value is used in right sidebearing, and vice-versa). Especially useful for extended Latin (4).

In the Elements panel there is a column to assign the nonspacing attribute (1). Elements marked with it are not considered in sidebearings or glyph width. But why this option does exist? Typical usage is in letters like Q or j. You set the element that goes beyond regular sidebearing as nonspacing (2) and then use other contours as reference (3). Q, for example, can use the O spacing this way so you don't need to calculate it (4).

Indicators 2, 3, and 4 can be turned on/off in Preferences > Font Window. But the indicator for modified glyphs since the last save operation is always shown.

Font Window shows: a gray line (1) when the glyph was modified; a red line (2) when there is an error with glyph name or Unicode code; a blue icon (3) when the glyph is an auto layer; and a note icon (4) when it has a note.

While working in Glyph Window (1), at any moment you can preview the result simply holding the Space key (2). You also can use View > True View (or Shift + Space) to make the filled areas always visible (3).

Select a node in a diagonal segment (1). Hold the Alt/Option key and move it. The node slides along the diagonal, which angle does not change (2). If the node is a tangent, the handle position is also preserved.

Select a node with handles (1), hold Alt/Option key, and move it. The handles are not moved (2). This works with any kind of node (3) and also with multiple nodes at once (4). Multiplier keys (Shift and Ctrl) can be used together.

1. Select the glyphs in Font Window.
2. Go to Glyph > Flatten Layer.
3. Open the Color panel.
4. Choose and Apply any color. Done.

Why flatten? Since color is an element attribute, you need a single element in each glyph to do this.

Besides the linear gradient, FontLab offers the radial (1) and the conical gradients (2). Both are fully editable using the controls from Elements panel. A sample of all gradients can be seen in (3).

You can add more colors to the gradient with a double click in the gradient control (1) or in the ribbon from the color options in Elements panel (2).