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Affinity Designer/Publisher/Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) When opening a document which uses fonts Affinity Designer tries to load the fonts to display them. The fonts may be missing (deactivated), in that case macOS implicitly sends a font request to external applications, such that font managers can automatically provide the missing fonts if they're available. This works correctly for static fonts and variable fonts that use one of the named presets. For example when using the variable RobotoFlex-Regular in a document (without changing any variable parameters) Affinity will correctly request RobotoFlex-Regular on reopen. If any of the parameters of a variable font is changed, such that it doesn't match with any of the named instances, then the Affinity apps do not send a font request. This means that font managers do not have the opportunity to auto activate the missing variable fonts. For example: Activate variable Roboto Flex in a font manager Open a blank document in Affinity Designer 2.5.0 Add a text block and use Roboto Flex Adjust the weight axis to 415 (this doesn't match with any named instance) Save and close the document Deactivate the variable Roboto Flex in a font manager Reopen the document => Font is missing (expected), but also no font request is sent so the font cannot be auto activated by macOS It's a bit hard to verify/reproduce this, as the font request happens behind the scenes in macOS and you need a font manager to capture this request. Font requests are typically sent automatically when a font is loaded using an NSFontDescriptor. For example loading a font using a descriptor with a font name NSFontDescriptor(fontAttributes: [ .name: "RobotoFlex-Regular" ]) will look for any available font with that name. It seems like Affinity loads a font differently when axes are adjusted. (Note that this only applies to missing, deactivated fonts. Activated fonts are correctly loaded on document reopen.) If any additional information is needed I'm happy to help.

When can we get this functionality on our iPads? I really looking forward for the day Serif implement Move Data Entry (Move/Duplicate) to iPad. Although I have an descent Mac, iPad Pro brings me more flexibility and joy… Serif, when? Can’t understand why both Variable Fonts and QR-codes and Line Width Tool was brought to iPad before (Move/Duplicate)?

Honk font - may be issues with the font, and with Affinity variable support. First, the font is a variable COLRv1 font - never going to work 100% correctly without COLR v1 support. But, I think it should be able to fallback to monochrome. It appears the shadow is a variable component - so that could be the Affinity issue which need to be addressed. There is another variable font in the GF approval pipeline right now which I think also uses variable components (a lot) called Bitcount. Repo with the fonts is here: https://github.com/petrvanblokland/TYPETR-Bitcount Demo site is here: https://bitcount.typenetwork.com/ So it would be helpful if someone tested those and reported back here. Thanks. Gotta go for now. Have fun!

There should be a switch to display all axes, and be able to use them. The majority of the time the other axes are not being controlled via another axis. All of the axes may be used in the named instances. But quite often that is not the case (usually the case). Google Fonts (GF) allows a very limited set of named instances in the variable fonts. Most of the time there are no instances at all for Optical Size. I have seen two users in this forum making static fonts from variable fonts (because variable was not supported yet) - and they used axis settings which would be hidden now. So even though variable fonts are now supported - they cannot set the variable fonts the same way. Let knowledgeable advanced users do advanced stuff. They are not Canva users who need to be prevented from making a mistake. Hiding all the axes is silly. Note: you can test all variable axes with the Samsa Variable Font Inspector Development was funded by Google Fonts. They use it themselves. https://lorp.github.io/samsa/src/samsa-gui.html

OK, I see that but I would not considering that to mean there are 13 axes "advertised" in the sense of being exposed to direct manipulation in every app that supports variable fonts.

As ‘promoted’ and available to experiment with on Google Fonts and other variable font Apps, only five of the variables are made available by the font designer as per @Ash’s notes at the start of this thread…

My font of choice is Roboto Flex and for my design, the only variable attributes I wish to include are 'ascender height' and 'descender depth' which both look very reasonable when used sensibly, by no means ugly (at least for my design) but the font designer, despite having taken the time to include these options doesn't make these variations available (despite other fonts/font designers doing so)... If the 'danger' is that the font designer doesn't want a user choosing an ugly combination and then telling people they used "font x" which has the font designer's name on it, why would they even create that as an option in the first place?

This is where I'm a little confused... Yes, e.g., on Google Fonts (other variable font websites are available) differing numbers of axes for variable fonts are marketed/promoted but I'm slightly unsure how one determines which axes the font designer has actually specified should be hidden... Why does Roboto Flex advertise 13 variables but only choose to make five available? I'm sure I'm likely missing the obvious but interested to know...

There is another font with similar Variable axes =Recursive I just installed it but also only showing 2 of the 5 variable options (https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Recursive) I only see MONO and CASL

Interesting! I think I might just uninstall something like open sans and just re-install the variable version to see if clears mixing The Cursive range is 0-1 for me (the slider works fine also I checked the meaning =Uncle Google says “Cursive” (CRSV in CSS) is an axis found in some variable fonts that controls the substitution of cursive forms. “Off” (0) maintains upright letterforms such as the double-storey "a" and "g," “auto” (0.5) allows for cursive substitution of cursive forms when combined with the slant axis, and “on” (1) asserts cursive forms even in upright text with a slant of 0. whatever that means!

Must admit I had to do a bit of reading up on this subject!😀..I am sure it is going to be a fantastic new feature and looking forward to using it! 1. Many of the Variable Fonts appear to exhibit 1 or 2 axes so tried to download ones that have 3 or more variable options 2. Mixed Fonts could require access to style to get Variable to be recognised 3. Had 1 Crash while scrolling or selecting font (bit vague but did not observe exactly what was going on!) (Crash report attached) 4. Like the idea of a reset to default values. Would be practically impossible to control with so many options and many fonts installed. 5. Think might uninstall non VFonts of the same name in future! Testing W.I.P Installed Source Serif 4 (weight 400 | optical Size 20) Y Geologica(weight 400 | Cursive 0 | Sharpness 0 | Slant 0) Cursive not sure what it does! shows on list + Slant and sharpness missing Roboto Flex others testing Saira (Weight 100 | Width 100) Y Source Serif 4 (weight 400 | optical Size 20) Y Noto Sans Display (weight 400 | Width 100) Roboto Serif (Weight 100 | Width 100 Optical Size 20 | Grad 0 ) Grad no show Advent Pro (Weight 400 | Width 100) y Literata (weight 400 | optical Size 12) y Playfair (weight 300 | optical Size 5 | Width 112.5) y Pathway Extreme (weight 100 | optical Size 8 | Width 100) Recursive ( Monospace | Casual |weight 400 | Cursive 0 Slant 0) Google Popular Open Sans (Weight 400 | Width 100) had to go into font and select style to get this to display Montserrat (Weight 100) Inter (Weight 400 | Slant 0) Roboto Condensed (weight 400) Roboto Mono (Weight 400) Oswald (Weight 400) Noto Sans (Weight 400 | Width 100) Raleway (Weight 100) Nunito Sans (weight 100 | optical Size 12 | Width 200 | YTLC 500 ) Playfair Display (Weight 400) DM Sans (weight 400 | optical Size 9) Noto Serif (Weight 400 | Width 100) Couple of No Shows on the Variable lists looks ok so far (Added these to favs so can easily source them) Noto Sans Display has 72 variants Google Popular Open Sans (Weight 400 | Width 100) Montserrat (Weight 100) Inter (Weight 400 | Slant 0) Roboto Condensed (weight 400) Roboto Mono (Weight 400) Oswald (Weight 400) Noto Sans (Weight 400 | Width 100) Raleway (Weight 100) Nunito Sans (weight 100 | optical Size 12 | Width 200 | YTLC 500 ) Playfair Display (Weight 400) DM Sans (weight 400 | optical Size 9) Noto Serif (Weight 400 | Width 100) On my travels in the internet I came across a few tools and featured information that is useful: 1. Axis definitions: https://fonts.google.com/variablefonts#axis-definitions This helped interpret the abbreviations 2.Sort of Font analyser: https://wakamaifondue.com/ so you can see font parameters by dragging the font onto target 3. Font Testers: Loads but I liked these https://v-fonts.com/ https://www.axis-praxis.org/specimens/__DEFAULT__ https://play.typedetail.com/ 4. Google Font links Google Fonts with 365 of 1623 families https://fonts.google.com/?vfonly=true https://fonts.google.com/?vfonly=true&sort=popularity https://fonts.google.com/?vfonly=true&sort=date 5 V-Font Links https://v-fonts.com/ https://v-fonts.com/licenses/ https://v-fonts.com/licenses/free-for-commercial-use https://v-fonts.com/licenses/bundled 6. Some Stuff with free stuff! https://uncut.wtf/ https://www.fontshare.com/ https://anrt-nancy.fr/en/fonts https://www.typotheque.com/ https://typotheque.luuse.fun/ https://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/ https://www.losttype.com/ https://www.tunera.xyz/ https://www.design-research.be/by-womxn/ https://fontesk.com/tag/variable/ Crash while editing VFonts.zip

Hello, A major issue I have encountered is that Affinity does not respect or take into account the 'Required Variation Alternates' feature ('rvrn'). It is mandatory and should not be exposed in the UI, but it allows type designers to specify alternates to use for specific glyphs between two values of an axis. (OpenType reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/features_pt#rvrn) I have designed a font that has a variation alternate for dollar and cent. Several variable fonts use this type of alternate. Affinity's behaviour: 20240427-1005-20.4049769.mp4 The normal behaviour : 20240427-1007-02.8858189.mp4

Walt, I have another problem on my iPad Pro M1 - I was eager to test the Variable Font functionality, but, I did the mistake to install the V-fonts before I started the new Publisher beta (2.50) - all of a sudden the fontmenu in Publisher is almost useless, it scrolls so slow slow, and lagging heavily… Now I can’t if it’s a bug in latest beta for iPad, or, some fonts are interfering with something… How is it on your iPad? Is the fontmenu OK?

I thought I'd play around with the new Variable Font support using Publisher 2.5.0.2415 on my iPad. I downloaded Roboto Flex from Google Fonts, asked iFont to install it, and got this: Are there any hints for how to install Variable fonts some other way that is supported?

This may be off topic but I thought I'd mention it here since it is related to variable fonts & maybe someone can help me understand what I am seeing in the current V2.4.2 retail apps. Anyway, after installing the Shantell Sans-Variable Font to test it with the beta, I was curious to see how the retail apps handled it. I was surprised that unlike the typical multiple instances of "Regular" or whatever that users have been reporting when they have installed variable fonts, I got a list of its (preset?) styles & each of them works as expected: Same with the 6 PlayFair Display (preset?) styles. EDIT: I think what happened is even though I used Font Book to open just the PlayfairDisplay-VariableFont_wght.ttf & ShantellSans-VariableFont_BNCE,INFM,SPAC,wght.ttf files I downloaded from Google Fonts, when I clicked the "Install Font" button in Font Book, for some reason it installed the static fonts as well, but I can't be sure about that.

Is this when opening a PDF with the embedded variable font? It will be missing if that's the case based on the unique filename allocated to the static instance of the font generated on export not matching the source filename for the font... Preflight throws up no errors and Save as Package shows the fonts with a green tick...

Good call! This can still be a good spot for discussion on all these ideas for the future. I'll be checking it out and giving feedback on the proper forum (if there's something not really working great, or something). While on the subject of suggestions, I'll just leave something else out here: would it be possible, at some point and if the Variable OpenType spec allowed for it, to have this panel hook into discrete values for these axes, specified by the type designer(s) and coded into the font file itself, include some sort of “snap to discrete values” toggle, and have those values appropriately previewed under the slider instead of the default 20 “steps”/21 ticks? I know this sounds very counter-intuitive to the spirit of variable fonts, because, yes, they're great because you can fine-tune stuff, we all know that, but that's just one of its advantages. You see, as a type designer specialised in modular and geometric fonts, I work a lot with grids and stackable geometric models, à lá Josef Albers' Kombinationsschrift „3“, and would also very much benefit from distributing a single variable file instead of a bunch of different combinations like in Frutiger's Univers scheme… This is the kind of stuff I'd love to see being added to the Variable OpenType spec, and being adopted and supported by software purveyors. Having vector UI elements to complement the axes' names would be a nice-to-have, but this would be a functional game-changer, and could even help undecided/beginner designers in other contexts… These “fixed”, traditional values could – if they don't already – also exist in traditional fonts and serve as pointers for traditional weights, and those designers might start out by picking one of them and then fine-tune them afterwards, after some test print runs or gathering user feedback on digital prototypes. This would effectively make Variable OpenType the default go-to font format, even for fonts designed with separate, non-interpolation-friendly masters… If a piece of software was presented with one such font file, boom, the “snap to discrete values” would be turned on by default and greyed-out. Even old typefaces could be repackaged as “variable” with zero updates and still be more practical and neat to use. As for my particular use case, and as the spec and its industry support stand, I'll have to produce and distribute instruction manuals with the recommended axis values to ensure fonts snap to their corresponding geometric grids. If the guys at FontFont managed to do that for the über-complex Chartwell and its myriad of OT Stylistic Sets, I guess I can make it, too.

Yeah, it was originally created in 2.4. Using the static font. Disabling the static font and then enabling the variable font seems to have caused this problem. I can see folks who have used static versions of fonts in the past wanting to migrate documents to variable versions if possible.

Sure thing @Pauls. I've attached an example file here. FWIW The Example.png file is what I see in Designer using variable fonts (see Example_static.png for static fonts), but I have no idea what is happening with the exported PDF using variable fonts (attached) as the font is the wrong weight—but at least it's legible. The font used is Ohno Softie Variable from Adobe Fonts. Example.afdesign Example.pdf

I think I am going to pay A LITTLE more attention to the rmap tags now🤣 https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/170391-variable-fonts-support/&do=findComment&comment=1201156

It does, but I still couldn't get it to 400 without typing. I could get 401, or 397. The other alternative was to use Undo, but that currently is affected by "AF-2845 - Variable fonts - Axes values not updating" so until you close and reopen the Variations dialog you're not sure whether it worked or exactly what it did.

Amazing! Thank you for working towards adding variable fonts support! Ii would also be amazing if we can work towards adding support for SVG color fonts. I have an idea for helping to further build and anccelerate the advancement of Affinity’s capabilities. What if we can fund commonly requested features through donations? I’d be happy to help by putting money into a fund for the development of SVG color fonts support. Other funds can also be created for commonly requested tools and features like vector tracing, manual curve smoothing, basic 3D editor and constructor for mockups creation…etc.

Hi All, I'm pleased to let you know we have now added support for Variable Fonts to the Affinity Suite on all platforms - available to try now in the 2.5 beta...

Hi All, I'm pleased to let you know we have now added support for Variable Fonts to the Affinity Suite on all platforms - available to try now in the 2.5 beta...

Hi All, I'm pleased to let you know we have now added support for Variable Fonts to the Affinity Suite on all platforms - available to try now in the 2.5 beta...