Import font - all styles listed as "Normal"

[Loupus]

I've been using Affinity Designer on Mac and iPad for several months. I just installed 2.0.0 on Windows and opened a file originally created in the Mac version of AD. The file uses an imported font (Audi Type Variable), which I imported into Windows 11. The font is listed in AD, but all of the styles are listed as "Normal" (i.e. no Bold, Italic, etc.). I tried selecting each of these "Normal" styles, but all are the same style.

The Audi Type Variable font seems to work fine in all other Windows apps (see screenshot from Word).

In my troubleshooting, I've tried:

1. Rebooting the PC
2. Deleting and reinstalling the Audi Type Variable font
3. "Reset Text Styles" under Preferences > Miscellaneous

Any ideas? Perhaps a bug in 2.0.0?

I bought the Windows version primarily to edit this one document, but it requires the Audi Type Variable font.

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by Loupus

[walt.farrell]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

The Affinity applications do not support Variable fonts. You will need to install a Static version of that font, and uninstall the Variable one, if you want to use it with Affinity.

[Loupus]

Thanks for the quick response, that worked!

I installed each of the static versions (i.e. bold, italic, bold italic) of the font and all are properly listed in the "font style" drop down.

However, this appears to only be an issue with the Windows version. I installed the "Audi Type Variable" font on my Mac and everything works in the macOS version. Is this a difference in how Windows and macOS manage fonts perhaps?

=====

Is there a quick way to replace the font used across all artboards? Since the document I created in macOS uses Audi Type Variable, I don't want to individually change the font in hundreds of text boxes. 

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by Loupus

[kenmcd]

2 hours ago, Loupus said:

However, this appears to only be an issue with the Windows version. I installed the "Audi Type Variable" font on my Mac and everything works in the macOS version. Is this a difference in how Windows and macOS manage fonts perhaps?

It only appears to work on the Mac because the macOS font picker displays the variable font pre-defined styles (instances), even though you cannot actually use them.
Try making a test doc with all those listed styles. Will not work.

What is supposed to happen when variable fonts are not supported is the application is supposed to display the default master.
The default master in the Audi Type Variable font is the Normal master.
So that is what is displayed on Windows.

[Loupus]

3 hours ago, kenmcd said:

It only appears to work on the Mac because the macOS font picker displays the variable font pre-defined styles (instances), even though you cannot actually use them.
Try making a test doc with all those listed styles. Will not work.

I might be misunderstanding, but it's working for me. Here's a screen recording of me selecting each style within Audi Type Variable. I do see that the buttons for bold and italics aren't available. 

[walt.farrell]

9 hours ago, Loupus said:

I might be misunderstanding, but it's working for me.

Just confirming: you uninstalled the Static version to do that test? You can't get good results if both sets are installed.

Next: Assuming you have only the Variable version installed, did you go further and export to a PDF, and see how that looked?

[kenmcd]

11 hours ago, Loupus said:

I might be misunderstanding, but it's working for me. Here's a screen recording of me selecting each style within Audi Type Variable. I do see that the buttons for bold and italics aren't available. 

Look at the letter spacing in your preview image above - which is definitely wrong.

And in Export to PDF it will be a mess.

And as you have discovered the style linking does not work.

The macOS font picker makes it appear that variable fonts are supported when they are not - which is obviously confusing to users.

[Loupus]

4 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Just confirming: you uninstalled the Static version to do that test? You can't get good results if both sets are installed.

Next: Assuming you have only the Variable version installed, did you go further and export to a PDF, and see how that looked?

2 hours ago, kenmcd said:

Look at the letter spacing in your preview image above - which is definitely wrong.

And in Export to PDF it will be a mess.

And as you have discovered the style linking does not work.

The macOS font picker makes it appear that variable fonts are supported when they are not - which is obviously confusing to users.

I did not uninstall the Static version. Is that why it appears to work? 

I'll try installing the Static version(s) on Windows and see if the AD document loads the correct font. Trying to avoid manually changing the font in every text box. 

[kenmcd]

2 minutes ago, Loupus said:

I'll try installing the Static version(s) on Windows and see if the AD document loads the correct font. Trying to avoid manually changing the font in every text box. 

The variable font has a different family name, so the statics will not be the same.

Use Find/Replace to replace the font.

[Loupus]

I used a standard Text Style throughout the document, so updating that style from Audi Type Variable to Audi Type updated the text boxes throughout.

Thank you both for the help and quick responses.