Variable Font Support

[Pauls]

dont splash the cash just yet

[Hangman]

2 minutes ago, Pauls said:

dont splash the cash just yet

Is that a hint of things to come?

[Alfred]

30 minutes ago, AffinityMakesMeWonder said:

FontCreator is 200 bucks, and only Windows… Wonder if FontCreator work in CrossOver Mac edition?

The Home edition of FontCreator is only 50 bucks. Someone posted to the High-Logic Forums to say that they were successfully running FontCreator on Wine (specifically, the WineBottler combo) but that was more than a decade ago, so it make not work on recent versions of macOS.

There are several options for running Windows on a Mac, but they all require a Windows licence. And if you want to use an alternative to Boot Camp or VirtualBox, you’ll have to throw even more money at the problem.

[Alfred]

Just now, Alfred said:

There are several options for running Windows on a Mac, but they all require a Windows licence.

Please see: https://www.high-logic.com/font-editor/fontcreator/tutorials/running-fontcreator-on-a-mac

[Affinity-Inspiration]

34 minutes ago, AffinityMakesMeWonder said:

If I understand you correct here, we could buy FontCreator, load our Variable Fonts there, “unlock” the hidden axes and then resave the fontfiles - then we freely could reveal whatever axes we want.

Is that correct?

FontCreator is 200 bucks, and only Windows… Wonder if FontCreator work in CrossOver Mac edition?

Sounds interesting, but a lot of work. Might be able to do that in XCode? I’ll have a look.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

1 minute ago, Alfred said:

Please see: https://www.high-logic.com/font-editor/fontcreator/tutorials/running-fontcreator-on-a-mac

Parallels runs on Mac and runs windows flawlessly. I’m running W11 on it. Just because I can.

[Alfred]

6 minutes ago, Affinity-Inspiration said:

Parallels runs on Mac and runs windows flawlessly. I’m running W11 on it. Just because I can.

I see that your forum signature only mentions your iPad model. What are your Mac and PC specs? (I’m guessing that you need a pretty beefy Mac for a smooth experience with the Affinity apps running under Parallels Desktop.)

[AffinityMakesMeWonder]

1 hour ago, Alfred said:

The Home edition of FontCreator is only 50 bucks. Someone posted to the High-Logic Forums to say that they were successfully running FontCreator on Wine (specifically, the WineBottler combo) but that was more than a decade ago, so it make not work on recent versions of macOS.

There are several options for running Windows on a Mac, but they all require a Windows licence. And if you want to use an alternative to Boot Camp or VirtualBox, you’ll have to throw even more money at the problem.

Thanks!

But, I'm already running 15 critical Win-apps on my MacBook Pro M1 thru CrossOver (doesn't demand a Win-license).

Apps like making genealogy research, Xara Xtreme Studio, Tag'n'Rename etc... Not all apps we need is available on Mac...

Have you seen CrossOver?

https://www.codeweavers.com

[Affinity-Inspiration]

2 hours ago, Alfred said:

I see that your forum signature only mentions your iPad model. What are your Mac and PC specs? (I’m guessing that you need a pretty beefy Mac for a smooth experience with the Affinity apps running under Parallels Desktop.)

My Mac is an M2 Mac Mini with 26GB RAM. A 4K Samsung monitor. It has a HD monitor as well, as a second screen. I have Parallels running Windows 11 on the Mac. It’s only problem is it won’t fetch Affinity updates. I have to do that by hand, but otherwise it runs fine. There is some issue between Parallels/Windows/Affinity auto updates that no one seems to looking at.

In general I use the Mac versions, and the iPad mini 6 mostly.

I also have an ancient Toshiba L630 running Windows 10, which does still run the Affinity apps, but very slowly. :-). It's just a test bed.

 

[R C-R]

11 hours ago, kenmcd said:

In FontCreator you need to open the panel below what you see axes above.
Open Axis Properties - see image below where I have highlighted the setting.

So any idea why I can always see all 13 axes & some others can sometimes see them too?

[Pauls]

I think it may be some sort of internal consistency problem - logged for a dev to look into

[Hangman]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

So any idea why I can always see all 13 axes & some others can sometimes see them too?

FWIW, I checked the Roboto Flex font file you uploaded and the other eight axes are shown as 'Hidden' so it's definitely not the font, having said that all axes are available when using the same font in other software but I can only assume that is because some software supports 'Additional Variations'...

[Affinity-Inspiration]

Mac. Different fonts, different results. It all looks good to me as that's as it should be. 

[R C-R]

20 minutes ago, Hangman said:

FWIW, I checked the Roboto Flex font file you uploaded and the other eight axes are shown as 'Hidden' so it's definitely not the font, having said that all axes are available when using the same font in other software but I can only assume that is because some software supports 'Additional Variations'...

Where are they shown as hidden? Also, what other software are you using that offers all 13 axes?

Probably not relevant but I did a quick check in a Rich Text document in TextEdit version 1.15 on my Mac & that app does not support variable fonts at all. Pages.app supports the preset defaults but does not offer any axes for adjustment.

[kenmcd]

5 hours ago, AffinityMakesMeWonder said:

If I understand you correct here, we could buy FontCreator, load our Variable Fonts there, “unlock” the hidden axes and then resave the fontfiles - then we freely could reveal whatever axes we want.

Is that correct?

Yes.

But it does appear (hinted) they may be enabling the option to view all axes. So wait a bit.

Also, if you have any experience with Python it is relatively easy to do - with zero cost.

[kenmcd]

46 minutes ago, R C-R said:

So any idea why I can always see all 13 axes & some others can sometimes see them too?

No idea. And I cannot test with your example doc to try and guess what is going on.

Beta testing can be an adventure. 🙂

[Hangman]

38 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Where are they shown as hidden?

FontGoggles...

38 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Also, what other software are you using that offers all 13 axes?

Webflow…

[kenmcd]

2 hours ago, R C-R said:

So any idea why I can always see all 13 axes & some others can sometimes see them too?

Thought about this a bit...

You are on macOS - and the macOS font handling is being used. So it could be an odd interaction with that causing all the axes to show.

Are the only users who can see all the axes, including the "hidden" ones, all on macOS?

[kenmcd]

1 hour ago, Hangman said:

FontGoggles

FontGoggles is another variable font testing tool funded by Google Fonts. And they mention using it (in the issues tracker) all the time.

Unfortunately (for me) it is macOS-only.

[StuartRc]

I was a bit jealous when I saw 'FontGoggles' I was going to write 'Mac' on the front of my PC and see if I could download it!

However...There are lots of alternatives | resources 

https://variablefonts.io/variable-font-resources/

[Affinity-Inspiration]

1 hour ago, Hangman said:

FontGoggles...

Webflow…

No. I’m on Mac. And I can only see the visible axes. Not the hidden ones.

[Affinity-Inspiration]

Can’t seem to install variable fonts on the iPad?

[walt.farrell]

7 minutes ago, Affinity-Inspiration said:

Can’t seem to install variable fonts on the iPad?

Install them from the Affinity application Settings.

[A_B_C]

FWIW — Last time I tested (by the end of last year), FontCreator does not work in CrossOver.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Affinity-Inspiration said:

No. I’m on Mac. And I can only see the visible axes. Not the hidden ones.

If you mean in FontGoggles & have installed it (the FontGoggles.dmg is here), you should see on the left in the Variations tab, a "Show hidden axes" button. That will display all 13 axes, including the 8 normally hidden 'parametric' ones.

If you mean in any of the Affinity V5 betas, then for reasons as yet not completely understood some Mac users see only 5, some sometimes but not always see 13, & I (alone?) always see all 13.