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[1.7.0.58 β] Small-Caps fallback doesn't work for Aster typeface


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Hi,

I found that small-caps fallback (creating small-caps for fonts that doesn't have this OpenType feature) doesn't work for certain fonts.

InDesign has no problem with creating small-caps for them.

URW++ Aster is an example of problematic typeface.

Upon request I can share otf files with Serif team in order to find a root cause of the problem.

aster.thumb.png.9bfe990ca025765745f9e2a519aaf385.png

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Interesting. According to the URW version of Aster that MyFonts sells, Aster has small caps and the OT feature to utilize them. I have an older version made by Elsner & Flake that does not have small caps and it works in APub.

capture-002207.png.1443e919a5c12946cb6b208f2e94d43d.png

Mike

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5 minutes ago, MikeW said:

Yeah, I believed you. I just found it odd that MyFonts reports it has the feature and it simply isn't working on your end, fake or not.

Presumably APub detects that the font is supposed to have the feature, so it doesn’t attempt to fake it.

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1 minute ago, αℓƒяє∂ said:

Presumably APub detects that the font is supposed to have the feature, so it doesn’t attempt to fake it.

Which almost makes me wanna purchase the "family" from urw to see why. If it was a fuller family I would...

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First of all - thank you @αℓƒяє∂ for your tip - that's actually it!

I opened the font in FontForge to learn which of the OpenType features are available. It turns out it has small caps table with the following entries (sorry for polish UI):

aster.png.06c1f79b6d14210c52e7dafaea25884c.png

The only small case variant available in this font is a comma accent! (i.e. used in Romanian Ș).

So I decided to completely remove smcp table and guess what:

works.thumb.png.2f5c1271b2986001996877e5a58ec0fd.png

I only wonder why it works in InDesign. Maybe they exclude accents/combining accents while checking if they should fallback small caps...?

Serif - maybe that's a good improvement to implement in the future?

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Adobe is possibly looking for actual matches in the smcp table and if/when not found, are then likely use what is there and then fake it for what is missing. If so, that too may be a dangerous choice. I know I have several fonts from way back when OT became a thing. They only have drawn small caps using only the normal Latin and no extended Latin. Which might end of being a mismatch of character weight when say Polish is used and there are no drawn small cap characters to cover the extended Latin. 

Might have to play with that in ID to see what happens if I get time.

Mike

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