Variable Color Glyphs — Some minor issues

[ArthurTypearture]

Hi Mark,

It's been a while since I created some variable color glyphs, but upon prototyping, I noticed that the masters themselves (on both extremes) in the font previewer don't show the color layers and revert to the fallback glyph (normally used when color layers are not supported). The moment I interpolate along the axis, the layers appear. See the screenshots below.

I've already re-installed the plugin and tried using older fonts which used to work properly, but the issue persists. Running Glyphs version 3214. I have noticed recent Glyphs test versions have had some moments of less-than-ideal layer support, perhaps that could be one of the reasons?

Cheers!

[Mark2Mark]

Hi Arthur, thanks for that. This seems like a Glyphs issue where something has changed and causes that. It used to work and I didn't change the code that deals with color glyphs.

That being said, I'll need to investigate where that comes from, but I am currently on a travel.

I'll see if I can reproduce it with one of the fonts you gave me earlier. I hope you don't mind the little waiting too much.

[ArthurTypearture]

I expected something like that, as there have been some changes in palettes lately.

And no hurry! The interpolation preview works, which is the only one I really need.

[Mark2Mark]

Note to self: the current version of VFP and Glyphs 3221 crashes with Arthur’s plane test font as soon as I enable VFP.

(This used to work just well, as I even posted a screencast back then)

[Mark2Mark]

as there have been some changes in palettes lately

Do you know by any chance which changes those have been? I am also encountering some strange bugs with Glyphs exports when using color glyphs as components, where they move around in some axis locations even though the color glyph layers all have the same width and locations. (Need to report that to Georg ...)

[ArthurTypearture]

Bit late: I'm unsure, as I didn't work that much on variable color fonts the last months, perhaps even this year.

I also noticed some other things: in my latest test some color layers seem to disappear and elements distort. The distortions might be because of the stroke types, but I don't know about the color layers. See the example attached.

StretchType.mov

[Mark2Mark]

I also saw some distortions with the test files you sent me back then. For example the present gets all weird stretched. Neither did I change anything in the plugin, nor to your test files. Both did work just perfectly back then. I have the hunch that something in Glyphs changed, that I need to investigate on.

[Mark2Mark]

Cannot reproduce this anymore. Instead of closing this issue, I will repurpose it for other things color font related.

New issues 2024-07-07

• the test file with the present is very glitchy and jumpy along the axis (all other color font test files are working greatly)
• the magnifier does not show the color layer magnified, while "normal" glyphs show just fine