OTM 8 Sneak Preview

LeMo aka PatternMan aka Frank E Blokland
LeMo aka PatternMan aka Frank E Blokland Posts: 723
edited March 2020 in Font Technology
Version 8 of DTL OTMaster, the release of which is scheduled for the end of spring 2020, contains quite a few additional nifty functions, including:
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  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,225
    Very excited about the TTC editor tool.
  • LeMo aka PatternMan aka Frank E Blokland
    LeMo aka PatternMan aka Frank E Blokland Posts: 723
    Hello John, I will make a download of version 8 (.4 already) available for you for testing later this week.

    OTM has been on the market for more than ten years and is used on a reasonably large scale. Some of the largest software/hardware companies use it and also quite a number of type foundries. That said, I am very curious how OTM is used in the different workflows. For example, the subsetting of features during compiling can be very useful in combination with any font editor, I reckon. However, when I demonstrate or discuss this, I get the feeling that the subsetting is not being used much. Below are some screenshots of the possible use of features-subsetting in a Glyphs’ workflow.

    DTL OTMaster
  • LeMo aka PatternMan aka Frank E Blokland
    LeMo aka PatternMan aka Frank E Blokland Posts: 723
    edited March 2020
    For example, the subsetting of features during compiling can be very useful in combination with any font editor […]
    I am not sure if everyone on TD is familiar with this functionality. The subsetting means that a font’s character set does not have to match the OpenType Layout features file: the features are automatically subsetted based on the characters available in the font. On the Glyphs website one can read:

    ‘Import and export OpenType Layout features files. During import, OTMaster compiles these features files to produce binary OpenType Layout tables. OTMaster contains a modified version of Adobe’s Hatch Open Type tool. What’s best: the font’s character set does not have to match the characters listed in the OpenType Layout features file! OTMaster automatically subsets the features based on the available glyphs in the font. One can import and export AFDKO feature files for GPOS, GSUB, GDEF, and BASE. This makes OTMaster a great tool for updating and standardizing fonts. The subsetting of OpenType Layout features can be used in a workflow based on Glyphs or any other OpenType font editor. E.g., import the subsetted feature file in Glyphs with a Replace Feature parameter.’

    A few years ago Adam Twardoch successfully tested the use of subsetted features files –exported from OTM– with Fontographer 5. Of course, it also works in combination with FontLab 7.
  • Nick Curtis
    Nick Curtis Posts: 118
    I'm curious. Some years back, there was talk about including a new and improved version of KernMaster into OTMaster. Has that happened, or has that idea been scrapped?
  • LeMo aka PatternMan aka Frank E Blokland
    LeMo aka PatternMan aka Frank E Blokland Posts: 723
    Some years back, there was talk about including a new and improved version of KernMaster into OTMaster.
    The successor of KernMaster, which runs under macOS, Windows, and Linux, is GPOSMaster. It is almost ready for release (scheduled for the fall): some rough edges still have to be removed, however. The algorithm is basically the same as in KM, but instead of .be files, it works with OpenType fonts and features files.

    We now consider the option to define the ‘kernstrength’ per pair (stored then as a comment in the features file). Just like OTM, GPOSMaster subsets the GPOS, so a ‘base’ features file can be used.

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