Fontlab 8 adding serifs

Lorenzo Martinez

Hi! everyone!

I would just like to ask if there is such an efficient way to add a serif on my font? Like is there a process wherein I could make one serif and just add it automatically (or of course with tweaks) on my letterforms?

I do want a process where in the serifs will be referenced in to just one "Serif" so whenever I change that one, It would be reflected to all serifs automatically.

Hoping you guys could englighten me on this. thanks!

John Hudson

I recommend asking this sort of question on the FontLab 8 forum: you will get more detailed answers from FL users and developers there.

The short answer is that yes, there are ways you can do this in FL8 using elements, but they require some care in the setup. I tend not to use this approach because my serifs usually involve lots of small optical adjustments in length.

Igor Freiberger

Besides the use of elements —the method I use myself— there is the Detach Serif feature added in FontLab 8.4:

https://help.fontlab.com/fontlab/8/whats-new/release-notes/8.4.0.8898/?h=detach+serifs#detach-serifs

John Hudson

The Detach Serif feature as described in the whats-new notes does not look very useful. Left and right serifs need to be independent elements.

MatteoBologna

Or you can do it on Glyphs easily. https://handbook.glyphsapp.com/components/corner/

Claudio Piccinini

Igor Freiberger said:

Besides the use of elements —the method I use myself— there is the Detach Serif feature added in FontLab 8.4:

https://help.fontlab.com/fontlab/8/whats-new/release-notes/8.4.0.8898/?h=detach+serifs#detach-serifs

Besides John's observation, which is essential, IMO, I can't figure out how this should work. I have not used the skin filter so far, but it seems it can work well for serifs.