How to Create Variable Color Fonts?

David Massara
David Massara Posts: 15
edited October 4 in Font Technology
Hello,

I'm creating this topic because, after several hours of research across various websites, I still haven’t found a proper answer to my question. I mainly use FontLab 8 (with some knowledge of Glyphs 3), and while I'm not particularly an expert in font production, I’m working on a project that involves creating illustrations using the variable font process and incorporating color.

Although FontLab 8 has introduced support for color in recent versions, exporting a variable color font is not yet possible without using additional methods. From what I understand, the process involves exporting the variable font (in .ttf format) and the COLRv1 + CPAL tables separately and then merging them afterward.

My question is: what is the correct method to achieve this, and is this indeed the right solution? I tried generating a TTX file for the variable font and naively integrating the COLR and CPAL tables through two separate instances without success, considering there are two masters (Regular + Bold).


Thank you!

Comments

  • You can do it in Glyphs for CORLv0: Follow this tutorial on how to set up palettes and color layers: Creating a Microsoft color font (CPAL/COLR)
    You just need to set up the color layer in each master and export as variable font. I attached a small sample file and the resulting .ttf.
    This is how the layer are structured:


  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 2,867

    Although FontLab 8 has introduced support for color in recent versions, exporting a variable color font is not yet possible without using additional methods. From what I understand, the process involves exporting the variable font (in .ttf format) and the COLRv1 + CPAL tables separately and then merging them afterward.
    FontLab 8 can export color variable fonts directly, including COLRv1+CPAL.

    I think version 8.4 may include a profile out of the box for it (I have one in my own setup, but I might have added it). If not, then:
    • Do File > Export Font As….
    • Choose the Variable TT profile, click Customize….
    • Change the Profile name to something appropriate such as “Variable TT COLRv1”. Turn on “OT+COLR: Chrome Windows” in the Export color font files section. Click OK.
    • Choose your destination and export.
  • Thank you, Georg and Thomas, for your feedback! I tried to customize the export by including the COLR table as Thomas suggested, but it didn’t work. I realized that the issue was due to one of the elements in a master having a different color than its corresponding element in the other master.

    Thank you, guys, for shedding light on this topic, regarding FontLab and Glyphs. I feel a bit embarrassed that the solution was right in front of me from the beginning!  :*