Hi all,
I am trying to synchronize masters as I did in Glyphs and I can't for the love of me understand how to do it; I have given up.
I set a simple weight axis, added two masters on it, from there I have no idea what to do. The guide on the site is very complicated and the video on the FL channel has no audio?? Please help.
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I usually just step between incompatible entries in the Layers & Masters panel and that's enough for me to spot where the incompatibility is. There is also a way to view masters together, and an option to visualise steps of interpolation between them, which is a good way to see if there are problems and what those problems are, but embarrassingly I can't remember how to do it and the UI has not revealed its secrets to me today.
There is also the Match Masters tool in the Glyph menu (also a button at the bottom of the Layers & Masters panel), which does a pretty good job automatically making outlines compatible by relocating start points but may also insert points and can make mistakes, so use with caution and always check results.
To be compatible, the glyph needs same number of nodes, same direction, and same start point among the masters.
Let's say you duplicated a Regular master to create a Bold one. If you just move nodes and handles to change the glyph into a bolder draw, they will remain compatible. But if you add a node in Bold, you need to add a "mirror" node in Regular.
In most cases, this is not a problem. But complex glyphs or extremes masters may ask for additional nodes and adjusts.
Of course, this is a basic introduction to a complex topic. Our documentation is being revised.
Probably you need to share your actual file(s) with somebody so they can go over them with you. They would particularly need to look at your Font Info data, particularly Axes and Masters sections, as well as look at the Variations panel. Either FL tech support or one of the members here who uses FL7 for variations all the time— such as me or Vassil Kateliev.
@Vasil Stanev: From the little experience I gathered with the current Fontlab, I would also suggest to tackle the various aspects one at a time, starting from the very beginning, when you do not have the character set almost finished or so…
Verifying consistency between Layers and Master names is infinitely more clear if you have less glyphs. Otherwise a wrong Layer name could easily slip in, especially if you are copying glyphs from another font file.