So I posted this to a online job forum. I'd like to get some thoughts from the type design community because we fundamentally understand what this is supposed to be. Basically, imagine a illustrator document with multiple nested multiple master fonts, each with their own sliders.
Taking a fleur-de-lis as an example, one component might represent the top structure, the second the "petals" the third the mid body and the last part the bottom. Each component would be made up of multiple other interpolated .svgs, allowing each fleur di lis to be different by interpolating the four different components separately.
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I want to create a tool. This is something I'm thinking of open sourcing since it could be valuable to others. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions or if there is something that I am missing that is currently available.
I'm a font designer, and we work with so-called variable or multiple master fonts. It's something we've been working with for over three decades. In essence, you've got vector designs that are on top of one other. All of the points in the two pictures correspond 1:1, you can swiftly interpolate intermediate instances of these vector drawings.
In addition to only two examples, you could theoretically go up to an endless number of them and interpolate between them for varied outcomes. What I'm looking for is a tool that lets me make separate parts of a larger drawing.
Using a stylized depiction of a cat as an example, you might have a collection of interpolated vectors representing the tail with sliders that also move to intermediate instances, basically giving it different characteristics.
Another may represent the body, while others could represent the legs or the face, as well as different subcomponents of the face.
Each of these components would be connected to the others with anchors “anchors.” These anchors would be interpolated as well.
The main document would include all of the interpretable instances. GUI Sliders would be used to control these interpolated instances, and these sliders would have user-specified attributes.
For the sake of simplicity, let's use a cat as an example. Let's imagine you have a slider that indicates “curly” and it maps to an SVG or vector document with a curlier tail.
So, in essence, I'm looking for a tool that will allow me to join a big number of interpolated sub-documents, which will then be placed on some form of design space. Then, specifying steps, It would be possible to export these intermediate instances.
In addition, it would be a requirement to allow for flipped and rotated instances. For example, mirroring a face or something else symmetrical would only require half of the shape. Placing the shape on the main document, the shape could be replicated and mirrored or rotated.
This appears to be something that might be done with P5js, Processing or, preferably, a Python application. Possibly an inkscape plugin.
This application might be beneficial in the creation of NFTs, in my opinion. This concept occurred to me long before the NFT Revolution, but it has gained fresh relevance as a result of it.
Please see the attached concept explanation and UI mockup.
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Any thoughts on next steps? Am I unclear? Most freelancers seem to fundamentally miss what I'm trying to do here, so I'm reluctant to move forward.
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I wonder if it might make sense to leverage font tech in the background to make it work, using existing libraries. After all, variable fonts do have the underlying capabilities of what you want. And although PostScript variable fonts are not terribly widely supported in general, they do work in Illustrator, so you could use the same kind of drawing primitives (cubic Bézier curves).