Recalibrating SHAP and renaming

[davelab6]

@MrBrezina I'd like to request a recalibration of the axis, so that SHAP's default value is 400 (plain squares with no gaps.) Is this a trivial change to the .designSpace file?

@rosawagner if David agrees, and it is trivial, perhaps you could just make this happen? :)

[MrBrezina]

Why why why? :) I like the circles as default.

[davelab6]

Because this is more legible at small sizes, and it is common to render the family name in the default style.

[davelab6]

I am also not sure what the current range means, I initially wondered if 0..100.00 with -2 precision would be better, but then I realized the current values do have a logic.

However, after careful review of the entire axis, there are a few more useful shapes than what you named so far, so I wonder if using int numbers for each would be better, and putting the rotations at quarter and half values. Also the more "minor" shapes towards then end have half values. This leads me to propose 0..20.00 :)

Current value	Label (bold is new)	Meaning	Proposed value
100	Blank	No ink	0
150	Triangle	Top left corner triangle	1
300	Square	Square	(default) 2
349	Lozenge	Square rotated 45deg	2.25
400	Square 2	Square, identical rendering to earlier one	2.5
425	Block	1:2 rectangle	2.75
450	Rectangle	3:5 rectangle	3
500	Bar (Vertical)	1:7 rectangle at 0deg	4
550	Bar (Diagonal Up)	1:7 rectangle at 45deg	4.25
600	Bar (Horizontal)	1:7 rectangle at 90deg	4.5
650	Bar (Diagonal Down)	1:7 rectangle at 135deg	4.75
700	Bar (Vertical) 2	1:7 rectangle at 0deg, identical rendering to earlier one	5
775	Block 2	1:2 rectangle, identical rendering to earlier one	6
800	Square 3	Square, identical rendering to earlier one	7
820	Rounded Square	Square with rounded corners, works best for weight 250..375	8
875	Squircle	Square with very rounded corners, 1970s vibe	9
900	Circle	Circle	10
933	Egg	Oval 3:4	11
950	Oval	3:5 oval	12
1,000	(None)	Rounded bar, looks weird	13
1,050	(None)	Rounded bar at 45deg	13.25
1,100	(None)	Rounded bar at 90deg	13.5
1,150	(None)	Rounded bar at 135deg	13.75
1,200	(None)	Rounded bar at 180deg	14
1,250	Oval 2	3:5 oval, identical rendering	14.5
1,300	Circle 2	Circle, identical rendering	15
1,350	Clover	Clover	16
1,400	Flower	Flower	17
1,500	Star	Star at 0deg)	18
1,550	Star (Diagonal)	Star at 45deg)	18.25
1,600	Star 2	Star at 180deg, identical rendering to earlier one	18.5
1,650	Star (Big)	Star with larger body	18.75
1,700	Spindle	Twisting shape	19
1,737	Pin	Map pin	19.5
1,800	Heart	Heart shape	20

[davelab6]

The axis name Shape (SHAP) is broad, and I propose a more narrowly specific name would be better, Dot Shape (DSHP).

[davelab6]

Or maybe, Dot Shape (DOTS)?

[MrBrezina]

Or rather ESHP (Element shape)?

On 13 Aug 2020, at 16:44, Dave Crossland notifications@github.com wrote:

The axis name Shape (SHAP) is broad, and I propose a more narrowly specific name would be better, Dot Shape (DSHP).

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

[davelab6]

ESHP sounds good to me. What about the above int values table?

[davelab6]

I'd also be grateful if you would use the same axis name, tag and range on https://v-fonts.com/fonts/gridlite

[MrBrezina]

Yeah, that would make sense.

On 14 Aug 2020, at 21:45, Dave Crossland notifications@github.com wrote:

I'd also be grateful if you would use the same axis name, tag and range on https://v-fonts.com/fonts/gridlite

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

[MrBrezina]

Re instances.

I am not sure if we need to have the “Square 2” etc. instances at all. I tend to think about instances as convenient static samplings of the variable space. They do not need to correspond to masters if these exist only to make nice variable transitions.

If the rotating ovals look bad (rounding errors affect them a lot), we can just drop them.

You have removed the rotating lozenge and multiple tilts of the star. Just saying to keep it explicit.

I would rename “Star (Big)” to “Big Star” and keep the parentheses for describing rotation only.

So the result could be something like this:

Current value	Label (bold is new)	Meaning	Proposed value
100	Blank	No ink	0
150	Triangle	Top left corner triangle	1
300	Square	Square	(default) 2
349	Lozenge	Square rotated 45deg	2.25
425	Block	1:2 rectangle	2.75
450	Rectangle	3:5 rectangle	3
500	Bar (Vertical)	1:7 rectangle at 0deg	4
550	Bar (Diagonal Up)	1:7 rectangle at 45deg	4.25
600	Bar (Horizontal)	1:7 rectangle at 90deg	4.5
650	Bar (Diagonal Down)	1:7 rectangle at 135deg	4.75
820	Rounded Square	Square with rounded corners, works best for weight 250..375	8
875	Squircle	Square with very rounded corners, 1970s vibe	9
900	Circle	Circle	10
933	Egg	Oval 3:4	11
950	Oval	3:5 oval	12
1,350	Clover	Clover	16
1,400	Flower	Flower	17
1,500	Star	Star at 0deg)	18
1,550	Star (Diagonal)	Star at 45deg)	18.25
1,650	Big Star	Star with larger body	18.75
1,700	Spindle	Twisting shape	19
1,737	Pin	Map pin	19.5
1,800	Heart	Heart shape	20

For convienience, this is my original naming:

100 -> Empty
200 -> Triangle
300 -> Square
333 -> Tilted square 30
366 -> Tilted square 60
400 -> Tilted square 90
500 -> Rectangle
533 -> Tilted rectangle 30
566 -> Tilted rectangle 60
600 -> Tilted rectangle 90
633 -> Tilted rectangle 120
666 -> Tilted rectangle 150
700 -> Tilted rectangle 180
800 -> Square transition
900 -> Circle
1000 -> Oval
1033 -> Tilted oval 30
1066 -> Tilted oval 60
1100 -> Tilted oval 90
1133 -> Tilted oval 120
1166 -> Tilted oval 150
1200 -> Tilted oval 180
1300 -> Circle transition
1400 -> Flower
1500 -> Star
1533 -> Tilted star 30
1566 -> Tilted star 60
1600 -> Tilted star 90
1700 -> Spindle
1800 -> Heart

[kontur]

Done with #5

[davelab6]

I am not sure if we need to have the “Square 2” etc. instances at all. I tend to think about instances as convenient static samplings of the variable space. They do not need to correspond to masters if these exist only to make nice variable transitions.

That's fine with me, the full table with all the labels may be useful for animators, but keeping the number of named styles down is fine with me.

By releasing fonts with limited fvars and full STATs, we incentivize app developers to support STAT data if not proper axis variation based type specification.

If the rotating ovals look bad (rounding errors affect them a lot), we can just drop them.

Sounds fine.

You have removed the rotating lozenge and multiple tilts of the star. Just saying to keep it explicit.

Rotating lozenges are at what values? As lozenge itself is "Square rotated 45deg" then I didn't see a lot of value in 15 or 30 degrees,.

For star, I have 0 and 45 degrees; what other angles do you think is relevant?

I would rename “Star (Big)” to “Big Star” and keep the parentheses for describing rotation only.

That's fine

As @kontur went ahead, I'll take a look but I expect the above set of names to be fine.

However, do note that only the Weight axis should have fvar named instances, everything else should be in STAT only. This is because many legacy apps use the "WWS" style model (or worse) and can't deal with fvar named instances outside that model (at least not in a way that is compatible with static font files of the family.)

[kontur]

Thanks for the feedback. If desired I'm open to changes here, though, after all it's just semantics.

However, do note that only the Weight axis should have fvar named instances, everything else should be in STAT only.

Yes, implemented like that now.

[MrBrezina]

Rotating lozenges are at what values? As lozenge itself is "Square rotated 45deg" then I didn't see a lot of value in 15 or 30 degrees,. For star, I have 0 and 45 degrees; what other angles do you think is relevant?

30 or 60, but I guess it not necessary. It is a variable font after all. :)

[kontur]

I had followed the renaming but missed that the new mapping for this axis, too, remaps the values. Will fix that still.

For what it's worth, the semantics of those angles do not make it anywhere into the actual font. Just saying :)

[kontur]

This might or might not actually require review of the design, because the number of named / design stops has changed or is relocated. I'll clarify with David and then update.

[davelab6]

Sounds good, thank you

[MrBrezina]

Here is the updated list of instances and masters (sources and scripts updated, compiling the fonts is left to @kontur).

Objectives:

1. comparable transformations should occupy the same space on the axis (e.g. transition from square -> rectangle should take as much space as rectangle -> square, 90 degrees rotation of the bar should take as much as 90 degrees rotation of the star)
2. rotation by 90 degress should correspond to 0.5 increment, by 180 degress should correspond to 1.0 increment
3. most of the interesting shapes should be positioned on whole numbers (this is not always possible)
4. masters do not need to be positioned on whole numbers
5. not all whole numbers correspond to masters
6. diagonal positions are masters for better control, the funny numbers like 2.11 corresponding to 20-degree rotation are used to avoid rounding errors (also, I could not rotate by 22.5 degress in Glyphs 🤦 ), but hey it is fun and should work just as well!
7. narrow forms (rectangles, ovals) have proportion 1:8 (I hope it is ok, @davelab6, it corresponds better to the general proportions)
8. rectangles and oval have the same proportions (hence some proposed oval shapes changed a little)
9. the rotation of ovals has been removed

Table of masters and instances

Note that the values in the Glyphs source use ESHP values that are multiplied by 100 (i.e. 211 instead of 2.11) since Glyphs does not seem to allow decimal values atm.

Intended ESHP value	Master glyph name (in case it is a master)	Instance label (for instances only)	Description
0.00	pixel.ESHP-0	Blank	No ink
1.00	pixel.ESHP-100	Triangle	Top left corner triangle
2.00	pixel.ESHP-200	Square	Square
2.11	pixel.ESHP-211	—	Square rotated 20 deg
2.25	pixel.ESHP-225	Lozenge	Square rotated 45 deg
2.36	pixel.ESHP-236	—	Square rotated 65 deg
2.50	pixel.ESHP-250	—	Square rotated 90 deg
3.19	—	Block	1:2 rectangle
3.36	—	Rectangle	3:5 rectangle
4.00	pixel.ESHP-400	Bar (Vertical)	1:8 rectangle at 0 deg
4.11	pixel.ESHP-411	—	1:8 rectangle at 20 deg
4.25	pixel.ESHP-425	Bar (Diagonal Up)	1:8 rectangle at 45 deg
4.36	pixel.ESHP-436	—	1:8 rectangle at 65 deg
4.50	pixel.ESHP-450	Bar (Horizontal)	1:8 rectangle at 90 deg
4.61	pixel.ESHP-461	—	1:8 rectangle at 110 deg
4.75	pixel.ESHP-475	Bar (Diagonal Down)	1:8 rectangle at 135 deg
4.86	pixel.ESHP-486	—	1:8 rectangle at 155 deg
5.00	pixel.ESHP-500	—	1:8 rectangle at 180 deg
6.50	pixel.ESHP-650	—	Square (transitional master)
6.80	—	Rounded Square	Square with rounded corners (works best for weight range 250–375)
7.63	—	Squircle	Square with very rounded corners, 1970s vibe
8.00	pixel.ESHP-800	Circle	Circle
8.69	—	Egg	1:2 oval
8.86	—	Oval	3:5 oval
9.50	pixel.ESHP-950	Thin oval	1:8 oval
11.00	pixel.ESHP-1100	—	Circle (transitional master)
12.00	—	Clover	Clover
13.00	pixel.ESHP-1300	Flower	Flower
14.00	pixel.ESHP-1400	Star	Star at 0 deg
14.11	pixel.ESHP-1411	—	Star at 20 deg
14.25	pixel.ESHP-1425	Star (Diagonal)	Star at 45 deg
14.36	pixel.ESHP-1436	—	Star at 65 deg
14.50	pixel.ESHP-1450	—	Star at 90 deg
14.75	—	Big Star	Star with larger body
15.00	pixel.ESHP-1500	Spindle	Spindle (aka lantern)
15.37	—	Pin	Map pin
16.00	pixel.ESHP-1600	Heart	Heart shape

[MrBrezina]

@kontur once you get this to compile let me know and I will check if all the values work as expected.

[MrBrezina]

@kontur @davelab6 I am happy with this. The only, minor, change I would make is to change the Rounded square position from 6.80 to 6.90 to make the roundedness more visible. Other than that, all fine by me.

[davelab6]

Thanks! I'm happy with this