Typophile

How to make a random font in fontlab,somehow it doesnt work

timmyneutron

Hej,
can any one help me with this problem:
I am just starting to work with fontlab and try to make a font that has an alternative for each glyph that changes between those two (seemingly) random. I tried to test it with the following code trying to change the letter A of andale mono to an alternate version of the A ( A.salt):

feature calt {
sub @class1 @class1' by @class2;
} calt;

I have made to classes , class1: A and Class2: A.alt ( both are listed as opentype classes
somehow this does not work, i cant even export my file as a font
what am i doing wrong and how can i solve this problem?

I really really need help!

All the best
Timmy

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Show us your error messages.

timmyneutron

Here it goes:
[FATAL] invalid token (text was "@") [/Users/timmy/Library/Application Support/FontLab/Studio 5/Features/fontlab.fea 1]
[FATAL] <1> invalid token (text was "@") [/Users/timmy/Library/Application Support/FontLab/Studio 5/Features/fontlab.fea 1]

timmyneutron

Here it goes:
[FATAL] invalid token (text was "@") [/Users/timmy/Library/Application Support/FontLab/Studio 5/Features/fontlab.fea 1]
[FATAL] <1> invalid token (text was "@") [/Users/timmy/Library/Application Support/FontLab/Studio 5/Features/fontlab.fea 1]

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Are you able to compile any other class-based OT features?

timmyneutron

Hej james,
you mean like other features? i am not sure... what should i type into the opentpye window to test it ?
Thanks for your help so far!

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Try starting your OpenType explorations with some of the simpler features as they’re explained at FontProgramming.com. Also try compiling Free Font Pro, the OpenType font that comes in Fontlab’s samples directory.

timmyneutron

Mh, i dont know why but suddenly it seems to work! cool! thanks James!

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Did you restart Fontlab along the wya? When stuff doesn’t work it can be worth restarting Fontlab. Weird stuff can happen in Fontlab that gets flushed out when the program is restart.

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