Font Remix Tools

2023-05-30 – version 1.1.18

• Fixed the scaling of anchors in the RMX Scaler.
• RMX Scaler: fixed the handling of “Blend in alternates” if multiple glyphs are scaled and only some have an alternate.
• Further improved stability.

2023-05-26 – version 1.1.17

• Added more precautions against crashes in newer Glyphs versions (caused by telling Glyphs to re-draw the shapes).

2023-05-24 – version 1.1.16

• Fixed an issue that occurs when the RMX Scaler is used from the font window.

2023-05-24 – version 1.1.15

• Many detail improvements to the output of the RMX Harmonizer. We finally have a mathematically accurate implementation Supersmooth a.k.a. G³ continuiity, and the algorithms handles unusual, extreme or complex Bézier point set-ups more reliably and accurately. Also, further improvememnts to the internal “faithful rounding” that keeps the outlines as close as possible to the intermediate, un-rounded shape.
• Note: the Harmonizer improvements also enhance the results of the other tools if you work with integer co-ordinates, as they internally apply the Harmonizer’s dekinking mode, and faithful rounding. The outlines should now be even closer to the ideal, fractional-coordinates shape.
• Improved support for brace layers.
• New RMX Scaler feature: “Blend in alternates”, which you can find in the ( · · · ) menu if alternates (i.e. source glyph name plus dot suffix) exist in the font. For example, you can use this to create small caps with longer serifs: Create alternate capitals (such as A.longserif) with significantly longer (much too long) serifs, including adjusted spacing, then choose the desired amount by blending them in in the RMX Scaler dialog.
• Some compatibility updates for Glyphs 3.2.
• Several smaller fixes and improvements.

2022-04-07 – version 1.1.14

• Fixed an issue that prevented RMX from loading when there is no internet connection.
• The RMX Harmonizer now has less of a preference for extracting one handle to the intersection.
• Small changes to the Harmonizer dialog.
• Some smaller fixes and improvements under the hood.

2021-01-22 – version 1.1.13

• Added a work-around for a bug in Glyphs 3.0.1 that causes right kerning groups to be erased.

2021-01-21 – version 1.1.12

• RMX Tuner: Fixed the field for blending in copied layers.

2021-01-18 – version 1.1.11

• RMX now supports ARM-based Macs (again).
• RMX Harmonizer: updated “Copy custom parameter” to work with Glyphs 3.
• RMX Harmonizer: re-touched the dialog for Big Sur.
• RMX Scaler: small bug fix related to brace layers.

2020-12-18 – version 1.1.10

• Fixed a crash in the RMX Scaler when some masters are incompatible.

2020-12-17 – version 1.1.9

• Fixed a crash when two masters have identical weight.

2020-11-27 – version 1.1.8

• In Glyphs 3, RMX now checks for updates independently (as Glyphs does not perform the check any more).
• Fixed a crash.

2020-11-18 – version 1.1.7

• Support for Glyphs 3!
  Note: You can install RMX for Glyphs 2 and RMX for Glyphs 3 side-by-side, as each version of Glyphs has its own Plugins folder. Copying the file manually into the folder will not work as macOS will not trust the plug-in. Just drag the RMX.glyphsFilter file onto the icon in the dock, and make sure you install the right RMX version that matches the Glyphs version. Finally, don’t forget to re-start Glyphs!
• Better support for files with a great number of masters.
• Improved accuracy when changing the width of italics.
• Support for multi-dimensional brace layers.
• Fixed handling of nested components.
• Non-master layers are no longer removed from scaled glyphs.
• The RMX Harmonizer is now even more stable with complex Bézier curve structures.
• The RMX Scaler now always scales the sidebearings, the gear menu option has gone.
• Many smaller fixes

2019-10-17 – version 1.1.6

• Updated for macOS Catalina: the plug-in is now notarized
• Many smaller fixes
• Better support for custom axes (as defined by the “Axes” custom parameter)

2018-05-08 – version 1.1.5

• RMX Scaler/Monospacer: fix problem with disappearing corner components

2018-04-30 – version 1.1.4

• Support for random axis order and types as introduced in Glyphs 2.5
• Fix some crashes (Thanks, Morten and Angus!)
• Improve handling of anchors by the RMX Tuner
• Better warnings for invalid input
• Update the internal interpolation algorithm
• Switch corner components and caps (using suffixed versions) if applicable (Thanks, Jan!)
• Further smaller fixes and refinements

2017-12-08 – version 1.1.3

• Further fixes and refinements (Thanks, Reto!)

2017-11-16 – version 1.1

• Support for grid spacing and subdivision

  • The font’s grid spacing and subdivision, as set in the Font Info’s Other settings tab, is now fully implemented.
  • If the font has a grid spacing of 0, all RMX tools work with fractional coordinates.
  • If the font has a grid spacing of 1, but the contours have fractional coordinates, RMX rounds them as it processes the shapes. This can be the case after setting the grid to 1 because Glyphs does not immediately round the coordinates when changing the grid.
         Another, very useful case for RMX’s rounding capabilities is to use the RMX Harmonizer as a Custom Parameter on export so as to automatically de-kink, possibly harmonize, and smartly round the contours.
         The RMX rounding provides significantly higher fidelity than pure point-by-point rounding as it would be performed by Glyphs on export: Aside from de-kinking smooth nodes and tangent points, RMX tries to find point positions that resemble the ideal, fractional shape as closely as possible by slightly moving diagonal nodes along the curve, and tweaking diagonal handle lengths, to find the best possible integer-coordinate constellation of nodes and handles.

• RMX Harmonizer

  • Supersmooth diagonals now gives much better results, and now has an effect in more cases than in RMX 1.0. The internals are complex but I will try to give an explanation:
         Supersmoothing effectively means shifting the node perpendicular to the handles. Usually a very small shift, less than one unit, is required. This constitutes quite a challenge if integer coordinates are used: The “neighbouring” position is more than half a unit away, and if that is too much, RMX 1.0 would have not move the node at all. In the latest version, after internally working with fractional coordinates, the internal rounding mechanism would “play around”, trying to move the node along the curve and hopefully find a position that, after all control points have been adjusted, effectively bumps the curve out or in by just a very small amount.
  • In curves adjacent to straight lines, one handle is extracted up to the intersection if appropriate. This improves the transition between straight and curve – in fact, from a mathematical point of view, it establishes “supersmoothness” at the transition point.
  • Many small improvements and fixes under the hood.

• RMX Scaler

  • If the font has a width axis, i.e. masters of different width, the RMX Scaler allows to tweak the result using this axis. The dialogue will show an additional row of fields named ± Width. This gives you the option to scale height and width by the same percentage, and control the width using the ± Width control.
         The result is usually somewhat different and often better. Especially when the scaled glyph is proportionally significantly wider, and extrapolation is involved, such as extrabold superiors, applying ± Width generally gives more convincing results than increasing the general Width percentage.
  • If the font has a third, “custom” axis such as optical size, the RMX Scaler allows to tweak the result using this axis as well, showing an additional row of fields named ± Custom. As an example, small caps often benefit from adjusting the optical size.
         Note that the custom axis names introduced in Glyphs 2.5 are not yet supported by the Font Remix Tools.
  • When generating from source, if there are compatible alternates for the source glyphs, you can choose Blend alternates from the gear menu.
         As an example, RMX-generated small caps often have somewhat too short serifs. To fix this you can set up non-exporting alternate capitals with longer serifs, such as A.longserif. I recommend to exaggerate the longer serifs because we can later control the degree of the tweak in the final result. Don’t forget to adjust the spacing accordingly (and note that metrics keys referring to the plain capitals can be very helpful here).
         When generating the a.sc from the A, you can choose Blend alternates → .longserif from the gear menu, which shows another row of fields that lets you blend in the A.longserif as a source, effectively giving you precise control of the serif length of the small caps.
         Depending on the design and set-up of the masters in the font, it may be sufficient to tweak only one master in the .longserif glyphs.
  • In italics, when vertical shift is applied, the contours are also shifted horizontally to account for the italic angle. For example, if your zero is centred (i.e. has the same left and right sidebearings) then your RMXed zerosuperior will also be centred.
  • This version allows for more decimal digits in the user input. So, you now can scale by exactly 70.74613% if you want to.
  • Components are no longer “switched”. When generating from source, all components are decomposed; when scaling in-place, all components are preserved.
         Accented small caps, or other glyphs containing RMXed glyphs as components, should be set up using the standard mechanisms provided by Glyphs. Anchors are correctly adopted and “scaled” from the source glyph.

• Slanting

  • The internal slanting mechanism, which retains vertical extrema, is now more reliable and true to the shape one would get when slanting the contours including the handles.
  • The (very limited) compensation of the stroke weight distortions any slating brings, as it was performed by previous RMX versions, has been dropped.
  • This also affects the small internal slants applied by RMX Scaler and RMX Monospacer to retain the italic angle when expanding or condensing glyphs.

2016-03-07 – version 1.01

• Fix: prevent errors while adopting metrics keys.
• Fix Monospacer tab order and master assignment.

2016-02-22 – version 1.0

• First release version!
• When adding derived glyphs, new glyphs without stored settings adopt the others’ settings.
• Metrics keys in derived glyphs are updated according to the suffix.
• Stored values are retained when scaling the whole font.
• Hints (i.e. also corners and caps) are retained.

2016-02-01 – version 1.0 beta 30

• Fixes the update notification.

2016-01-29 – version 1.0 beta 29

• Numerous small fixes.
• Monospacer: apply "keep stroke" only for condensed glyphs.
• Tuner: allow blending for single-master fonts.
• Tuner: check blendability.
• Harmonizer: ”Filter string” is now called “Copy custom parmeter”.
• Scaler: no more mix of generating from source and in-place.
• Note: This is the final beta. It will expire on March 31st.
• The commercial release will be in late February.

2015-11-17 – version 1.0 beta 28

• The masters’ “Weight” values are now used as standard stems (instead of the first vertical stem).

2015-09-08 – version 1.0 beta 27

• Fixed several crashes (thanks Georg).
• Fixed broken components handling/switching.
• Fixed RMX Tuner cancel behaviour.
• Fixed handling of zero-advance-width glyphs.
• Fixed suggested source for Cyrillics.

2015-07-22 – version 1.0 beta 26

• Fixed several crashes (thanks Georg and Michał).
• RMX Tuner: fixed the undo (thanks Ralph).
• RMX Tuner: fixed and improved incompatibility warnings.
• Improved interpolation calculation.
• RMX Scaler: decompose in more cases (thanks Michał).
• Several smaller fixes.

2015-07-10 – version 1.0 beta 24

• Fixed several crashes.

2015-07-08 – version 1.0 beta 22

• Improved handling of composites: components are swapped on the basis of the suffix, otherwise decomposed.
• Brace layers are now supported: the RMX Tuner can tune them, the RMX Scaler uses them as input.
• Fix: use correct source.

2015-06-17 – version 1.0 beta 21

• The RMX Scaler now scales kerning, adopting it from the source glyphs if applicable.
• Kerning groups are adjusted for glyphs generated from source.
• Naturally, the RMX Monospacer removes all kerning for the monospaced glyphs.

2015-05-18 – version 1.0 beta 20

• Now RMX retains the italic angle when expanding/condensing/monospacing
• Scaling now works if not all masters are compatible (but only for those masters that have a compatible partner master)
• If anchors are incompatible then the contour is scaled.
• Several fixes

2015-04-17 – version 1.0 beta 19

• German localisation (Thanks Georg!)
• Tweaks to the dialog layout
• Improved tab order (requires Glyphs 2 release version)
• Supports the Glyphs 2 updating system
• Scaling anchors works again
• Many other small fixes

2015-04-13 – version 1.0 beta 18

RMX Monospacer:

• New in this version.
• The “Keep stroke” setting controls in how far the weight of the strokes is retained. For example, 0% results in pure geometric scaling while 100% fully retains the strokes. For the heavier weights, values between 60% and 80% are recommended.
• “Use spacing” controls extends whether the monospacing is achieved by condensing and extending the shapes, or by adjusting the spacing. For example, 100% creates fake monospaced versions. 40% is usually a good starting point.

Updates to the RMX Scaler:

• “Scale sidebearings” moved to the gear menu.
• Dialogue layout and behaviour refined.
• Values stored per layer, not per glyph. This makes it more robust when re-arranging the masters.
• Unchanged default values (such as 100% weight) are not stored. This reduces the file size.
• Now supports up to 10 masters.
• Many small fixes and improvements under the hood.

Updates to the RMX Harmonizer:

• “Extract handles” now respects selection.
• Smaller fixes.

2015-03-30 – version 1.0 beta 17

New UI for the RMX Scaler:

• In this new version, you always select the target glyphs, not the source glyphs.
• The source glyph is auto-detected but can be specified manually if only one (target) glyph is selected.
• Tip: On first use, duplicate the source glyphs, adjust the suffix and select. RMX will detect the source on the basis that they have identical outlines.
• After the use of the (new) RMX Scaler, derived glyphs (such as small caps) will remember the source and the scaling values. This is also stored in the .glyphs file.
• In-place scaling does not store (in fact, removes) the scaling values.
• The gear-wheel menu allows to copy & paste the values, for additional backup if prefer to have one.
• For now (and for the next couple of versions), legacy presets are still available as read-only. Please migrate them soon since I will remove the old presets menu at some point.

I hope these changes make the tool simpler and more powerful. Storing the settings in the source glyphs seems to make most sense to me, you can even select different kinds of derived glyphs (such as small caps and superiors) and update them all in one step. Sharing the files between computers is also easier now.

On my to-do list:

• Improved tab order
• Add scaled version as new master(s), somewhat analogous to the FL version’s “Add width axis”.
• Manually define the source standard stems and store them.

2015-01-07 – version 1.0 beta 16

• Several fixes for the RMX Scaler

2014-12-07 – version 1.0 beta 15

• Many smaller fixes
• New feature in the RMX Tuner: Blend in backup layer. If a backup copy of the layer is found then you can blend it in (think of it like a stepless undo). Note that this does not check for contour compatibility yet, so use with care. This feature is not yet available in the German localisation.

2014-12-01 – version 1.0 beta 14

• RMX Scaler and RMX Tuner now works with arbitrary masters.
• This required a major rewrite under the hood, which brought along numerous smaller fixes.

2014-11-16 – version 1.0 beta 13

• Fix some problems when using RMX in Glyphs 2.

2014-07-15 – version 1.0 beta 12

• This is a maintenance update.

2014-01-15 – version 1.0 beta 11

• Minor fixes.

2013-10-15 – version 1.0 beta 10

• This is a maintenance update.

2013-05-30 – version 1.0 beta 09

• The Tuner now works with any master setup, including odd number of masters.

2013-05-30 – version 1.0 beta 08

• Bug fixes and UI tweaks.

2013-04-23 – version 1.0 beta 07

• Improved handling of components and anchors.
• Now you can save presets with the RMX Scaler, similarly to RMX for FontLab.

2012-12-19 – version 1.0 beta 06

• A first step towards supporting odd numbers of masters and other niceties not available in FontLab.
• For now, only the RMX Tuner, which works with three weights. More elaborate functionality to come.

2012-08-29 – version 1.0 beta 05

• This is a maintenance update.

2012-06-08 – version 1.0 beta 04

• This should fix the crashes reported by some users.

2012-05-01 – version 1.0 beta 03

2012-03-12 – version 1.0 beta 02

2012-02-22

• Initial release