Creating designspace files ↩
A .designspace file is an XML-based description of a multi-dimensional interpolation space.
- The designSpace format specification
Creating designspace files with DesignSpaceEditor
DesignSpaceEditor is a RoboFont extension which provides a simple interface to create and edit designspace data – without any interactive preview, map etc. DesignSpaceEditor is open-source and can be installed with Mechanic 2. If you want to navigate and visualize your design space you can use Skateboard for RoboFont.
- Design your designspace using DesignSpaceEditor’s interface.
- Click on the Save button to save the data to a
.designspacefile.
Creating designspace files with designSpaceLib
Designspace files can also be created with code: FontToolsAn open-source library for manipulating font files with Python. supports reading & writing .designspace files using the designSpaceLib.
DesignspaceLib started as DesignSpaceDocument, a separate library, and was later incorporated into fontTools.
The script below will create a .designspace file for MutatorSans. To try it out, save it in the MutatorSans folder next to the UFOs.
import os
from fontTools.designspaceLib import DesignSpaceDocument
root = os.getcwd()
doc = DesignSpaceDocument()
familyName = "MutatorMathTest"
#------
# axes
#------
doc.addAxisDescriptor(
maximum=1000,
minimum=0,
default=0,
name="width",
tag="wdth",
)
doc.addAxisDescriptor(
maximum = 1000,
minimum = 0,
default = 0,
name = "weight",
tag = "wght",
)
#---------
# masters
#---------
doc.addSourceDescriptor(
path="MutatorSansLightCondensed.ufo",
name="master.MutatorMathTest.LightCondensed.0",
familyName=familyName,
styleName="LightCondensed",
location=dict(weight=0, width=0),
copyLib=True,
copyInfo=True,
copyGroups=True,
copyFeatures=True,
)
doc.addSourceDescriptor(
path="MutatorSansBoldCondensed.ufo",
name="master.MutatorMathTest.BoldCondensed.1",
familyName=familyName,
styleName="BoldCondensed",
location=dict(weight=1000, width=0),
)
doc.addSourceDescriptor(
path="MutatorSansLightWide.ufo",
name="master.MutatorMathTest.LightWide.2",
familyName=familyName,
styleName="LightWide",
location=dict(weight=0, width=1000),
)
doc.addSourceDescriptor(
path="MutatorSansBoldWide.ufo",
name="master.MutatorMathTest.BoldWide.3",
familyName=familyName,
styleName="BoldWide",
location=dict(weight=1000, width=1000),
)
#-----------
# instances
#-----------
doc.addInstanceDescriptor(
name='instance_LightCondensed',
familyName=familyName,
styleName="Medium",
path=os.path.join(root, "instances", "MutatorSansTest-Medium.ufo"),
location=dict(weight=500, width=327),
kerning=True,
info=True,
)
#-------
# rules
#-------
doc.addRuleDescriptor(
name='fold_I_serifs',
conditionSets = [[{'name': "width", 'minimum': 0, 'maximum': 328 }]],
subs = [("I", "I.narrow"),],
)
doc.addRuleDescriptor(
name='fold_S_terminals',
conditionSets = [[
{'name': "width", 'minimum': 0, 'maximum': 1000 },
{'name': "weight", 'minimum': 0, 'maximum': 500 },
]],
subs = [("S", "S.closed")]
)
#--------
# saving
#--------
path = os.path.join(root, "MutatorSans_test_.designspace")
doc.write(path)