Znovupoužití tvarů: segmentové komponenty

In short, a segment glyph is a glyph with a special name containing an open path, which then can be injected as a segmentová komponenta into a host path.

Step 1 Create the _segment glyph

Zvolte Glyf > Add Glyphs (Cmd-Shift-G) and type the name of our new segment glyph. For my example, I will choose the name _segment.spike. The name of a segment glyph must start with _segment, followed by an arbitrary dot suffix.

Draw an open outline along the účaří, and put a start anchor on the first node, and an end anchor on the last node, perhaps like this:

You can choose Glyph > Set Anchors (Cmd-U) to add the two anchors to your segment glyph. Ujistěte se your start and end anchors snap exactly onto the first and last points. And do keep them on a horizontal stretch. How high exactly does not matter, but I guess keeping them on or around the účaří makes the handling easier.

Step 2 Insert the segmentová komponenta

Now that we have set up our segment, it is time to put it to good use. Bring up one of your letters, let’s say an H, then select a segment, klikněte pravým tlačítkem and pick Add Segment Component from kontextové menu:

You will be presented with all segmentová komponentas in the font. In case you have many already because you got carried away with creating segmentová komponentas, you can quickly search in their název glyfus by typing a search term:

And voilà:

Repeat with other segments you want to use it for, and do not forget to add it to all masters in case you have a multiple-master setup in front of you. Congratulations, your segmentová komponentas are live!

Good to know Behavior of segmentová komponentas

The cool thing is, the segmentová komponenta will be squeezed or stretched onto the receiving segment, no matter what its length is. So, depending on what exactly your segment glyph looks like, it may be a good idea to have different versions for different sizes, think of _segment.spike.xHeight and _segment.spike.capHeight, you get the idea. Na druhou stranu, if it is just a simple bend, e.g., for a cupped serif or a tapered stem, you might just as well get away with just one segmentová komponenta for all applications.

And, at least to some degree, a segmentová komponenta even gets bent onto a curve,
ta-daaa:

So if you plan to apply your segmentová komponenta to curve segments as well, perhaps avoid node triplets. Sounds complicated? Yeah, but don’t worry, just experiment a little, and you will get the hang of it in no time.

Update 2022-07-27: updated title, related articles, minor formatting.