About previewing extrapolations

[viterzbayraku]

I have a font that has two axes and two masters: weight (100-400) and width (3-7). Even recently, I had the opportunity to enter in the weight field, for example, the parameter 30, and have a super thin font. Or enter a width of 10, and have a very wide font as a result of negative interpolation outside master points. Now, for some reason, there is no such possibility. Outside of the 2 axes, the text field turns red and does not generate these options. Is it possible to turn back the ability to generate fonts outside of defined masters points? Thank you.

[Mark2Mark]

Hi and thanks for your notes.
May I ask why that would be useful? The thing is, that extrapolation is not possible with variable fonts (and the plugin focuses on previewing variable fonts). So if you see an extrapolated rendering, that is something you will never be able to see in the actual exported variable font, hence a preview of the extrapolation would be misleading.

[viterzbayraku]

This is useful primarily for the generation of new masters, which are then used as new wider points at the beginning or end of a variable font. For example, I have an old font that has regular and bold. I want to create a super thin and black version. I'm generating new masters for the axes, uploading them as masters, and have an advanced font created based on interpolation.

[Mark2Mark]

I'm generating new masters for the axes, uploading them as masters,

You mean you generate new instances and add them as masters, right?

How often does that happen in a normal workflow, and wouldn’t the built-in preview (at the bottom of Glyphs) not suffice for previewing those temporary instances that will be then turned into the new masters?

[viterzbayraku]

You mean you generate new instances and add them as masters, right?

Yes!

How often does that happen in a normal workflow

Often because I have a lot of my old fonts. And there is a need to expand their potential.

The Glyphs preview below might be enough. Although, ideally, it should also work in a popup window. It's important for me to generally be able to add my new experimental axis values near the sliders and see somewhere how it would look. And then to generate these new instances.

[Mark2Mark]

Although, ideally, it should also work in a popup window.

You can also pop up the built-in preview: Glyphs Menu > Window > Preview Panel

be able to add my new experimental axis values near the sliders and see somewhere how it would look

I’ll see what I can do.