Bold font not working for TrueType Collection fonts

[gsingh_2011]

I've noticed that I'm unable to bold certain fonts, even though they should support being bolded. Here we can see that Arial works fine, but Snell Roundhand doesn't:

Here we can see in macOS's Font Book that there is a Bold style available for this font.

My current guess as to why this isn't working is that Arial has one TTF file per style:

Whereas the Snell Roundhand font is a TTC (TrueType Collection) file that contains multiple TTF fonts in one file at /System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental/SnellRoundhand.ttc.

Am I correct that this is the issue? If so, are there any plans to support TTC files? These files are common, at least on macOS, and the contained fonts are just normal TTF files so it doesn't seem like it should be difficult.

[g-andresen]

Hi,

Basically, fonts are designed for 2D graphics applications.
There it is only of secondary importance, if at all, how cleanly the contours are connected to each other.
However, when expanding in Z, self-intersections can occur.
This can be a problem, especially with conical profiles.
It should also be noted that statements about whether TTF or OTF is more suitable in Fusion 360 are not justified.

günther

[Warmingup1953]

I was taught to use TTF for any 3D operations....Has that changed?

TTF or OTF?  

[gsingh_2011]

Sorry if I'm missing something, I'm not sure how this relates the issue of the bold not working for the font?

[g-andresen]

Hi,

---

@gsingh_2011 wrote:
Sorry if I'm missing something, I'm not sure how this relates the issue of the bold not working for the font?

---

There is no automatism that a Bold version is just as extrudable as another one.

günther

[g-andresen]

Hi,

There are just as many recommendations for OTF versions.
However, my experience shows that there is no generally valid recommendation for either TTF or OTF.

günther

[bentwookie · Accepted solution]

You're not missing anything. Fusion doesn't index into font families correctly. Sometimes I see the weights in the picker but selecting them doesn't change the font. Sometimes I don't see the weights at all. 

When I need to work with text, I do it in another app and export the paths as a DXF or SVG. Mind you, those import flows are challenged in ways (scaling is usually wrong, paths can be flipped or rotated), but I can usually get what I need done.

[gsingh_2011]

In this case, the bold version extrudes fine. This question is solely around using a bold font in a sketch, extruding is a completely separate issue.

[gsingh_2011]

Thanks, this is what I do as well right now, but it's unfortunate because it wastes time and it's something fairly straightforward for Fusion 360 devs to fix.

Is this forum the correct/official place for bug reports and feature requests? Would be nice if someone from Fusion 360 could comment on whether they're tracking this issue internally.

[g-andresen]

Hi,

As far as I know, there is no set of rules for the creation of fonts including their variants (Bold ...).
You therefore have to live with surprises when using them in CAD applications.

günther

[bentwookie]

Günther's right that font meta data can be squirrelly, however I do think there's a bug with how Fusion works with fonts. 

    for (NSString* fontName in [fontManager availableFonts]) {
        if ([fontManager fontNamed:fontName hasTraits:NSBoldFontMask]) {
            NSLog(@"%@", fontName);
        }
    }

Gives us (among others)

SnellRoundhand-Black
SnellRoundhand-Bold

So it looks like the metadata is there to select (at least one) bold face correctly, but Fusion doesn't back the button with it. Seems like something they could fix, although in my opinion, a better UI would just be a list of font families and weights. Let me pick the actual face I want.