Defining and Generating Instances
An instance definition records a location and the identity of the style you want there. It does not add another drawing to the designspace. Define the useful family members first, then generate source results when you need to inspect or edit them independently.
Predefined Instances
Open Font Info > Instances. A predefined instance is a saved location with naming and output properties. Use + to add an entry, select it, and enter its design-coordinate location, such as wt=500,wd=100. Give it a style name that describes the intended family member.
The Instances page lists named outputs and the selected instance’s style and location settings.
Keep three uses of “instance” distinct:
- The predefined instance is a saved definition in the source project.
- The dynamic instance is the current live preview location.
- A named instance in a variable font is an exported record that an application can offer as a convenient location.
Changing a predefined instance's location changes what will be calculated for it. It does not move a master or redraw a stored glyph layer. Keep the location within the configured design range. A static source result can use an extrapolated location within that range; a named location for variable output must remain within the range supported by the participating masters.
Build a list
From Axes builds combinations from the named positions defined for individual axes. For example, three weight positions and two width positions can produce six instance definitions. Parenthesized neutral style phrases can be omitted from combined names, so a neutral width need not appear in every style name.
From Masters uses the existing master positions as starting instance definitions. It is useful when the family begins with styles at those positions and will later gain intermediate styles.
These bulk-generation controls rebuild the instance list. Save or record custom entries before replacing a list you have already refined. After generation, review locations, names, style links, and duplicates. The panel also includes From Graph.
The blue inclusion control on each row determines whether that instance is included in export. None and All change the list's inclusion state. Select an entry and use − to remove its definition; this does not remove a master drawing. The Variations panel also provides an add-instance route for retaining a location found during preview.
Keep axis instances separate from full predefined instances. An axis instance names one position on one axis; a predefined instance specifies a full designspace location. STAT style-attribute data derives from axis instances, independently of the list of full predefined instances.
Instances as Styles
For each instance, set its typographic Style name and appropriate design attributes. The style name identifies its role within the family; weight and width classifications describe the static font that can be produced from it.
The expandable static-instance properties provide a Style group, Style link, and optional Family name override. Use them to organize legacy Regular/Italic/Bold/Bold Italic groups or to give selected static styles a different family identity. Leave a family override empty when the instance should inherit the source font's family name.
Do not put more than one style into the same role within one legacy style group. For example, two different weights cannot both be that group's Bold. Review the generated names rather than assuming that automatic naming has expressed every intended menu relationship.
Those static properties do not create separate family identities for named instances inside a variable font. Variable output identifies its designs through the font's axes, names, and style information. One instance list can help prepare both a static family and named variable locations, but the two outputs do not use every field in the same way.
Before generating a family, compare a small group of entries: a regular style, its bold counterpart, an italic if present, and a style outside that four-member group. Check both their numeric locations and their names. A correctly named instance at the wrong location is still the wrong design.
Generating from Instances
Use Font > Generate Instance to specify or choose a location and decide what to produce:
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Add Instance | Saves the location as an instance definition. |
| Add as Master | Adds a calculated design as a master of the current source. |
| Create as Font | Creates a separate, editable one-master source font. |
These operations have different consequences. Adding a definition leaves the interpolation sources alone. Adding a master introduces another source into the model. Creating a font gives you an independent result that can be saved and edited separately.
Generate Instance previews the chosen location. Add Instance records a definition, Add as Master changes the source model, and Create as Font makes a separate font.
To inspect a prospective style independently, choose its location and Create as Font, then check the resulting glyphs, metrics, and naming. Save it as a native source if you want to keep that branch. Producing the installable font is a later export operation.
Add and reinterpolate a master
An instance-derived master can be useful when an intermediate design needs its own corrections:
- Preview the proposed location and inspect representative glyphs.
- Choose Add as Master and give the new master a distinct name and location.
- Edit the glyphs that need independent correction.
- Recheck the blend on both sides of the added location.
If you later move that master's location, FontLab does not automatically redraw its content to match the old blend at the new position. Keeping that drawing bends the prior blend around its new location. You can retain that change deliberately, or use Glyph > Reinterpolate to recalculate the layer from other sources and remove the deviation it would otherwise introduce. Recall the nonlinear mapping and extrapolation distinctions in Advanced Axis Management.
Reinterpolate replaces the target layer's content. Save the work you need before using it. Select the intended glyphs and target master, then run the command and inspect the result. The target is excluded as a source for its own recalculation.
Treat this as a layer-content operation, not a font-wide reset of kerning or Font Info. It can replace anchors, guides, hints, and metrics as well as outlines, while retaining the layer’s identity and display flags. Inspect those values and objects after recalculation.
Excluding a master from interpolation changes the sources available to that calculation. To exclude a drawing from this calculation, use its Service state in the Layers & Masters panel, then review the remaining sources before reinterpolating. Do not wait until a surprising result has replaced the target.
An extrapolated design can also become a source master, but refine it and test the resulting range. Generating it establishes data at that location; it does not establish that the drawing is ready to deliver.