I'm wondering others experience on this:
Of course, every typeface can have different needs, but for something like a relatively standard sans serif family with multiple weights, I'm curious how extreme of a difference in stem width/weight you use for light and bold masters (I call them light and bold just for distinction in the working file, you may call them something else).
I know some may use 3 or 4 masters (light, regular, bold, etc.) but I've so far found that I can interpolate all intermediate weights pretty well from just having a light and bold (plus, in Glyphs, a few brace layers for /e /a /s as needed) and being careful about point placement.
I draw my Light master somewhere in the 20-30 stem width range and my Bold somewhere in the 180-200 stem width range so that it doesn't take much to extrapolate a Thin and Black. The awkward part is that this is a pretty extreme visual difference in weight to switch back and forth between as I'm drawing all my glyphs. I try to avoid having a Regular master to keep things a little simpler, but I have to rely on previews of the intermediate weights as I go along.
Setting the stem widths for the masters listed above, I can generally add or subtract 10 - 20 units for extrapolated weights like Thin and Black with pretty solid results. Beyond that though and the points can get a little wild.
What's your setup look like: 2 masters? More masters? What stem widths do you work from for your extreme masters?
Of course, every typeface can have different needs, but for something like a relatively standard sans serif family with multiple weights, I'm curious how extreme of a difference in stem width/weight you use for light and bold masters (I call them light and bold just for distinction in the working file, you may call them something else).
I know some may use 3 or 4 masters (light, regular, bold, etc.) but I've so far found that I can interpolate all intermediate weights pretty well from just having a light and bold (plus, in Glyphs, a few brace layers for /e /a /s as needed) and being careful about point placement.
I draw my Light master somewhere in the 20-30 stem width range and my Bold somewhere in the 180-200 stem width range so that it doesn't take much to extrapolate a Thin and Black. The awkward part is that this is a pretty extreme visual difference in weight to switch back and forth between as I'm drawing all my glyphs. I try to avoid having a Regular master to keep things a little simpler, but I have to rely on previews of the intermediate weights as I go along.
Setting the stem widths for the masters listed above, I can generally add or subtract 10 - 20 units for extrapolated weights like Thin and Black with pretty solid results. Beyond that though and the points can get a little wild.
What's your setup look like: 2 masters? More masters? What stem widths do you work from for your extreme masters?