OUTLINE/STROKE Issue inside font/letters

[helmut-meeth]

Hello Community,

I have a very strange problem which appeared out of a sudden last week.

As you can see on the attached image:
When I use a certain font and put an outline - then the outline shows every single bar of the letter.

It is a google font "EXO 2.0" which we use as the main font for our company for years now. We never had a problem with this font.

Here's what I found out during my own troubleshooting:

I tested it on another computer with the same ILLUSTRATOR version: Problem does not appear

I deinstalled Illustrator and reinstalled the latest version: Problem still appears

I downgraded to an older version of ILLUSTRATOR: Problem still appears

I deinstalled and reinstalled the font: Problem still apears
Problem does not appear in INDESIGN

Problem does not appear in PHOTOSHOP

The problem appeared suddenly especially with this font - other fonts work like expected

I already contacted the designer of the font - no answer so far.

I tried a google search for a similar problem - I tried german and english but couldn't find any similar situation except one where someone asked the same question but didn't get an answer that helped.

Since it i our main font we use for our company - this problem gives me quite a headache - any help is highliy appreciated!

[Doug A Roberts]

"In March 2020, the family has been updated to a variable font family."

This occurs with all variable fonts in Illustrator, since they are constructed from discrete shapes that get wider/narrower.

[helmut-meeth]

Thanks for the info - but this problem occured since last week. And does only happen on my computer at work.

I never had this problem before last week.

Hope there is a solution.

[Doug A Roberts]

I should say it happens with some variable fonts -- I'm not sure why some and not others:

Some discussion of workarounds here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/removing-overlaps-in-lettering-from-variable-fonts/td-p/1...

For instance, add Outline Stroke and Effects > Pathfinder > Add to the stroke in the appearance panel:

[helmut-meeth]

I just checked and yes it appears on all VAR Fonts.

This is weird - since it does not appear on my other computer though - using the same font.

[helmut-meeth]

Thanks for the link - finally I got some informations and the right keywords to search for 🙂

[helmut-meeth]

Holy moly - here was my solution!

Thanks to Doug!

I finally realized that my computer here at work got reinstalled a couple of weeks ago and our IT guy took the updated EXO 2.0 font to install on my machine.
At home I still use the old version before it became a variable font - which was the main keyword here.

So now I reinstalled the old version which I luckily still had in an older backup folder - and voilá - problem solved!

Hope Adobe will fix this issue anytime soon since more and more VAR fonts appear or fonts get an update and become a VAR font family.

Thanks again for pointing me into the right direction! Headaches immediately gone!

[Doug A Roberts]

All the non-variable weights are still available -- they'll be in a folder called 'static' when you download the font family.

I don't know whether this is an Illustrator problem or something font designers can fix, since not all variable fonts demonstrate this:

[Doug A Roberts · Accepted solution]

The family only added a variable version last year -- are you sure it's the same font on both machines?