On Apr 12, 2006, at 12:21 PM, Scot Hanna-Weir wrote:
Thanks! I tried these out some and they seem pretty nice in comparison to the default values. One of the big challenges that I face here at A-R is attempting to make Finale look like MusE, (our proprietary software). One of the things I find myself doing often is adjusting slurs at system breaks to give them more height and clarity, showing they are slurs, not ties. These numbers might be extreme in some cases, but then again, maybe not:
In Smart Slur Options:
Slur System Breaks:
Avoid Staff Lines by 24 (a big increase from the previous 8)
Nah, that's still tiny. Assuming you're talking EVPUs, in inches that's from 2/100 inch to 8/100 inch, or from less than 2 points to 6 points. I even had mine set to 0 for a while without noticing much problem, but I guess situations that WOULD cause problems didn't come up very often for me.
System Start Adjustment -12
System End Adjustment 0
The start and end are horizontal distance from the right system margin for system end and from the start of music for system start. (or at least that’s how it appears). Adding a negative value to system start adjustment moves the beginning of that slur to the left. Careful it doesn’t but into your clefs if they are a little bigger/wider.
Those settings appear to be completely reasonable to me. Some of these might be adjustable depending on what your tie settings are, to avoid collisions with them or to appear slightly different than ties (I know my opinion is not universal, but I like my ties to be distinguishable from slurs.)
I’m curious if someone can enlighten me as to what exactly the initial adjustment options are talking about when we say stretch and lift? I read the manual page and was still left wondering a little.
That's what to do to avoid collisions with the arms of accidentals. Stretch means the arc is made higher, while lift means that the tip of the slur is raised (when the slur is OVER a passage. Obviously the directions are reversed for slur underneath.)
My problems with stretch are two-fold. We have all seen those wildly high arcs when the last note of a slur has an accidental, but if you specify a small maximum amount of stretch, then the collision is not avoided. Plus, you end up manually adjusting anyway.
I like lift a lot more, as it permits me to keep a relatively flat and uncluttered slur arc, while still avoiding the collisions with accidentals. The main problem with excessive lift is that it can separate the tie end so far from the notehead that the association is harder to see. Yet, I think it is better than excessive arc. Some make the slur end in question curlier near an accidental (by dragging the outside handle towards the tip), so that neither much lift nor much stretch is necessary.
Christopher
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