At 08:06 AM 5/5/2006 -0500, Scot Hanna-Weir wrote: >how many times I've wished >that the "select partial measures" option would let you actually apply >something to just that part of the measure. There are so many things, (staff >styles, measure attributes, plugins), that only work on a full measure, >where it would be nice if you could easily implement it over a beat or two. >Eh, more dreaming.
At some point I would hope that Finale gives up its fundamental binding to measures and staves. Then much of the kludge stuff would vanish. Staggered barlines would be no problem, styles could apply anywhere, any object attached to any other object (including particular staff lines or spaces, barlines, and positions in a grid), etc. The measure would then become one more object that could be used -- or not. Ossia would work. Parts would be their own component, meaning there could be a meaningful part/score relationship. The copy/paste commands could be truly independent. Steps are being made in this direction by detaching elements by choice, but it's grown into a hodge-podge of exceptions and plugins. On my personal wish-list are: Staggered barlines, individually color-painted score elements, partial tuplets, tapered dashed slurs/ties, arbitrary but functional time signatures, arbitrary beaming (any note to any note, irrespective of beat or measure), the ability to change the characteristics of any single element in the score (stem thickness, note size/font, flag font, etc., etc.), beaming across staves (instead of that wretched cross-staff beaming tool), move curve points on slurs, making any item 'bendable', and an increase in the number of layers (to a minimum of six). Reworked search/replace dialog for fonts to choose multiple fonts, styles, etc., in one pass, that also includes a list of fonts used in the document (TGTools font info command crashes for me on both Win98SE aned WinXP with an "EAccess Error" -- I've let Tobias know.) Reworked key system to handle non-standard key signatures and micro/macrotones effectively in score and playback (using alteration, cents, frequencies, etc). Reworked shape designer that permits font shape and position adjustments, colors and shading, shadows, etc., and the possibility of fully and partially locked resulting objects (that is, those that cannot be changed in any way and those that can only be resized without losing internal object positioning; the present grouping does not function properly in my opinion). Reworked expression system so it is fast and easy to arrange, find, and get to expressions. Optional multiple expression menus (frequently used, dynamics, texts, etc.) instead of a dialog box could be very effective. Reworked articulation and score object dialog that allows each object to be selected by font, size, etc. Presently, some dialogs are locked into the default music font. (The default music font should be a master music font, with as many sub-font changes as needed; the present dialogs make that difficult in some places, impossible in others.) Introduction of page styles that contain elements to be applied to any given page -- like a staff style, but a page style. Page style for score page 1, movement beginnings, movements endings, orchestrations, final page, all typical pages, etc. (Page styles could even replace score templates.) A complete revamp of the menu system. We've discussed this before, and it's a point I can't seem to make effectively. Finale's icon/menu/dialog system has reached its limits. There are other ways, and it may be time to address that. All for now, Dennis Please participate in my 2007 project: http://maltedmedia.com/waam/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
