On 22 Jan 2010 at 0:24, Mark D Lew wrote: > On Jan 20, 2010, at 8:33 PM, David W. Fenton wrote: > > > Why isn't this fixed in Finale? Surely it's something Sibelius does > > by default, since it's so braindead wrong in Finale! > > Can you describe algorithmically what you think the fixed program > should do?
For a syllable that is attached to a note followed by another note (or several notes) lacking syllables, the width of the syllable should be allocated to all the notes available before the next syllable to the right. It looks pretty simple to me, actually (and I'm looking at it as a computer programmer...). And if it were in a plugin, I wouldn't mind that, either (remember that automatic syllable extensions were not introduced until Finale 2004, so I'm using the plugin for that, and I'm fine with it, even though it makes mistakes that have to be corrected -- it's still better than doing it manually). > My feeling about lyric spacing is that it's an artificial > intelligence type task which can't be easily formulized. Even if > they redid the algorithm so that it was only considered a collision > if the lyric collides with another lyric, as opposed to the > horizontal position of a note with no syllable, you're still going to > get sub-optimal results. I'm not that picky, though I don't produce the stunningly beautiful scores that folks like Dennis Collins do (I'm not sure I've ever seen your engraving, but my bet is you're much pickier than I am -- I'm just trying to get performable parts and scores ready before rehearsals begin). > I couldn't even describe a feature that would result in lyrics that I > wouldn't still go back and fuss with sometimes. (Though I could name > several small improvements....) In my experience, it is only when I try to jam too much music into too little space that I get bad lyrics spacing. In doing editions for my viol consort, the preference is for two-page scores or parts (though three pages are fine for works with movement breaks, we don't do very many of those). -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
