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Topic: Editing .wmfs, deleting unused staves (Read 3835 times) previous topic - next topic

Editing .wmfs, deleting unused staves

Hi,

I'm trying to print a score on the fewest number of pages possible. It's a choir piece with handbells, trumpet, timpani, and organ. When an instrument's staff is empty across the width of the page I would like it not to print, but I understand that NWC does not support this feature yet. (I hope this feature is included in a soon to be released upgrade...)

What I am trying to do now is use the print preview to save each page as a .wmf file and then open the pages in Paint Shop Pro to delete the unused staves and combine the smaller systems on fewer pages. However, when I print the new .wmf versions, the print quality is not as high. The overall size of each items is the same whether I print from NWC or the .wmf but the edited .wmfs look "pixelated" as if Paint Shop is doing a poor convertion of the vector data to a .bmp file.

If I use Paint Shop to print the files they always look this way. If I use an image viewer to print the NWC .wmfs they look perfect. If I use the viewer to print a file I have edited and saved with Paint Shop it looks better than printing with Paint Shop, but the curves look much blockier, and the staff lines don't look even as they do when printing the NWC .wmfs. What is going on here?

Is there a program I can use to edit the files which will not degrade the print quality, or is cutting, pasting and xerox copying the original NWC printout the only way to do this and still look good?

Thanks for you help,

David

Re: Editing .wmfs, deleting unused staves

Reply #1 –
Before you try anything else, try this:

The resolution of a WMF exported from NWC is determined by the resolution of whatever printer is selected at the time. This is because the WMF comes from "print preview."

If the default printer is too coarse, or even too fine, the end result may be pixelated. Optimum seems to be 300 DPI. It may be counter-productive to set an excessively high resolution.

If that doesn't do the job, another method would be to split your composition into a number of separate compositions, containing different staves. Create separate WMFs from them, and paste them as independent pictures into your word processor. Crop excess white space.

Since I have a lot of software, my own solution to the problem is to create a PDF document from NWC, then edit the PDF as a drawing object in Illustrator.

As you wrote, it would be a good added feature for NWC to handle blank staves.

Re: Editing .wmfs, deleting unused staves

Reply #2 –
Here's a tip that works - from personal experience;

Try copying it as a .BMP file instead of a .WMF! Of course, you'll have to install the 16-bit version, but it doesn't degrade the file when you open it with Paint Shop!

Notice that what they said earlier about the resolution of the printer you selected is so true it hurts!

P.S.: has anybody ever tried to open a .WMF file from a computer that does NOT have NoteWorthy installed in it? If you did, you'll understand why I love converting into .BMP's!!!

Re: Editing .wmfs, deleting unused staves

Reply #3 –
Metafiles will open OK on another computer if the computer has the required fonts installed.

Re: Editing .wmfs, deleting unused staves

Reply #4 –
I thought I had seen references in the archives to .bmp files, but I didn't see the option. So, if I install the 16 bit version that available? Sounds like it's worth a try.

I did try setting my print resolution to 300 dpi, but it just makes the NWC native print output look not so nice. At 600 dpi laser printout from NWC looks absolutely beautiful. I didn't have any better luck with editing the metafiles that way either. If I had Illustrator I would definately try that with PDF files. As it is I've just done a cut and paste job. I just hope the cut lines and tape don't show on the copies...

I'll try the 16 bit version and see what happens. I really hope that the ability to supress blank staff printing is added to the next version. If it's version 2 I'd be thrilled to pay for it for this feature alone. Another thing on my wish list is the ability to change the measure numbers at any measure.

Thanks for the advice.

Re: Editing .wmfs, deleting unused staves

Reply #5 –
You're most welcome!

Uh... I've got a question mark in my face, now: Changing the measure numbers at any measure...?!?!? What does THAT mean?!? One thing would be nice in the program is the option to either put rehearsal letters, OR highlighting a specific "rehearsal" bar number... But... changing it?!? I don't understand...

Re: Editing .wmfs, deleting unused staves

Reply #6 –
Well, I was printing out the trumpet part from the score I've been working on and it starts out with, say, 24 measures of rest. So, with boxmarks I can get a very nice looking rest of that duration, but it only takes up one measure, so the measure numbers are all wrong. I fixed that by setting the first measure number to 24 which worked fine.
But, when the trumpet is again out for an extended time I cannot fix the measure numbers by any way that I can figure out without monkeying around and printing twice and then cutting and pasting again. Am I missing something?

I was thinking that after each extended rest I could reset the measure number to the correct number to match the rest of the score.

Are you getting around this with invisibility settings? I just thought of that as I was typing this. I haven't played too much with that. Maybe I should try that.

Re: Editing .wmfs, deleting unused staves

Reply #7 –
I think one of the problems too is the counting of repeat bars and partial bars (where the Master Repeat is in the middle of the standard bar). At least it would be nice to have an ability to state whether a bar should be counted for the purposes of numbering.

Peter