Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Converting score to jpg? (Read 9570 times) previous topic - next topic

Converting score to jpg?

Is there a way to convert the score to a jpg or some type of image file?  I'd like to post some of my scores as images online.

Thanks!

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #1 –
well you could print and scan it into your computer, also there might be something you can do with that feature that puts scores onto like word documents, but im to unfamiliar with that feature to say for sure

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #2 –
Easy deal!

From NWC Print Preview, copy each page to a placeable metafile. This works in NWC1 or NWC2, but you might find better results in NWC2. Warning: Do not use printer resolution higher than 600DPI, or you may choke the memory when you later open a metafile.

Obtain the free program "Irfan View." This program can open a metafile and export it as a graphic image of your choice, including JPG. But I think you will like GIF or TIF better.

You can also try this: Create a PDF document from your music. One popular, free method is to obtain "PDFCreator" from sourceforge.net. Once you have PDF, you can open it in Adobe Reader, magnify the document, then copy each page to a clipboard image. From there, you can paste the image into a compatible program.

There are other methods. But my point is that with the proper stuff, it is routine. It has to be done one page at a time.

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #3 –
I agree with Robert.  Another thing to try is to go to print preview, make the entire page visible, and then to Alt-PrintScreen.  This puts a .bmp image into your clipboard.  Paste it into any imaging program, crop out the unwanted borders, and you'll have an image you can save to .jpg.

I haven't tried it, so it may not work.  I suspect if there's a problem, it will be in the resolution.  Zooming out in print preview may make the characters too, pixilated?, to make a good .bmp image.

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #4 –
...not Alt-PrintScreen (which does work), but simply Print Screen.
It's all about keystrokes, man.

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #5 –
Well, let's disagree. Alt-PrintScreen puts the active window in the paste-buffer, which is what you want most of the time. Not the whole screen (so to echo your words a bit, PrtScr does work).

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #6 –
On my laptop, I must use a special key "FN" plus PrtSc (print screen). So, the key combination may be hardware-specific.

Also, on my computer if the music extends past the visible screen (which it is likely to do, at high resolution), then print screen does not capture all of the image. No good.

Best bet: Placeable metafile (EMF) at 300 to 600 dpi in NWC2, then opened in Irfan View. If in NWC1, the metafile (WMF) may be improperly scaled in Irfan View - so in this case, I would capture the image from magnified PDF. The Acrobat Reader page capture tool gets all of the page image, even if off-screen.

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #7 –
Thanks, guys.  I'd never heard of a metafile before now.  I made an EMF, saved it as a PNG, opened the PNG in Photoshop and made a JPG from there.  It might complicated, but I think I'll go nuts if I download yet another program.

Thanks again!

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #8 –

Robert A said:
"Easy deal!

From NWC Print Preview, copy each page to a placeable metafile. This works in NWC1 or NWC2, but you might find better results in NWC2. Warning: Do not use printer resolution higher than 600DPI, or you may choke the memory when you later open a metafile.

Obtain the free program "Irfan View." This program can open a metafile and export it as a graphic image of your choice, including JPG. But I think you will like GIF or TIF better."
_______________________________________________
. . . but when I do this from NWC 1.75b I have a very poor quality TIFF file when viewed with Photoshop, no matter what resolution I set on the printer (is there somewhere else to set res?)

Frank

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #9 –
Another option is to get yourself one of these freeware PDF writers (I use CutePDF, there are others), create a PDF of all the pages, and then use gsview in combination with ghostscript to convert to jpeg, or whatever.

Use google to find the tools.

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #10 –
Quote from: Frank Kolwicz –
Obtain the free program "Irfan View." This program can open a metafile and export it as a graphic image of your choice, including JPG. But I think you will like GIF or TIF better."
_______________________________________________
. . . but when I do this from NWC 1.75b I have a very poor quality TIFF file when viewed with Photoshop, no matter what resolution I set on the printer (is there somewhere else to set res?)
Try reducing the color depth of your monitor. For some reason, IrfanView (and some other apps) produce a higher resoulution jpeg (or tif) when in 16bit or 256 color mode (as opposed to TrueColor)
Registered user since 1996
 

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #11 –
Rick G said:

"Try reducing the color depth of your monitor. For some reason, IrfanView (and some other apps) produce a higher resoulution jpeg (or tif) when in 16bit or 256 color mode (as opposed to TrueColor)"

16 bit is better, Rick, but still some staff lines, at least, have dropped out, so I'm still not getting publication quality output. I checked in actual paper print, not just in Photoshop which sometimes doesn't show fine lines due to sizing inconsistencies vs screen res.

Frank

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #12 –
The easiest way is to use Adobe Acrobat, not the reader, the real thing. You simply print your score to PDF, then when Acrobat opens the PDF, you do File / Save As, and you save it as a .jpg file.

For this to work, you need to buy Adobe Acrobat, which is well worth its price anyway.

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #13 –
I can't see buying AA just to produce the jpg.  The programs that create PDFs by emulating a printer give you a perfectly readable, print quality, image that can be printed,  emailed or published on a website, with very little effort on your part. 

The person receiving/reading the file just needs to have Acrobat Reader, a free plug-in. 

Why complicate things by producing a jpg, particularly if it costs money?

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #14 –
Quote from: David Palmquist [SNIP
SNIP]
Why complicate things by producing a jpg, particularly if it costs money?

David,

Because I wanted to edit the file in Photoshop to put in the hairpins and stuff the way the original author marked his manuscript, but I have since sprung for the latest version of NWC so that I can use NWC2 beta which is supposed to make stretched hairpins over the selected notes. That eliminates one need to take a publishable quality file out of NWC and into an external editor, it may still be easier to edit some mistakes in a program that doesn't tie things like Inserts to the notes themselves, since all I'm really interested in is the paper copy, not the playable file. Wouldn't that be nice? A way to separate printing from playing, giving each different options?

Now, if NWC2 just allows search and replace in Lyrics and Inserts, I'd be solving most of the remaining problems that I've encountered so far. Of course, I'd also like to determine the length of stems and exactly where ties and slurs go. . . .

Frank

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #15 –
Search and Replace in Lyrics: yes, that would be very handy.
As it is now, with a ctrl-c and ctrl-v here and there, I do search and replace using my favourite editor.
I simply paste back the results.
Workaround time again...
Rob.

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #16 –
Frank, I understand now.  Thank you.

The stem lengths are controllable in version 2, so that's a bit of good news for you.

The slurs and ties; well, they're probably the biggest impediment to having a product that would produce professional quality output.   Those, extensions of the line over special endings, and a flexible, extendible dotted or dashed line to use for 8va's and such, are are needed. 

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #17 –
Here is another Vector Graphics editing tool which will import EMF files and export as JPG, PNG and EML.
It's Freeware.

UNIDRAW
http://webdraw.digitalcreation.us/download.htm

I haven't tried it with NWC but I've had success with the output from other apps that export EMF.

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #18 –
If you have Adobe InDesign you can easily use the print preview copy to not the first option but the second one.. and save each page of the song separately and then place them on an InDesign document and EASILY convert the InDesign document to PDF -- in pdf you can take a snapshot and I suspect you can use whatever graphics program you use (I use Adobe Photoshop) to paste and save as a jpg

Re: Converting score to jpg?

Reply #19 –
I've found a way to get a high quality copy of a NWC score into a graphics program (Photoshop) without the need for any .pdf intermediate.

I do the Preview/Copy to Clipboard then paste it into "Atlantis", a full-featured word processor/page layout program which has the ability to output an inserted image, like an NWC file on the Clipboard, to any of a variety of graphic file formats, including TIF and JPEG. From there on I can handle any of the forms in the file as graphics, making any modifications needed: rotation, stretching/compressing, moving, etc. As long as the notes are in the right places on the staves, the symbols and text that are above or below and whole staves themselves, can very easily be modified as needed without disturbing the notes/staves. If the parts on the staves need to adjusted, it's a bit more finicky, but can be done like any other graphics.

Besides that, since I added the font, Photoshop can now type in Boxmarks just like any other font and then manipulate them as graphics in a separate layer making adjustments even easier. Pure joy!