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Topic: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5 (Read 15344 times) previous topic - next topic

Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Version 2.5 looks like it is a great leap forward in quality. 

Certain features, such as the dotted barline and the special endings features,  are easy enough to understand how and when they should be used.

Others need more experimenting with.  I understand the use and mechanics of the MMRs, but still have to get to grips to fully understand the functions and use of the associated check-boxes in the same dialogue box.

As for spacers and boundry changes - well, I don't understand when they should be use at all, let alone how they should be implemented.  I am completely at a loss here.

I tried to look at Rick's "Hyfrydol" example to have a look at what he has done so as to learn something but I found myself even more confused (maybe I was not supposed to look under the hood).  But the print preview looks fantastic - nothing short of perfect - and I want to learn how to do that too!

It would be wonderful if someone would explain, with some illustrations or simple examples, the effects and benefits of these new features.  One of the reasons why I have been a loyal nwc user is it's simplicity and the fact that I knew how to use it inside out.  Now I feel a bit like a fish out of the water, not knowing where to start with these new features.

Any takers here for this one ?

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #1 –
You are quite correct - with all the goodies available now, we  have to learn how to use them.

Can't help you with all your queries.

In the attached "Cello_EXPER.nwc" I've used the SPACER many times.
(Prints at 20pt on A4 to 1 + 1/2 page, with 1.27cm margins all round.)

Without using the spacer it would need much more space to print.

Making triplets better readable, is another application for the spacer.

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #2 –
That's an excellent example on the use of spacers Hymo.  It did not occur to me that this feature can be used to reduce spaces by giving it a fractional value.

Thanks a lot.

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #3 –
Haymo has given a good example using spacers.

I attach a rough and ready series of instructions using the Scott Boyd "Rose" file supplied with NoteWorthy in the Samples.
This will take you through :

Setting new Boundaries
Collapsing a staff
Gapping the staff for a coda
Starting a new page.
Label abbreviations for systems after the first system.

Please note that the instructions relate to a page set up using A4, so if you want to follow these through, please go to the printer setup and set the paper size to a4 first.

Edit (Also, these are the other settings :
Margins are all in Centimetres and all are set at 1.27
Staff metrics are 18pt.
Page title Text is 24 pt.)


Hope this helps.
Rich.

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #4 –
Richard, I tried following your attached instructions to modify ROSE. I set my printer setup to A4. With no changes, Print Preview (page 1) showed four 3-staff systems beginning at  M1, M6, M12 and M19. I added the "Start a collapsable section" before the G-clef in M1, and a "Cancel" before the first note in M9. Print Preview still showed 4 systems, each starting on the same measures as before, except Sys1 was only 2 staves. So far so good.

I then changed the staff labels. Since "Piano" is so much shorter than "Grand Staff2", the Print Preview now had the four systems starting at M1, 7, 12, and 18, and page 2 beginning with M24, which is the Coda. I think the next step of your example was meant to show a gap in the middle of the staff, so I changed the labels back to "Grand Staff2/Pno." Now the systems began with M1, 6, 11, 17 and (on p2) 23.

I added a gap of 6 on each staff as the first object in M24. In the editor,  I saw a sort of ruler of 6 steps (each step divided in half) in the gap of the staff.  In Sys 1 and 2 it was touching the Master Repeat Close and touching the staff where the staff resumed. (The resumed staff had no bar line. Is that correct?) But in Sys 3, the "ruler" began about 1.5 units past the MR Close. It did touch the staff where it resumed, but that resumption was about 1.5 units after the other two systems. Print preview was worse: the gap on Sys 2 was about double the gap on Sys1, and on Sys 3 it was slightly larger still. Is that a bug? And the slurs in Sys 2 and 3 began just after the MR Close, through the entire gap, even if the gap was made very large. Shouldn't ties and slurs begin at the beginning of the printed staff, or only slightly before?  (That's as far as I went with the example.)

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #5 –
Quote from: fathafluff –
Preview (page 1) showed four 3-staff systems beginning at  M1, M6, M12 and M19. I added the "Start a collapsable section" before the G-clef in M1, and a "Cancel" before the first note in M9.

Ahh - Mine only showed 3 - so I reduced my margins so that I got your example.
OK

I think I need to specify what all of my settings are :

Margins are all in Centimetres and all are set at 1.27
Staff metrics are 18pt.
Page title Text is 24 pt.

Other points from your attempt

Quote from: fathafluff –
(The resumed staff had no bar line. Is that correct?)
If you look in my notes, I say "You may also want to put a barline in immediately after the break."
This will give the resumed staff a bar line.

Quote from: fathafluff –
Print preview was worse: the gap on Sys 2 was about double the gap on Sys1, and on Sys 3 it was slightly larger still. Is that a bug?

I think you have forgotten to copy the gap to the grand staff. 
In the instructions I say "Do the same on both staves of the Grand staff (or copy and paste)"

I have attached the Rose example completed as per the run through - please note that some of these actions are for demonstation purposes only and wouldn't necessarily be done, for example, forcing 5 systems onto a page.

Rich.

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #6 –
Richard, thanks for the reply.
Quote
Margins are all in Centimetres and all are set at 1.27
Staff metrics are 18pt.
Page title Text is 24 pt.
I thought all of those would be saved with the file, so they wouldn't need changing. I will look at them. Would fonts be an issue, if a font substitution had to be made?
Quote
If you look in my notes, I say "You may also want to put a barline in immediately after the break."
This will give the resumed staff a bar line.
I did miss that. I suppose that is a feature: you can have one or not, as you like.
Quote
I think you have forgotten to copy the gap to the grand staff.
I put the gap into all three staves. There were no others, right? Hidden or layered? I'm not at an nwc machine, but tonight I'll post some screen shots if it's not clarified by then. Thanks again.

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #7 –
Quote from: fathafluff –
Would fonts be an issue, if a font substitution had to be made?
Not unless you check 'Preserve Width'.
Since Spacers have been added, I have added 'Preserve Width' to my personal do not use list.
Registered user since 1996

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #8 –
Quote from: fathafluff –
I did miss that. I suppose that is a feature: you can have one or not, as you like.I put the gap into all three staves. There were no others, right?

Correct - but it may have been the absence of a bar line giving the problem.  If you do want to be without a resume bar line, I think the new transparent bar line should be used.
Rich.

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #9 –
Quote from: Rick G. –
Since Spacers have been added, I have added 'Preserve Width' to my personal do not use list.
If a file cannot be opened as it was saved, due to printer or font issues, then you might want the text exactly positioned as in the original, even if it overlapped other things (spaced with spacers, no preserve width), or you might want it to move other items, even if that repaginated things (preserve width). Unless everything matches, I guess there is no "best way."

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #10 –
Fonts can be an issue if staff metrics (which are set on the fonts tab) are set differently, or if "Proportionately scale other staff font sizes" is unchecked when you change staff metrics. And I've seen a measure forced down to the next system by merely adding a text object which theoretically has no width, so I'm not sure that font substitution wouldn't change things by itself.

But the bigger problem is printer drivers. Different printers will space things differently, and the system breaks can come out wildly different when you shift from one printer to another, even if they're attached to the same computer. This is painfully apparent on my machine when I change from my hard-copy printer to my .pdf printer. System breaks set for one will totally mess up the music's layout on the other. I deal with this now (in most cases) by printing everything to .pdf and then printing hard copy from the .pdf instead of directly from the .nwc file. If NWC remembered what printer it was attached to from one work session to the next, it would save me a bit of trouble (especially now that my memory is beginning to age).

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #11 –
I've set up a Tips and Tricks post with the instructions posted earlier together with a You Tube video showing the instructions being followed.

Tips & Tricks Post
Rich.

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #12 –
Quote from: Richard Woodroffe –
I have attached the Rose example completed as per the run through - please note that some of these actions are for demonstation purposes only
At the end of measure 23, you might try replacing:
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.5,Single)
|Boundary|Style:Gap|Width:600|SystemConnections:N
|Bar
|Flow|Style:Coda|Pos:7|Wide:Y|Placement:AsStaffSignature
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
with:
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.5,Single)
|Boundary|Style:Gap|Width:500|SystemConnections:N|Color:6
|Flow|Style:Coda|Pos:7
|Boundary|Style:Gap|Width:100|SystemConnections:N|Color:6
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
Registered user since 1996

Re: Getting to grips with the new features in 2.5

Reply #13 –
Quote from: Richard Woodroffe –
Correct - but it may have been the absence of a bar line giving the problem.  If you do want to be without a resume bar line, I think the new transparent bar line should be used.
As you point out, adding a bar to each staff line fixes all of my issues. And I suppose if I wanted no bar line, I could use an invisible or hidden one. (what's the functional difference again -- oh, never mind :) )
But are the attached screen shots, without a bar line, a bug? The alignment is screwy in the editor, viewer, and print preview. And should the slurs go back to the previous bar line, as they do, or to the start end of the gap?