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Topic: Wish list - Text position (Read 1865 times) previous topic - next topic

Wish list - Text position

In jazz charts, you often use small straight or jagged diagonal lines to indicate lip slurs and falls.  These are generally available in the user fonts, but placing the ones that follow a note is usually guesswork - I find it's best to put them ahead of the note but leave some white space before the symbol in order to clear the note head.

A fifth choice for text alignment/placement: 'after note' would take the guesswork out.  You'd insert the text before the target note but the text item would print/display a fraction of a notehead width after the note.

Re: Wish list - Text position

Reply #1
David,

One of the things I've found that plug-ins are very good at is drawing things relative to existing notes. If you can post some examples of what these marks look like, it probably would not be difficult to create an object that draws them.

Re: Wish list - Text position

Reply #2
Hi Mike

Lawrie's Swingdings font has a few that are made with lower case a, b, c, d, e, f and g.  There are others that can be found in other fonts.

The marks that slope down come after the note, so for instance my text entry would be "{space}{space}{space}b" in userfont1 (Swingdings), placed before the note and set to At Next Note.  It's sort of trial and error; if I get the number of spaces correct, the falling line will start just a little to the right of the notehead.   If you've ever tried to copy accurately transcribed jazz solo transcriptions, you'll know there can often be quite a few such signs.  

An object would be nice, but I think it would just be simpler if one day we could have the text placement I suggested as part of the native program.  No hurry for it, it's only a wish.