I just discovered this in a Takemitsu score and I think it’s an interesting visual shorthand for accel & rit. Any idea how I could re-create it in Dorico?
In context:
In addition I would love to be able to use it with actual tempo changes (for playback purposes) - in other words as if I’m using the standard accel. or rit. in the tempo popover, can I replace their lines with these custom lines, perhaps on a case-by-case local basis?
I’m still trying to make this work, but no luck. As far as I can tell inside of either the line editor or engrave mode, Dorico doesn’t allow rotateable control over individual points of a line (which is what I’m used to in other graphics software).
The closest I can get is this (attempting the rit. version):
I creating this using a solid line with a downward hook, and a small chevron arrow.
With the arrows there does not appear to be any way to edit it to have only “half” an arrow as would be suggested in my original references (if I could use the chevron arrow but only bottom half, that would be a good start or probably good enough!).
I also tried using the music symbol section, including text, glpyhs, and importing my own graphic. I couldn’t quite find anything which would match a little rotated line, and even after trying various glyphs there is no way I can actually rotate them individually. I was likewise surprised to learn that Dorico cannot import vector graphics (ai, eps, svg) – which I would figure are essential for any desktop publishing. Rasterized graphics don’t make a lot of sense to me due to their pixellation when resizing, which is exactly the result I got when attempting a PNG - very blurry and pixellated. Years ago I used to work in publishing (InDesign and QuarkExpress) where vector graphics are the norm if you at all expect to resize anything – is it not possible in Dorico to import?
Finally rotating the final line inside of engrave mode, because I cannot rotate just the individual line (without rotating the hook), the entire thing rotates which I don’t want.
I thought maybe the end caps labelled “rotateable” hook would allow me to do exactly that - rotate them - or as the name suggests on the tin they would be rotateable. However they don’t seem to behave or appear any different from the normal hooks, and I couldn’t find any way to actually rotate them by mouse or typing in degrees of rotation. There are several here named “rotateable” but when going through the menu they appear exactly the same as their counterparts which are labelled axis-aligned, so I’m a bit confused by that.
I searched the manual and couldn’t find any specific details on that either!
OK, but what notation software allows this?
I don’t know – but since engraving is frequently done for the aim of printed publications, I would imagine it’s possible? The score I’m referencing was published in 1992, so it seems they had some way of doing it using notation software (the score is filled with these arrows). Basic line modifications isn’t a hot take in the world of desktop publishing, although I was not attempting to compare to other notation software - just various other graphics program ranging from high end (Adobe InDesign / Illustrator) to low-end (MS Paint, Apple Preview) allows the ability to rotate points of a line with ease. I think such access to modifying line tools in a program which is in the wheelhouse of publishing is understandable.
I got as far as this using Music symbol line annotations as end caps. Here are two different glyphs from the Other Baroque ornaments category:
The angles aren’t quite right but you might find some more suitable forward slash looking glyphs thereabouts. For the first one I slightly adjusted the line thickness as well.
Untitled Project 2.dorico (481.9 KB)
Thanks, that’s a clever find! I actually think the second two look great. I wish inside the glyph editor in addition to the position properties there was one for rotation but alas, this is pretty close I think. I’ll have a play around with this further – appreciate your help in getting me started!
I just noticed that I apparently did not save the version of the Dorico file from which I took the screenshot: the Rotation option for the Flatter half arrow Line annotation should be set to Rotated to achieve the results in the screenshot. I added the correct file to my post.
EDIT: this is really weird, apparently the change in Rotation option is not saved with the file. My process:
Is this a bug? I did not hit the star button as I don’t actually want these lines to appear in all my files, but that does not mean that changes I make in the file itself should not be saved right?
