Hi - Does anyone have advice on making continuous horizontally scrolling score videos? My current approach is to use screen capture software to create an mp4 video of Dorico playing a score in Write mode on my laptop. However the results are a bit choppy. I’ve read up on this, and a more common approach is to create png images of a constant size and import them into video editing software. Joseph Sowa provides a great summary of this approach here.
However each page of the score in the multiple png files requires a quick fade out/ fade in transition that I’m trying to avoid.
I’d like to up my game - and do something like the videos produced by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Example here. The LPO uses Sibelius and exports to a single long (super-wide) png file, and then uses keyframe animation in their video editor Premier Pro.
My questions:
In Dorico can graphic slices exported to png format from Engrave mode be seamlessly stitched together side by side, or exported directly to create a single super-wide png file?
Or, can a full-score in galley view in Write mode be exported to a single graphic file?
Will an export to video option be coming soon?
Thanks for the tips! If you know of software outside of Dorico that I should use, feel free to offer suggestions. But don’t say Sibelius - I mean something like a graphics utility. Thanks!
Might try setting a really large page size and doing the Dorico layout to that. Pan and scan with the video editor.
Or
Paste many pages together with Gimp/Photoshop/whatever, pull into something like Nero video editor, and flat pan across or down the score.
If the score has good page turns, a lot of the photo album to video programs (I.E. Nero) do offer a digital page turn transition effect between the A and B content lanes. Of course they also have slide or curtain effects, fades, and more as well.
I’ve tried this before, but you have to make sure in advance that your program will allow you to scale the image properly. I discovered a 400% limit which didn’t work in my program since it defined the scale by the longest edge. When it’s super wide, this results in a tiny image.
Yeah, I much prefer static pages, and no cheesy “page-turn” animation or crossfade between them, nor a moving playhead either. Just a well-synchronised slideshow is the easiest on the eyes by far. For bonus points: cut to the next page a beat or two before the audio gets there, as experienced score-readers will always be reading slightly ahead.
Absolutely. Apart from people struggling with a form of dyslexia, trained humans generally read (words or music) by taking a kind of mental photograph of a region of information, and then interpret it really fast, even being able to project it in time.
People are no player pianos that only play the notes passing under the machinery in real time. We’re trained to read ahead (and look back at the same time), especially if we’re trained in score reading.
A moving scroll is not only straining to keep in focus, it hampers understanding of what’s written.
Some added advantages to the slideshow approach: it’s much easier to edit together (as described in OP’s first link) and the video files can stay extremely manageable even in HD because of the lack of moving parts.
I’m also against horizontal scrolling videos, but the reason for the page-turn animations is a good one, though often badly-realised: since page turning is not under control of the person watching, it’s important that they are made visually obvious – otherwise, one can easily blink and miss it, which is disorienting.
I agree, if consecutive pages are similar (it happens), you might miss the change. But please refrain from any animation that takes longer than, say, a tenth of a second. It’s distracting. Just a one or two-frame blackout between pages will do, like a blinking eye.
Indeed—this is something I try to do in my videos. Even if it’s not far in advance, I try to make sure that the page is totally displayed (no fading or motion) by the time you need to read those notes. It makes a surprisingly big difference in how pleasant it is to view. I hate the feeling of arriving at the next image and feeling like I’m late.