I’m wondering how to optimize the spacing between systems once there’s enough music to fill the page. Specifically, I’m working on some piano music - grand staff - where I’ve chosen manually the number of measures per system for good readability. I had to manually lower the first system due to multiple text blocks above, then do the same for all successive systems to prevent overlap. I now have a full 4-system first page (5 systems would probably be too many), but there’s too much space after system 4. Doesn’t Dorico at some point do that spacing automatically?
Generally, manual adjustments to the page should be the last thing, after you’ve set the Layout Options and the page templates the way you want them. (And after you’ve entered all the music.)
The more manual work you do, the less Dorico can do automatically for you.
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Maybe you’er better of by editing the First Page Template and lower the top of the music frame there, so no manual adjustments per system are necessary.
You might even create a custom first page template so you could reuse it for later works.
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Hi @Joe_Makholm, all what you describe seems to be achievable with global settings and no manual adjustments (which is faster, and gives probably better results).
If you can upload your Dorico Project here, we can give precise advice on how to proceed. (So that you can apply this concepts to all other projects)
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Thank you for the suggestion, TonH. Here’s what’s going on: I have a series of short pieces for solo piano - projected to number in the double digits - each a separate flow in the larger project. After completing the first five I’ve decided to group them into what I call Book I, with later pieces in the series also grouped into Books. Book I looks exactly as I would want, with a first page that was modified from the original page 1 template to include additional header text blocks after the music was entered.
I decided to begin piece n° 6 following n° 5 in the same document, to preserve the project preferences, completed a full page of music, then removed all of the pages through the end of n° 5, as I wanted n° 6 to be the beginning of Book II. What resulted was a page 1 with all of the header text blocks from Book I, but the first system of n°6 collided with lowest text block of the header. Whereas I acknowledge benwiggy’s logical admonishment above, I chose to manually lower the first system, which apparently screwed up the automatic system spacing.
So, taking your suggestion, I’ve created a project template from Book I (see attached document), which I hoped would avoid that collision - as it appears in the Book I project - but the first system begins at the elevated position and still overlaps with the lowest text block.
template test.dorico (689.5 KB)
What am I doing wrong?
You have made your changes as an overide on the page, not on the template.
Please remove them.
If you want to start each flow with a first page template, but each first flow per book having something extra, I’d suggest creating an extra template based on the standard .
Then in that “First of Book” template, lower the musicframe and add an extra text frame with an unused Token, I used @flowworknumber@
For each first of book flow you can enter this information in flow information
Change the template of the page through “Insert Page Template Change…”
With this result
template test.dorico (702.1 KB)
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My suggestion is to take advantage of the ability of Dorico 6 to assign individual flow headings even on the same page.
Like TonH I removed the page overrides (don’t edit pages directly, edit the pages templates). Then I created a new flow heading “Default with Book” and used the Dedication field of the flow for the book information.
In Setup Mode by right-clicking on the full score you can create Flow Heading Overrides.
The benefit of a custom flow heading is that it’s independent of note spacing changes because it’s attached to the flow rather than to the page.
template test_Edit.dorico (743.6 KB)
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Thanks for the suggestions, but I’m still having trouble creating that “First” page template. What would work for me ideally would be Books I, II, III, etc, with an identical first page template: title, subtitle, composer, but with variable Book titles and flow titles (no need for a “First of Book” template; all Books would be separate projects). Also, I wouldn’t need a different template for flows within the same book. What I have in the default is already adequate as long as the subsequent flows appear at the top of a new page, which is programmable in the layout options.
What I have so far - with the page 1 overrides - is exactly how my “First” page template should look. Is there no way to convert this directly into a new project template? Or do I have to create it from scratch? I’m not sure what the “Save As A Project Template …” is supposed to do if not that after I’ve selected the overriden page in the Engrave mode Pages panel.
Subsequently, assuming that it’s impossible to create a page template directly from an overridden page, I’ve created a test duplicate of the project and tried to modify the First page template in the pages window. I manage to get close to my ideal First page, apply and close, but it produces no change in the current project. Then, when I try to “Save As a Project Template”, that new Project Template never comes up when select “New From Project Template”.
If you have any overrides, then a change to a template will have no effect.
I’ve removed all overrides.
This is your page layout using a customized page template. I assigned Book I to the Work number token and (01–05) to the composer dates token. Further I edited some paragraph styles rather than changing style and size directly in the page(s)
template test_w_page_template.dorico (772.1 KB)
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Hello Vadian. That’s exactly what I’m hoping would be the first page of each of the “Book” groupings. How did you manage to achieve that customized page template?
I edited the First and Default page template in the Page Templates section
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I did the same thing (not the Default page because no modifications were necessary), applied and closed, and, as I explained above, no change in the project.
Likely you edited the left side and forgot to copy the layout to the right side before applying and closing. The first page is usually a right page.
Well … how about that !! So it works, at least to that point. Now, can I save it as a Project Template and Create New from that Project Template?
Yes, you can. The page templates are saved along with the project (template).
There is currently no way to turn an edited page into a page template.
A project template is not the same thing as a page template. A project template is, well, a template for a Dorico project – a certain set of players, certain project-level settings, etc. A page template defines how a page within a project looks.
If you have defined some page templates in your project, and you want to be able to use them in other projects, you can export the page template set and then import it into other projects.
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Well thanks, asherber, Vadian, Janus, TonH. This is beginning to make sense.
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