Hi,
I’m using Dorico 6.1 and would like to color‑code different sections of my piece (Intro, Theme 1, Development, Closing, etc.) by giving each section a different background color, especially in Galley View.
Examples of what I’d like to do:
- Intro: light yellow
- Theme 1 (say, Peaceful): light green
- Development (Happy): another color
- Closing section (say, intense): light red
This would really help with orchestration and arranging while composing and would mimic the color‑coded parts in Cubase.
Is it possible in Dorico 6.1 to assign different background colors to specific bar ranges/sections (particularly in Galley View), or is there a practical workaround?
Thanks!
Is this what you’re looking for?
I created a solid line body with a Line width of 4 and a line using that line body with the Placement set to Inside staff. Then I applied that line with the ends attached to barlines to each section of the piece. Finally, I selected each line and changed the Color property to the desired color with the Opacity on macOS or Alpha channel on Windows set to a small value to create a mostly transparent line.
@johnkprice That’s wonderful! That would be great for teachers of composition to highlight foreground, middle- and background themes, etc. Did you, by chance, set up hot keys or macros for this?
-– Jim
Unlike many Dorico users, I don’t create custom key commands or macros. When others give advice on the forum, they sometimes forget whether the key commands and other features they recommend are built-in from the factory or custom-made. I prefer to keep things unchanged from the factory, so I don’t tell other users to do something that is unique to my setup.
How easily can you edit notes once you’ve applied those lines?
Not easily, since the line is in front of the notes. One possible workaround is to add a staff, move the line to the added staff, make whatever edits are needed, move the line back to the original staff and remove the added staff.
If you close Dorico, rename your user config folder, and restart, you’ll have factory settings that you can use when giving advice. Then close Dorico again, put your config folder back, and you’ve got your settings back.
I do something similar to this, if a little more involved. I keep all of my config files in my Documents folder, for easier backup, and my user config folder is just a directory junction to the folder under Documents. When I want to use factory settings, I have a shell command which deletes the junction, and then I have another shell command which deletes the physical folder that Dorico creates and restores the junction to my config folder.