I’m trying to exactly match some Finale engraving for a hymnal, and I’m a little confused.
In the Finale file, the staff thickness is set to 0.45 pt. In Dorico, my hymnal template is set to a space size of 4.1 pts, and the staff line is 1/12 space, which is equivalent to 0.34 pt. But in the output PDF, the Dorico staff lines are slightly heavier. It appear slightly thicker in the printing as well. Yes, the numbers are very slight, but the overall appearance is unmistakably darker.
The stem thickness is even more noticeable: in Finale, it should be 0.45, and in Dorico it’s 0.49, but Dorico’s appear much thicker in comparison.
So I suppose the answer to “Do Finale and Dorico compute line thickness the same” is no. But I’m wondering how to get to the bottom of it, beyond just approximation. For the record, I’m not complaining that Dorico is darker. That’s already pretty obvious, and I’m fine with that. I just need to know how to match values exactly.
Are these point values strictly computed in both programs? Is there perhaps some sort of rounding error at play? Admittedly this is a question that is better asked in both forums. Thanks.
If I’m not mistaken, Finale’s measurements are all relative to a fixed staff height of 24 points, or a 6-point space. So factoring in 6 / 4.1 should explain it.
1 Like
Ah yes, I think I remember a Scoring Notes article about such alchemy. But isn’t a point a universal unit of measurement? There should be 72 points in an inch, regardless of the weather.
Edit: I read the article—again—and I’m not any wiser.
Edit 2: I used your formula, 6/4.1, and if Finale staff thickness is 0.45, Dorico would be 0.49 by the same measurement. So maybe that’s it.
Indeed.… This is hard to both remember and put in words …
I believe Finale at first used (and internally stores) only EVPUs. When they started to allow other units, they made them convert at a fixed rate based on the 24-point staff, which is the “100%” size in scroll view.
I was initially bothered by the way Sibelius called a 32-point staff “100%” but eventually I learned to ignore the percentages. I have not even tried to find out what Dorico calls “100%” because I don’t want to know.
1 Like
Thanks.
Well, it’s quite straightforward in Dorico. Everything is computed based on “space size,” in Layout Options—Page Setup.
It’s quite annoying that 0.45 points in Finale isn’t precisely what it says it is!
Agreed. They had to start somewhere, I guess.
Dorico has a much more sensible relationship with real world measurements.