I’m making a catalogue of multiphonics because that’s just Londonxmas2020.
I want to show four multiphonics per system, 5 systems per page - fine
But if I want the names / ID number of each sound - written in default text - to be the same distance / vertical position from the stave, then it seems I have to painstakingly do this by hand.
There is no object ruler to check distances, and if I try to type in Y values into the DT’s properties in engrave mode, then frustratingly, it seems that when you give two different objects the same Y value, they won’t be aligned if the music content is forcing one to move up. See my example below.
I’ve already encountered this problem in Dorico but couldn’t find a solution. Before it was just in odd spots in piece, but as I’m working on a larger catalogue and need consistency, I’d like to ask if there is a better or even a ‘correct’ way (what with Dorico being so logical and all…)
Right now I’m clicking and dragging a selection box to use as a ruler to check alignment… there must be a better way?
Turn off collision avoidance for each text object (either by turning on the property switch and unticking, or globally from Engraving Options > Text).
Each text object will now be in the wrong spot, but vertically they’ll all be in the same wrong spot. Then select one of them, type Shift-Alt-A a few times (or select all and then filter text) then bump them all up together.
So ‘avoid collisions’ is Dorico’s version of Sib’s ‘magnetic layout’ that we need to turn off when global preferences can’t do certain jobs… I wish this was clearer to people starting on Dorico…
Not really, Nick. It’s just that you can specifically disable collision avoidance for text items; they’re the only items that provide this property, because text can have a particularly outsized impact on staff spacing.
Obviously it would be nice to have a command to align a bunch of items at the same vertical position, and hopefully we’ll be able to add such a feature in future.
Yes an auto-align function both horizontal and vertical for text or any objects, and a ruler, like in Adobe Illustrator etc would be very handy in a future edition.
