FR: "computing Layout" feature for Engrave mode

Dorico
#1

Dear developers,

even though Engrave mode has become much more responsive (particularly due to the 3.0.10 update), with large scores it can still become sluggish, since it apparently recomputes the entire layout after every little tweak made. This can amount to up to 5-8 sec of delay with the litle “watch” icon running (with my machine at least).

Would it be possible in the future to switch automatic layouting in Engrave mode off and instead activate it via shortcut only if required? That would be a huuuuge time saver, indeed.

#2

Agreed. From a philosophy standpoint, I’d also like the option to turn off layout updating if desired, so the score stays absolutely frozen. Essential for contexts in which scores undergo a long editing process with many small revisions.

Open the score, make sure it’s “frozen,” correct one little thing, and export without needing to check to make sure nothing else has moved.

#3

I can see how this would be not an elegant solution for the developers, but until Dorico can handle large scores more efficiently, this could be a good temporary fix.

#4

There are two different things being discussed here: one is somehow getting Dorico not to apply an edit you are trying to make (which is a nonsensical idea: how would you be able to tell that the edit was going to later on be successfully applied if you cannot see any effect of it?); the other is to prevent you from adjusting anything at all. In the latter case, though, if you subsequently re-enable editing of the layouts, then of course any edit you make will instantly cause the layout to be recalculated. There’s no way to avoid it.

That said, of course we consider Dorico’s performance an important feature of the program, and we are always looking for ways to improve its speed of operation. In particular, having condensing enabled will cause edits to take a lot longer than we would ideally like, and we hope to provide specific improvements in this area in future.