There are a few things Dorico doesn’t do for me that I can implement using a graphics slice and a graphics frame to put things in their proper place. But it looks like I need to export the graphic to an external file and then import it. It would helpful to have all that internal: create the slice in the needed format (SVG works quite well), have the image stored with the slices and then be able to insert the image from the slice area. This keep everything internal to the project and also means any changes to a slice could be automatically updated if desired.
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I’m curious what you can implement using a graphics slice that you can’t implement in another way in Dorico, Jeff? After all, if you can do it with a graphics slice, doesn’t that mean by definition that Dorico can already produce the result you’re looking for? (I realise this may represent a failure of imagination on my part!)
I want to use the “Show Chords Used” feature, but it is very limited: I create very compact lead sheets and my chord diagrams often have to go to the left and/or right of the title on the first page in order that everything fits on 2 pages, 'cause we can’t play and also turn pages (and at a size my friends and I can still see at my age). I tried a bunch of hacks to get those chords into even just the upper left corner in the simplest case and it got super messy and never quite worked. Another use: I have done some instructional sheets and performance notes in the past and so another application of this feature would be for side notes and teaching text where you’d want to take an image cut from a piece of a score and stick it somewhere, not necessarily cut at bar boundaries or even sometimes with part of the systems above and below included, kind of like a map insert. For some things you might be able to create a flow and hide all the stuff except a few ornaments or articulations, for example, and put it somewhere but it’s a lot of work and doesn’t really cover many situations. But my request would make all of this so much easier. Attached is not the type of lead sheet I’m talking about, but it shows how I placed my “Chords Used” with a graphic sliced from an alternate layout in the same project that was a clone except for
those chords showing. If there’s a Dorico-ism that can do this natively I’m all ears. Thanks!
Banish Misfortune.dorico (923.6 KB)
Found an example on Wikipedia of what I mean for other usage. If instead of using the rectangle in the image attached (say without the “B A C H”) and I want to paste EXACTLY that content as framed in the image, maybe as a footnote, in the score with some text pointing out the BACH reference, I would have to do that with a graphics slice and graphics frame import, since Dorico can’t really do that with some truly ugly hacks.
Thanks for clarifying your requirements, Jeff, you’ve explained them very clearly.
I agree that there’s no neat way to achieve either of these things at present with any kind of automated approach. I think I would be inclined to create new layouts within the project that can be the source material for the slices, so that at least everything is contained within the same project as the destination where the slices will be used.
We’ll certainly think about this use case for the future and consider whether there’s anything we could do to speed up or automate this kind of workflow.
For the chords used, I DID use a second layout. The only piece of that second layout I used was just to slice out what I wanted. It keeps everything looking visually the same versus diagrams from another source. That part of the process does keep it all in the same project file - I just wish I could keep the external graphics snips internally there too - maybe some day. Thanks!