Dotted notes with flags
With the MS 3.6.2 "engraving release", I find that many of the previous manual adjustments are now unnecessary.
However I am uneasy about the visual challenge presented by the default dotted note with flag. I can see that the stem is being lengthened, to create a tiny gap between flag and dot. But at normal magnification I find that the flag tends to merge with the dot. Am I alone in this?
The original edition from which I am transcribing draws the flag well clear of the dot (without having to lengthen the stem):
Would it be feasible to use an alternative "tucked in" flag whenever a dotted note is involved? Or would that just look silly?
Comments
And here is a more obvious example, where the stem rises above the stave [CORRECTION: ... where the note is on a space rather than on a line i.e. the stem is not lengthened]:
In reply to And here is a more obvious… by DanielR
In engraving generally the most common solution for this is to move the dot out so that it does not collide with the flag. I assume for MuseScore to do this automatically would require a code fix.
(Extending the stem is another solution, but this tends to look rather ungainly, so is seen less often. It looks to me that MuseScore automatically extends the stem a half space for notes that are on a line, since the dot is in those cases also displaced a half space up.)
SMuFL does recommend stylistic alternates for flags where the innermost flag is truncated so as to avoid the collision. We could add those to Leland fairly easily, but MuseScore does not currently recognise or automatically apply these glyphs, in fonts where they exist (Bravura has them, inevitably).
For completeness it would be ideal to expose these three options as engraving settings so that users could choose whichever they preferred.
The 'tucked in' flag from the example you show requires a combination of two of these (redesigned symbols, and an appropriate offset of the dot) which is possible, but more complicated, especially since the necessary dot offset would be different from font to font.
In reply to In engraving generally the… by oktophonie
(well, obviously one could determine the offset from the font metrics, I suppose)
In reply to (well, obviously you could… by oktophonie
@oktophonie - many thanks for your observations.
I am not brave enough to specify any enhancements to be exposed in the Inspector. But I have now raised the dot placement in the Issue Tracker:
#323759: Dotted notes with flag: dot is too close to end of flag