accidentals layout issue for sixths
This concerns a a chord with two notes that are a sixth apart. When the upper note has a sharp and the lower note has a natural, I believe that the natural is spaced too distant from the sharp symbol.
This is what I mean. Does it look 'off' to anyone else?
I've been fixing this in my scores manually, when it finally dawned on me that perhaps the algorithm itself needs tweaking.
FWIW, the issue seems exclusive to Emmenthaler; the symbols are automatically kerned more nicely in Gonville and Bravura, but I do all my work in Emmenthaler.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| sharp-natural alignment in sixths.png | 19.8 KB |
Comments
It's not a problem with the algorithm, exactly. It is doing what it was designed to do - make sure accidentals are separated by at least the amount specified in "Style / General / Note / Accidental distance". Each accidental has a "cutout" defined for each corner that specifies the amount by which it can possibly overlap another accidental. So the algorithm here is trying to make sure the top right cutout of the natural is at least the style-specified distance from the bottom left cutout of the sharp.
So it happens that with Emmentaler, the accidentals are a few pixels larger than in Bravura, and their cutouts are not as deep. So the default "Accidental distance" setting won't allow the natural to slide under the sharp for Emmentaler, whereas it does for Bravura. BTW, if you check again, I think you'll find you are mistaken about Gonville - it won't slide under in this situation either.
Reducing the "Accidental distance" style setting will allow the natural to move in in all such situations, eliminating the need for you to manually adjust each individually. It will probably tighten the accidental spacing in other cases that you might not like as much, or maybe you will. Do give it a shot.
FWIW, I have attached the test file I used while working on this algorithm. Feel free to use it as you experiment with settings. A value of 0.15sp for accidental distance will tuck the natural in. You'll see it also causes other accidentals to move in tighter. I personally don't prefer that.
In reply to It's not a problem with the by Marc Sabatella
Marc, I forgot to thank you for the explanation and for sharing your 'stress test' for accidentals - so this is just a belated thank you. That file is a keeper for sure!