pdf problems in A3

• May 24, 2013 - 22:53

Hi,
due to some graphical notation , I need to finish parts of my partitura in A3 on photoshop. I thought to save as pdf and open the file in indesign should do the job, so I finished the MuseScore part.

Unfortunatly, the exported pdf file cuts out seemingly everything bigger than A4.

There is a thread about this I found here: http://musescore.org/en/node/9665
from 2011, but there is no follow up or a solution.

Exporting as png results in misely 72 dpi, and this vector thing brought MS to freeze (maybe the file is too big), besides that I have no idea what that save option is for.

I work on a MacBookPro OS 10.6.8, nightly built doesn't run, so I can't fix the problem in trying to find solutions for my rather rare graphic notation demands. (I'd love to just be able to complete the score only with MuseScore, Love and Respect for making such a powerful and professional tool available to composers with a lighter wallet.)

I've attached screenshots of the situation.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks
Peter


Comments

I don't know about your PDF issues. How are you exporting the PDF, anyhow? If using the MacOS PDF driver, have you told it how big your page is?

But the PDF resolution is easy enough to change - just add "-r 300" (or whatever) to the command line you use to startup. I assume MacOS lets you add this to the shortcut / icon so you don't have to literally start from a command line (if MacOS even has such a thing).

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

From MsS page settings is available A3, but when I save as PDF and open the pdf settings page A3 is not available. In the attachment you can see the preview (with setting: actual size).
Effectively my printer has only paper tray A4 .
I've tried setting:
Multiple / horizontal and the preview shows a print on half page A3
The problem could be the printer?

Attachment Size
A3a.jpg 87.64 KB
A3b.jpg 33.26 KB

so far, even though it doesn't really help yet.
I don't know how to use any comand lines on a mac... I "export" simply in save file as - pdf.
If I do print with preview, I can see what would be printed right away, and it is only what shows on the earlier attachment, so the problem might not be on the end of acrobat reader but rather that MuseScore sucking in the A3 format when doing this kind of operation.

The machine seems to utilize Quicktime to convert into such files like pdf (or so the acrobat info reads) maybe there is a problem...?
Also, I don't seem to be able to change settings of the size in acrobat reader.

My printer sure can't print A3, but I'm not intending to try that anyway, I just need the score to be in a file format to be able to open in photoshop in the best possible quality.

Hi Peter -

I'm just wondering what you need to do with Photoshop. Perhaps there is some other way of doing the graphics that doesn't require PDF and Photoshop.

Fifist

In reply to by Fifist

it's a lot and nothing,
problems arise with consequent functional notation, like beams over bars (sometimes working, sometimes not) and over system breaks. Same with glissando over to the next system.

I need multiple time signatures in the same system with ad libitum repeting bars, graphical notated,

In general, this program is really great, I would encourage a "graphics" tool, to construct special notation needs and to be able to use them as a unit for copy and paste. It's little things like an arrow/triangle showing down.
It would be great to have the gilssando symbol also in the line tools to adjust it at will. I'd need a fermata covering the whole bar, rotate-able crescendo symbol, ect.

I started working with the line tools, which works, but is very time consuming, since for example there is no vertical fixed line, it's also extremely unstable if anything changes in the same line, former straight lines follow the shift. Also one can't copy/paste lines or link multiple lines together.

Things like this, I'll collect those to give to the developers, but I lost a bit of the drive, when encountering this simple exporting problem...

all this does not solve the basic problem to provide a simple pdf file for the printing store. Even if I'd solve those graphics related inconveniences IN MuseScore, as long as I can't give them a file format they use for printing (pdf, psd), it'll be made in vain, since I can't ask my musicians to bring their laptops instead of their musicstands...

I really hope, someone of the developers could take this problem on. The work on any A3 partitura would be otherwise (at least in my case) senseless. I don't own an A3 printer, so I have to go to get it printed and I strongly doubt that my local printer knows how to work wit the MuseScore file format. (Maybe that actually could be an option, since the program is free I could ask them to install it... will see what I can do in this respect)

Nevertheless, that's still no solution for an otherwise seemingly simple problem.

It's most likely me, who is the idiot here, not getting something... I'm a composer, not a software developer.... so please forgive me, not letting go of it, whatever solution inside MuseScore would work, this option is essential for completing my scores.

In reply to by nadabrahma

I think the point of the suggestion regarding drag and drop wasn't to solve the PDF problem, but just to give you a better way of working overall. It would presumably still be the case that you'd have touble with the PDF generated from that score.

As for the PDF problem itself, could you post a sample score and stpe by step instructions to reproduce the problem you are seeing? I see that the picture you posted looks bad, but I can create bad pictures too if I do things wrong :-).

I don't know how to reproduce the problem, let me try to explain step by step, leaving alone all the other problems:

1. I dispositioned this particular partitura as being best in A3.
(see a snapshot of the first pages of the original score in the 1st attachment in the original post - This is only to see how many bars per system should be visable)
therefore, before I started, I changed in the preferences the prefered paper size to A3 (see the settings in attachment #2 in the original post)
2. Also the page setup is set to A3 (see snapshot #3)

The last attachment is just a screenshot of what I get after I did: save as - pdf, once I opened this new created pdf file in acrobat reader. (same picture if I open the pdf file with photoshop or preview) This mac does not have an extra pdf creator, the programs normally do it automatically.

That is all. I guess either I did something totaly wrong with the formats, or there is a problem for acrobat reader or whatever program does the pdf creation, since it just seems to be not able to recognize that the original MuseScore file is in A3. It pretends obviously to be A4, thus cutting out some bars at the right hand side and nearly a whole system at the bottom.

However, in the link in the original post, I found someone else having had kind of the same problem, unfortunatly there was no solution posted.

I'm most thankful for any suggestions, just I need to finish this score as soon as possible to give it into print and to the musicians. I need to solve this problem, otherwise I'll have to write it by hand and copy it myself, but I'd be kind of sad, after working several weeks on this relativley complex score, if I'd lose it just because it's stuck on my computer instead of in print and useable. Am I the only one encountering this seemingly tiny but rather (for printing outside MuseScore) essential problem?

Maybe I got a bit impatient, but you know, even if I'd solve all the graphic needs right in MuseScore, which sure is the goal, it still would be stuck on my mac if I can't solve the pdf export/creating file problem.

I converted any other MuseScore created partitura in A4 just fine to pdf - no problems whatsoever, the problem appeared only with the A3 size. I'm so sure, that it is something totally simple, something I oversaw. It might even be, that it is a local problem on this specific mac... The question is just: what is it?

I hope this helps to evaluate the situation and the problem. All the other needs are separate and right now secondary topic.

In reply to by nadabrahma

What we're missing is the steps after #2. In other words, what buttons did you press or menu items asctivate to get from your A3 score to the PDF file? There are a few different ways you possible could have done that - File / Save As and select PDF in the type box, or File / Print and use the built in Mac PDF generation facility, File / Print and use a third party PDF generation facility, perhaps others.

So what I'ld like to see is the specific score is an attachment with the specific score you are having problems - not just a picture of it, but the actual score, so we can open it, and steps like this:

1) open score
2) click File / Save
3) change type to PDF
4) hit save

or whatever you actually did if different from that.

EDIT: this is good practice in general - always attach the score you are having trouble with and the exact steps you are following. Especially important here, because when I take one of my own scores, set it to A3 in layout / page settings, and follow the exact steps above, the PDF looks exactly as expected - nothing is cut off. So either something is unique about your particular score, or you are doing something different from the above, or there is a bug that only affects MacOS.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I got you, sorry, I'll attach the whole score.
Actually, I tried to reproduce the problem and didn't encounter it - don't know if this is a good thing or not.
I just created a new score, and copy and pasted the first 3 bars from the old into the new one. In doing this, I realized, that the score looks pretty different than the old one.

There must have happened some strange mistake, potentially when I fiddled with the system and spatiums ect. to fit it to my needs. The original score is somewhat appearing bigger, strange, but less flow.

I just got the program some weeks ago, tried a couple of simple single page A4 scores before daring to replicate this one.
I admit, I changed quite some settings while already notating, since I learned those change options on the go and the need to know basis. Maybe something went wrong or confusing there?

I've made a list of the other problems and will post it later.

Peter

Attachment Size
Streichquintett Korrektur 1.mscz 191.81 KB

In reply to by nadabrahma

I've never had need to print in A3 format, but in the case I would settle to enlarge during printing (although it would not be professional). From the saved PDF with MsS can zoom up to 6400%.

In an emergency, hope this help:
You can install Musescore on a pendrive, open and save on it your files in PDF format, bringing the pendrive to a copy center.
----
In the attached image:
I opened a score and set the page on A3;
Saved as PDF;
Opened the PDF file and choose Print.
The preview shows half page because the printer does not support the format A3 (and the gray part is shown outside the margins of the page).
Maybe my pc knows the limits of my printer but the Pdf will be print correctly?

Attachment Size
Pdf A3-A4.jpg 42.29 KB

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