Note heads look strange in PDF
Windows 7
MuseScore 1.3
Adobe Acrobat 9.5.5
I've searched the forums and Help, but am still having a problem converting an .mscz file to PDF.
I've tried both 1) print to PDF directly, and
2) "Save As" PDF.
I've seen that doing the above has worked for most people, apparently, but not for me.
In both cases, the resulting PDF (on screen) has rounded note heads that look like "e"s, no key signature, an "N" where the time signature should be, and other strange things.
Is this a font issue, or something else?
Thanks!
CelesteMcC
Comments
Can you attach a sample mscz score with a PDF generated by MuseScore via File -> Save as?
In reply to Can you attach a sample mscz by [DELETED] 5
I've attached a .mscz score below, thank you!
Celeste
In reply to Sample mscz by CelesteMcC
Please also attach a .pdf as requested above.
In reply to Please also attach a .pdf as by xavierjazz
Hi, sorry I forgot -- PDF attached.
Celeste
In reply to PDF attached by CelesteMcC
of the penultimate bar. I am attaching my experiments
In reply to It seems strange the top notes by Shoichi
I forgot to copy the latest .mscz to PDF: yes, those square note heads are correct.
The PDF you sent looks like it should -- looks great! Why doesn't mine?
I will attach both corrected versions. Thanks for your patience and help!
Celeste
In reply to Will fix, meanwhile... by CelesteMcC
1 Insert two bars;
2 Enter the notes;
3 Delete the last three lines.
Try to save ... and tell us how it ended ;-)
In reply to PDF attached by CelesteMcC
Is that "print to PDF directly" or "Save As PDF"?
In reply to Is that "print to PDF by Jojo-Schmitz
I just tried the deletion/addition of measures/new note entry that you suggested. I used normal note heads for the final chord rather than square ones.
There is no change if I save as PDF or Print To PDF: I still get the odd "e" shaped notes etc. when I view the PDF on screen.
I've attached the PDF of the latest version.
Please let me know if I'm not being clear, and I'll do my best to explain -- thank you!
Celeste
In reply to Tried your suggestion... by CelesteMcC
Hi, sorry to miss your other question,
the last file I attached was "Print to PDF".
In reply to Your other question by CelesteMcC
Try from MuseScore...
In reply to Tried your suggestion... by CelesteMcC
I can only compare their properties.
To me it seems generated from the print, not "save as" from MuseScore.
In reply to The last pdf by Shoichi
I have attached a score that was "saved as" PDF within MuseScore. I saved it to a drive on my computer both ways, as .mscz and .pdf; I have attached the .pdf. (I did not "print to PDF").
I hope this will help, and grazie,
Celeste
In reply to The last pdf by Shoichi
Soichi!
I just saved my pdf again and this time when I open it, it looks right!
Can you explain what was causing the problem so I can avoid it in the future?
Mille grazie,
Celeste
In reply to It works all of a sudden! by CelesteMcC
I was following this discussion and trying to keep all the various 'Serenata Malinconica' files in some kind of order. While some of them can be differentiated by the .mscz file extension vs. the .pdf extension, it's good practice in the forums to label subsequent file postings of a score with a modified name: for example, 'Serenata Malinconica.pdf', then 'Serenata Malinconica 2.pdf', 'Serenata Malinconica 3.pdf' etc. (or use A, B, C... like Shoichi did). This way the various iterations can be distinguished from each other.
Now, regarding the strange note heads:
The harmonics in bar #87 are not 'strange' notes - they are intentional, as you mentioned earlier. Also, in this entire thread, there is at least one 'Serenata Malinconica.pdf' which correctly displays the score with the harmonics, as well as at least one 'Serenata Malinconica.pdf' which shows the note heads as regular half notes. So, the harmonics are not the problem.
The 'strange' notes are the ones displayed in the .pdf files with a file size in the 30 KB range. These files, I suspect, were created by a third party 'print to .pdf' application.
Shoichi's (Pdf Qt.png) comparison of two .pdf files' properties shows:
One was produced by 'Acrobat Distiller 9.5.5 (Windows)' using Application: PScript5.dll Version 5.2.2
This pdf does not display correctly. This pdf is 30.29 KB in size.
The other was produced by Qt 4.8.4, which indicates MuseScore's application framework. This one displays correctly and is 42.16 KB - perhaps the size difference indicates an embedded font, or other instructions, for Adobe Reader.
It's the same story for all the other 'Serenata Malinconica.pdf' files in this thread.
So...
The good pdfs in this thread are those with a file size in the 40 KB range. They were created within MuseScore as a pdf. They display correctly in Adobe Reader.
To avoid this in the future, check the pdf's properties if a score displays incorrectly and make sure it was created by Qt (MuseScore).
Also, for clarity, try to differentiate successive file names in ongoing threads, so they all don't have the exact same name.
Regards, and welcome aboard.
In reply to For the future... by Jm6stringer
Jm6stringer, thank you. It's great to understand what was happening better than before. Duly noted to create PDFs within Musescore, rather than "print to PDF".
Next edit, I'll put those harmonics note-heads back in, glad to know that wasn't a problem.
And yes, better file names next time for sure.
Thanks to all who helped, greatly appreciated!
Celeste
In reply to Tried your suggestion... by CelesteMcC
Adobe Acrobat 9 is unfortunately not supported any more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Acrobat#Version_9.0
If you are using it only to print to PDF, there are other software to do that, free and open source, such PDF creator http://www.pdfforge.org/pdfcreator
Neither MuseScore nor Windows 7 offers a "print to PDF" option, so I am assuming that is so e sort of third party program. I can't say what might be going wrong with that; you should probably focus on Save As / PDF within MuseScore.
Definitely a font issue of some kind. Weird that things look fine on screen. But I'm guessing you have a font installed that is causing problems. Maybe somethnping with the same name as MuseScore's own fonts (Mscore & Mscore1)?
In reply to Neither MuseScore nor Windows by Marc Sabatella
Actually, it looks wrong on screen!
How can I find out what fonts MuseScore is using? Thank you for naming them; but how do I access them to add to my Adobe Acrobat?
I am definitely doing "Save As" within MuseScore. I save both as .mscz and as PDF. When I go to open the PDF, it looks as I described....
Puzzling, I know...
Thanks very much --
Celeste
In reply to Neither MuseScore nor Windows by CelesteMcC
Sorry, I was unclear. I mean, issues with MuseScore fonts will generally cause th score to look wrong *within MuseScore*. So I'm surprised you have issues with the PDF only, not with MuseScore itself. But I guess there are other types of fonts issues that do affect the PDF only.
Anyhow, the fonts MuseScore depends on are the ones I mentined: Mscore and Mscore1. But you are *not* supposed to have these installed. They are built in to MuseScore. And in fact, if you have fonts by those names installed on your system, it *causes* problems.
I guess the most logical thing I can think of is, it seems you have versions of these fonts installed, but they are only screen resolution, so it works within MuseScore, but not when generating the PDF? I don't know, I'm really just guessing here.