Problem with automatic placement when importing from Musescore 2.1.0

• Apr 19, 2019 - 16:07

Hi everybody,

Not sure if somebody already mentioned this issue, at least I haven`t found a topic when searching the Forum for the keyword "automatic placement".

So here is my "problem":
I downloaded the latest Version 3.0.5.5992 and wanted to edit one of my old Musescore files . When I open the file that was created with MuseScore 2.1.0 I geht the following dialog:

Dialog title :
Reset the positions of all elements?

Dialog message:
To best take advantage of automatic placement in MuseScore 3 when importing "myOldFile" from MuseScore 2.1.0, it is recommended to reset the positions of all elements.
Reset the positions of all elements?

ResetPositionDialogOnStartup.png

During the creation of the old file I moved some elements manually. So that´s why I have chosen the "No"-button, thinking that the score looks the way I stored it in the previous version.

But that is not the case. Several elements are now on different positions, and the space between the lines is laso different. If I choose the "Yes"-button, to reset the position of all element, I get another result, that also doesn`t fit my original intention.

QUESTION: Is there a way to open my old scores and to see the same result as I stored it in the old version?
It seems I must invest some effort to check all elements when I open old scores, to see if everything is as I want it to be, and to correct it manually....
Thanks for an answer

Here are some PDFs exports to illustrate the differences on an example score (I marked the differences with red rectangles):

ORIGINAL SCORE IN VERSION 2.1
1_original_Score_2.1.png

SCORE IMPORTED IN 3.0 WITHOUT AUTOMATIC PLACEMENT (OPTION "NO")
2_import_Score_2.1_in_3.0_without_AP.png

SCORE IMPORTED IN 3.0 WITH AUTOMATIC REPLACEMENT (OPTION "YES")
3_import_Score_2.1_in_3.0_with_AP.png


Comments

It would be more useful to see the version 2 score and let us test importing it so we can see what changes you made in version 2. Some of the items you show are very wrong.

Indeed, having access to the actual score rather than just pictures is almost always more helpful.

The short answer to your question is - the nature of the improvements made to the default layout in MuseScore 3 are such that if you've previously relied on lots of manual adjustments to get a specific appearance, there is not going to be any way to guarantee the same result on import. For scores where the adjustments were mostly just to avoid collisions or workaround the many deficiencies in 2.x layout, you will generally do best to accept the reset - the defaults really should be that much better in 3.0 that you probably won't need to do any further adjustment. If you made adjustments to achieve specific non-standard results though, you will probably be better of not accepting the reset but then doing some re-shuffling, because your adjustments are now being applied to improved defaults.

But this isn't actually about automatic placement, exactly - at least, that is not what the dialog is asking you about. You're getting automatic placement either way, it's just a question of whether its automatic placement plus your manual adjustments or automatic placement without your adjustments. If your manual adjustments in 2.x resulted in no collisions, then there is a decent chances the same will be true when those adjustments are applied in 3.0, so things should look about the same Nut if the changes to the defaults or something else results in collisions after applying your manual adjustments, then automatic palcement will still do its job to fix the collisions. In your example where you answered no, it looks like for whatever reaosn your manual adjustments were resulting in collisions. Had automatic placement literally been turned off, you'd bee seeing elements colliding with each other, presumably. Here is where we would need the actual score to understand and assist better.

Thanks for your reply. In the first step I just added pictures to illiustrate my problem.
And yes of course, the score is better for analyzing. Please find it attached:

Bloodhound gang - Fire water burn.mscz

The reason for my Manual changes: This was the best way to make the score easy to understand / read for me.

Thank you very much for your help.

In reply to by tommyknocker

A number of things you did that worked against you. First, you entered your tempo as a regular tempo text, then moved it to appear pretty far away, within the frame. That is not a good idea. Better to enter regular tempo for playback, but if you want it to appear in a frame, enter that really within the frame, as frame text but with tempo sryle. Second, you used system text for all sorts of markings that should have been staff text.

These are both things that only sort of happened to work the way they did in 2.3.2, but since they really aren't expected uses, the importer isn't handling them as well as it otherwise would.

Anyhow, to fix things in MuseScore 3, I would recommend going with the reset, then:

1) disable autoplace on the tempo and move it into the frame (then next time, add it there to begin with if desired)
2) click the "4x" txt and press Ctrl+Left a few times to move it over, thus allowing the "Accoustic" text to slide down

To me this produces very good results right away. You could also change lower the style default for the system text, reduce the autoplace minimum distance for rehearsal marks, etc - lots of control you have over defaults. The point being, the more you work on customizing your defaults, the less you will need to rely on manual adjustments which will produce much better results much faster, and also be more future-proof.

FWIW, you also don't need all those spacers in either version - just up the minimum system distance in Format / Style / Page (Style / General / Page in 2.x).

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