Some characters do not print from Leland on certain printer drivers on Mac

• Jan 23, 2021 - 15:36
Reported version
3.6
Priority
P1 - High
Type
Functional
Frequency
Many
Severity
S3 - Major
Reproducibility
Always
Status
closed
Regression
No
Workaround
Yes
Project

Hello,
I have major printing problems since I updated Musescore to version 3.6 (these problems did not appear with the previous version).
I have not modified the settings of my printer in between.

The following "signs/symbols" will not print at all (or correctly):
- treble key
- time signature
- tempo indicated by a metronome mark
- dots for dotted notes
- one eight note rest
- one sixteenth note rest

There may be problems with other signs/symbols but I have not used them in this version so far.

This problem occurs whether I print directly via Musescore and when I create a .pdf file from Musescore (in which all the signs/symbols listed above appear on the .pdf file on the screen but they are also missing on the printed edition).

Attached you will find:
- two .mscz files (in which all the above signs/symbols appear (Ma_premiere_lettre_(extrait).mscz & Menuet_KV5.mscz)
- two .pdf files created by Musescore (in which all the above signs/symbols appear) (Ma_premiere_lettre_(extrait).pdf & Menuet_KV5.pdf)
- two scanned files of the previous printed scores (in which all the above signs/symbols are missing or badly printed as I have underlined in yellow) (numerisation0014.pdf & numerisation0015.pdf)

Just to confirm that this problem did not appear with the previous versions of Musescore and that I have not changed the settings of my printer since.
My printer is a HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M281fdw.
I print as usual using my personal wifi network.

Thank you in advance for your help
Regards,
Nicolas


Comments

I would say if the symbol appears on screen with the PDF but not in the print, that sounds like an issue with the printer driver - MuseScore isn't involved in printing the PDF.

However, I note this is kind of similar to an issue one user reported with margins not being respected on print - see #315915: Printed staves cut off on left using v3.6. Maybe it's the same issue. What OS? I note you are both using HP LaserJet Pro models, that could be relevant too.

It is conceivable that something is wrong in how the clef and some other symbols get represented that some printers don't recognize as expected. Do you see the same if you create a score and change the music font to Emmentaler in Format / Style / Score?

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thank you for your reply. I have changed the font to Emmentaler as explained in your post:
- the score is now correctly printed except for the note in the metronome mark which is still not printed.
- and the "8" under the treble clef is particularly small when printed (but not on the .mscz. nor the .pdf files)
Attached is a scan of the printed edition using Emmentaler as explained in your reply (and copy of the .pdf file created with Musecore).

It therefore seems that there is a incompatibility between the font Leland and the printer?
Thanks very much for your help.

Attachment Size
numérisation0016.pdf 602.95 KB
Ma_première_lettre_(extrait) 2.pdf 220.61 KB

I am having the same issue since upgrading today (1/24). I would like to simply revert to the previous version but can't find how to do that.

My guess is something in the font metadata is presented in a way that the driver for that printer on macOS doesn't understand even though everything else seems to understand it. Like, I don't know. the widths of the characters are given as not integers and that driver can only handle integer widths. Not I'm saying I think it is that specifically, it's just an example of the sort of thing that seems plausible given the data we have - the font appears to work everywhere except printed on one particular series of printer models on one particular OS.

Title Some characters do not print from Leland on certain printer drivers Major printing problems with Leland on Mac
Priority P1 - High  
Title Major printing problems with Leland on Mac Some characters do not print from Leland on certain printer drivers
Priority P1 - High

Great minds and all that...

Frequency Few Many
Workaround No Yes

Worarounds:

  • Don't use Leland, but Emmentaler, Gonville or Bravura
  • Export to PDF and print that
  • Don't use AirPrint, but print using the HP driver

Interesting, this suggests the bug is with Apple and not HP. Still would be good to see if we can fix something in the font to workaround it. But hopefully someone can report this to Apple.

Title Some characters do not print from Leland on certain printer drivers Some characters do not print from Leland on certain printer drivers on Mac

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

I had this problem until I installed the latest HP driver on my Mac. Then I also deleted and re-added the printer. Then I also did as the previous poster suggested and deselected "Airdrop". Finally it all prints correctly again.

Same problem, different fonts suggested Emmentaller and Gonville are not on our drop down menu and other suggestions don't work. I'm on a brand new HP Laser Jet Pro but went back to Sharp printer and there's no problem so I'd say the problem is HP not Mac, I'm on Catalina.

It is AirDrop and HP printer and Mac and Leland. Only all 4 in combination show the bug.
And Emmentaler and Gonville (and Bravura, MuseJazz, Peteluma) very surely are in the list of Musical fonts to choose from, as they are built into MuseScore

Laser Jet Pro M281fdw here.

Using a non-AirPrint printer looks to work correctly. There is a minor collision between three-plus digit measure numbers and the clef:

Screen Shot 2021-04-04 at 12.21.39 PM.png

That said, if an exported pdf is converted to PostScript (pdf2ps), reimported to Preview and saved/printed, the missing/misplaced glyphs reappear in the correct locations, including measure numbers:

Screen Shot 2021-04-04 at 12.25.46 PM.png

I don't know if the double conversion changes fonts offhand.

If that is a build that simply places fonts in different locations, I kind of doubt that will help. So far we've managed to narrow things down to specific issues in with a handful of glyphs in the font - "missing points at extrema", I think it was, as reported by FontForge. It can't be coincidence that the symbols that fail to print are exactly those with this particular issue. So the fix should be to fix those characters in the font. I was under the impression there was already a version of the font floating around with those fixes, and perhaps someone could try installing that.

Well possible that this change of mine does slove this proble, I'd still like to get it checked and tested, for this particular issue and for any other.
I'm not aware of a Leland font that had been modified to fix those "missing points at extrema", else I'd create a PR with it.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

I have downloaded from Github. the following problems still appear:
The following "signs/symbols" will not print at all (or correctly):
- treble key
- time signature
- tempo indicated by a metronome mark
- dots for dotted notes
- one eight note rest
- one sixteenth note rest

I attach 2 files : one as it should be printed and the one printed on which I underlined the parts that are not correctly printed.

Discussion on Telegram started at https://t.me/musescore_design/4449
And name the affected glyphs shortly after:
Marc Sabatella, [06.02.21 18:44]
the glyphs reporting missing extrema points are all the treble clefs variants (except double), the timesig 3, 4, and 7, double/triple/quadruple/sexctuple dot, single & double flags, parentheses, and then a bunch more you can see for yourselves :-)

Marc Sabatella, [06.02.21 18:48]
but it includes eighth & sixteenth rests, which were also specifically mentioned. so yeah, I think the missing points at extreme seems to be the key here

I have a problem with clefs, time signature and other items not printing correctly on my LaserJet Pro MFP M148fdw. I am using the manufacturer's print driver, printing via USB connection, not wireless and not AirPrint. This problem started between 14 and 19 June I I I have a problem with clefs, time signature and other items not printing correctly on my LaserJet Pro MFP M148fdw. I am using the manufacturer's print driver, printing via USB connection, not wireless and not AirPrint. This problem started between 14 and 19 June 2021, with MuseScore 3.x. It persists with MuseScore 3.6 and Mac OS Catalina. The problem appears to affect all of my MuseScore files, regardless of creation date. A workaround I have found is to export from MuseScore to PDF, then re-export the PDF as .png. The .png prints OK.

Platform: LaserJet Pro MFP M148fdw, Mac OS High Sierra, MuseScore 3.x (possibly 3.2 or 3.3). Also Mac OS Catalina, MuseScore 3.6

Chronology: a) June 14 - printed OK with Mac OS High Sierra, MuseScore 3.x; b) June 19 - printing incorrectly, Mac OS High Sierra, MuseScore 3.x, the same file but with changes made; c) June 24 substituted new Mac OS Catalina, MuseScore 3.6 - printing incorrectly on newly re-installed printer. Also printed incorrectly now for a separate file created on the Mac OS High Sierra, MuseScore 3.x platform that printed OK on June 11.

Examples attached (4 files):

1) Current problem score that printed OK on a previous iteration but prints poorly now;
2) PDF export of current problem score , prints wrong
3) Previous score that printed fine from MuseScore on June 11 but prints poorly now
4) Image of the paper printout made directly from MuseScore, of a part of the current problem score - the PDF generates these same errors when it is printed, though the PDF looks fine on the screen

Thanks. Please advise.

Prior to 3.6 there was no Leland font, so whatever problem you're having with versions prior to that is unrelated to the issue at hand here.
Both scores you attached are created with 3.6.2 and using Leland though

Aha! I finally found Font under Format > Styles > Font. Selected Bravura Font for the most recent score and saved it. Like magic, printing appears to be ok now. Bravo for Bravura! Many thanks to all.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Marc Sabatella wrote:

> specific issues in with a handful of glyphs in the font - "missing points at extrema", I think it was, as reported by FontForge

Ouch! I invested over a person-day to fixing all sorts of FontForge warnings, default or extra (need to specifically look for them) ones, when doing the new version of MScore because I knew they could lead to all kinds of trouble. (It’s also why MScore is .ttf at an em height of 1024 u now.)

Glad to hear, that this nasty problem is fixed, thanks to everyone. Is there a forecast, when we will see this ifx in an official MuseScore release?
TIA, Wolfgang

Given the number of duplicates of this issue, the number fo affected users seems to be non- negligible, so IMHO you should consider releasing a minor 3.6.3 update.
Best Regards, Wolfgang

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Might still be useful to collect targetted patches for the last 2.x and 3.x each on a branch. While inofficial, it’s clear they will still see use in years to come, what with each newer release changing the layout engine fundamentally, and you can always point people to those builds.

Status PR created fixed

Fixed in branch master, commit 868069c4c3

_Merge pull request #8853 from Jojo-Schmitz/leland-update-master

[MU4] Fix #316152: Some characters do not print from Leland on certain printer drivers on Mac_

In reply to by System Message

I was successfully using the Emmentaler font workaround on September 14, 2021, but that workaround appears not to be working as of October 20, 2021. Mac OS 10.15.7, HP LaserJet Pro MFP M148FDW. The files I created on September 14 still print fine today. But when I now create a new file and change the font to Emmentaler as I did in September, the printing omits clefs and accidentals in the chord names, as it did earlier this year.

I created a Template via saving one of the working files into the Templates folder, in the uncompressed .mscx format as recommended on another posting about templates. However, the printout of the file I created using the template has printing errors. The following files are attached:
1) the working file I used to make the template - "twinkle Jazz interp M"
2) the mscx Template I created from the working file - "Accordion template ref. twinkle jazz interp M"
3) the mscz test file I created from the Template - "Satin Doll Study using Template"
4) Scan of the printout from the test file - "Scan of Satin Doll Study printout"

Please advise.

That scan does not seem to be of the same score, you can tell by the shape of the bass clef and the rests that it isn't Emmentaler at all. Is that a print directly from MuseScore, or did you export to PDF first? And if the latter, did you do that using File / Export. or did you use some sort of third party PDF printer?

In any case, nothing changed in MuseScore recently, so it may have been an update to macOS or the HP printer driver that broke this. I'd contact those two companies and report this.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Interesting that the scan does not appear to be from the same score. It was printed from MuseScore, not from a PDF. As a check today, I re-printed the file I sent in my previous post from MuseScore, and also from an exported PDF, and both print OK today! Not sure what could have changed.

I then went back to my original problem score not created using a template but changed to Emmentaler Font from the default. This font change was the only change I recall making for the file that was OK and that I used for the working template (.mscx, sent in my previous post).

I ran a few tests: a) I tried printing the original problem score again from MuseScore - still not good. b) I started a new score from the working template, entered two measures and then entered a single measure between them copied from the original score problem score -The symbols in all three bars then failed to print correctly. c) Removed the copied measure - the file now prints OK. It appears that a copied measure added between two measures created within the working file built upon the good template resulted in a change in the file.

I'm attaching the following files:
1. The original problem score that continues to print wrongly "Problem File SD-#,b"
2. File created from the working template, with a single measure copied from Problem File "Test 3...."
3. File created as a copy of Test 3 file, with the copied measure deleted "Test 4..."
4. Image A - printout of original problem score (not good)
5. Image B - printout of Test 3 (not good)
6. Image - printout of Test 4 (good)

I downloaded the hp driver for my printer, went through the install and when it asked me to switch to their driver I did, now everything prints fine.
By the way, Dorico had a similar issue with printing some characters.

Fix version
4.0.0