Smart Slur Options dialog box
How to get there
- Click the Smart Shape tool . The Smart Shape menu appears.
- Choose Smart Shape > Smart Slur Options.
What it does
The Smart Slur Options dialog box allows
you to specify how your slurs will appear in Finale. The dialog box gives
you access to Engraver slurs, where slurs will avoid collisions with other
items. You can decide how much to move the Engraver slur to avoid other
objects, such as articulations or note stems. Other settings determine
the limits of how far the Engraver slurs will distort to avoid a collision.
Finale lets you provide placement options
for slurs and bends that break over systems, and lets you control the
thickness of all Smart Shape slurs in your piece. Slur Thickness is the
desired thickness of the solid slur lines for every slur in your score.
You can specify exactly where slurs and
bends will end horizontally on a staff line and at what point horizontally
they will start on the next staff line within a system break. You can
also specify distances of slurs and bends from the staff lines. Finale
automatically breaks all slurs and bends according to the current Slur
System Breaks settings.
Note: Most changes
you make to the Smart Slur Options settings affect existing Smart Slurs
in the score, except slurs that have been manually edited. Slur thickness
and tip width changes affect all slurs.
- Use
Engraver Slurs. Check this box to have slurs avoid collisions with
other items, such as stems, beams and noteheads. If this box is checked,
Finale will use the settings below to deter-mine how Engraver Slurs should
reshape to avoid collisions. Any manual edit to an Engraver slur will
make it immune to Engraver slur settings. It will still be marked as an
Engraver slur in the contextual menu, but will be frozen. When frozen,
Engraver slurs will no longer reshape to changes in the notes. Remove
Manual Adjustments in the contextual menu or the Selection tool Utilities
will revert the slur to behaving like an Engraver slur or unfreeze the
slur.
Note: Engraver slurs
make extensive use of font annotation, to determine the size of other
musical items in collision avoidance. If you are using a music font not
supplied by Coda, we strongly recommend you annotate the font for improved
performance in Engraver slurs.
- Maximum
Slur Angle In Degrees. Enter a value between 0 and 90 to restrict
the angle of a slur. Note: settings made in the Slur Contour dialog box
will be ignored if this value is small.
- Slur
Symmetry Percentage. Enter a percent value (between 0 and 100)
to influence slur symmetry. This slur symmetry value controls the tendency
toward symmetry for the slur, although other factors may override it.
For example, on a flat baseline with 100% symmetry, the slur will tend
to be symmetrical. However, if the slur’s baseline is not horizontally
flat with 100% symmetry, the slur will reflect the skewed baseline symmetrically.
- Space
Around Objects. Enter a value for how much space Engraver slurs
should leave to avoid collisions with other objects.
- Avoid
Accidentals. Check this box to have Engraver slurs take accidentals
into account for collision avoidance.
- Space
Around Accidentals. Enter a value for how much space Engraver slurs
should leave to avoid collisions with accidentals.
- Initial
Adjustment: Stretch. Choose this options to tell Finale to stretch
the curve of engraver slurs vertically and leave the endpoints anchored.
- Initial
Adjustment:Maximum Stretch, As Percentage of Slur Length • Fixed Amount.
Enter a percentage or fixed amount to control the maximum amount of vertical
stretch allowed for engraver slurs.
- Initial
Adjustment: Maximum Lift. Enter a value to restrict the lift of
a slur. Engraver slurs use lift to move the entire slur to avoid collisions
with other objects.
- Slur
System Breaks: Avoid Staff Lines by at Least. This is the distance
(in the current measurement unit) between slurs and bends, and the top
or bottom staff line.
- Slur
System Breaks: System Start Adjustment • System End Adjustment. These
text boxes contain the horizontal start and end points (in the current
measurement unit) of slurs and bends continuing over system breaks. They
default to zero. Enter a positive number for the System Start Adjustment
to move the start point to the right (into the staff system) for slurs
and bends that continue over a system break. Enter a negative number for
the System End Adjustment to specify the horizontal distance from the
end of a staff system to the end of a slur or bend on that system. Distances
are in current measurement units. The System Start and End Adjustments
control only the location of the slur or bend ends located at the end
of one staff and the beginning of the next, not the placement of the very
beginning and end of the whole slur or bend.
- Slur
Thickness: Left • Right • H• V. The Slur Thickness text boxes contain
values for how thick you want Finale to draw slurs (in the current measurement
unit). Each slur is composed of two curves, an inner curve and an outer
curve. These settings determine the relationship between the curves -
how fat the slur is, how fast it tapers and whether one side is thicker
than the other (for a "hand drawn" look). The V setting determines
the general thickness of the slur. Equal values give a balanced slur;
unequal values make it thicker on one end than the other. The H settings
can make the slur taper more or less quickly: a positive value on the
left (mirrored by the opposite value on the right) will make it appear
to taper more quickly, a negative value less quickly.
- Slur
Tip Width. Enter the desired width for the slur tip.
Tip: Slur Tip Width
for Shape Designer Slurs is set in Document Options-Lines
and Curves.
- Slur
Tips Avoid Staff Lines. Check this box to have the ends of slurs
shift to avoid staff lines.
- Units:
EVPUs • Inches • Centimeters • Points • Picas • Spaces. Select
the measurement unit for the values in this dialog box only.
- Reset.
Click Reset to restore the settings to the defaults.
- OK
• Cancel.
Click OK to confirm, or Cancel to discard, the changes you’ve made
to the default Smart Slurs. You return to the score.
See also:
Smart
Shape Tool
Font
Annotation
Smart Shape Placement
Document
Options-Lines and Curves
Slurs