IWBNI there were an option to specify that the set of articulations that are attached to a given note should be stacked vertically to avoid collisions among the articulations. As it is now, such collisions may be avoided by manually repositioning articulations.

This feature could be implemented by inserting a menu called Articulation into the main menu bar when the articulation tool is selected. A menu item called Vertical Spacing could be added to the Articulation menu. This menu item would display a new dialog box called Articulation Vertical Spacing that could contain the following controls:

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Articulation Vertical Spacing Dialog Box
 
 

Articulation Pair		Minimum Distance Between Baselines (EVPUs)
Articulation 1	Articulation 2	Articulation 1 above Articulation 2	Articulation 2 above Articulation 1
		24	54

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To specify articulation 1 or 2, one would click a table cell in the column titled Articulation 1 or Articulation 2 to display the Articulation Selection dialog box. The minimum distance that is to be allowed between a given pair of articulations would be specified in the columns under Minimum Distance Between Baselines and would be measured as the distance between the baselines of the font characters or the shapes selected for the articulations. In this table, the spacing for a large number of articulation pairs could be specified.

Also, a menu item called Automatic Spacing could be added to the Articulation menu. When this item is not checked, articulations would be positioned as in the current version of Finale. When this item is checked, articulations that are to be attached to a note for which there is an articulation already attached, would be positioned by using the spacing information specified on the Articulation Vertical Spacing dialog box in combination with information specified in the Positioning section of the Articulation Designer dialog box. When a given articulation is to be placed above (below) a note, the articulation would be placed above (below) the highest (lowest) articulation which had been attached previously, and the new articulation would be paired with the highest (lowest) articulation for positioning purposes.

Also, a menu item called Respace Articulations could be added to the MassEdit>Utilities submenu to respace all articulations in a selected region.

For a related suggestion concerning the order in which articulations could be stacked by such automatic mechanisms, see Suggestion 571.

Created: May 10, 2000 (based on a submission from Andrew Stiller)
Last Updated: May 10, 2000
Version: Finale 2000b