Instructional book in finale? (best practices?)
Moderators: Peter Thomsen, miker
-
- Posts: 135
- Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:20 pm
- Finale Version: V25 on windows 10 64
- Operating System: Windows
I have a couple instructional books (sheets of sound for guitar) that I have written in finale and using adobe indesign for the layout. I would love it if I could do the whole thing in finale since indesign is a pain in the !@#$ to work with.
Any best practices for doing this? How have folks found finale for doing this type of thing?
Any best practices for doing this? How have folks found finale for doing this type of thing?
- John Ruggero
- Posts: 827
- Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:41 am
- Finale Version: Finale 25.5
- Operating System: Mac
At this point, I have always found Finale's text editor too primitive for instructional books and such and have always done what you describe: import Finale into InDesign, which works very well. MM recently mentioned that they are working on improvements to the text editor at their Feature Request site, but I doubt that it will be enough to produce professional-level text output.
Dorico may have better capabilities of this type; at least that is what is promised.
Dorico may have better capabilities of this type; at least that is what is promised.
2020 M1 Mac mini (OS 12.6) Finale 25.5, Dorico, Affinity Publisher, SmartScore 64 Pro, JW Plug-ins, TG Tools, Keyboard Maestro
www.cantilenapress.com
"The better the composer, the better the notation."
www.cantilenapress.com
"The better the composer, the better the notation."
- N Grossingink
- Posts: 1786
- Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:50 pm
- Finale Version: 27.3
- Operating System: Mac
I went to your website and saw a few sample pages from your volumes 1 and 2. Unfortunately there were only a few pages with musical examples and text, so it's a little hard to visualize what your books look like in the larger sense. If you could post a few typical pages here, it might help us get a feel for the kind of look you want to achieve.
Finale is capable of nice, clean design but if you think InDesign is a pain in the !@#$, using Finale for page design is just a different pain in the !@#$, just as irritating. In your use of InDesign, I assume that you've set up master pages, paragraph style sheets and character style sheets that conform to an overall design for your book. Finale doesn't have that capability, it's not a page design software.
Again, post some samples if possible.
N.
Finale is capable of nice, clean design but if you think InDesign is a pain in the !@#$, using Finale for page design is just a different pain in the !@#$, just as irritating. In your use of InDesign, I assume that you've set up master pages, paragraph style sheets and character style sheets that conform to an overall design for your book. Finale doesn't have that capability, it's not a page design software.
Again, post some samples if possible.
N.
N. Grossingink
Educational Band, Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble a specialty
Sample: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pFF5OeJDeLFGHMRyXrubFqZWXBubErw4/view?usp=share_link
Mac Mini 2014 2.6 Ghz, 8Gb RAM
OSX 10.15.7
Finale 2012c, 25.5, 26.3, 27.3
Educational Band, Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble a specialty
Sample: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pFF5OeJDeLFGHMRyXrubFqZWXBubErw4/view?usp=share_link
Mac Mini 2014 2.6 Ghz, 8Gb RAM
OSX 10.15.7
Finale 2012c, 25.5, 26.3, 27.3
-
- Posts: 1297
- Joined: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:59 am
- Finale Version: Finale 27
- Operating System: Mac
Both apps require learning their methods and workflows in order to get the most out. But InDesign is vastly superior, more consistent, more adaptable, more coherent -- and most importantly of all, it's built for the express purpose of DTP work.jzucker wrote:I could do the whole thing in finale since indesign is a pain in the !@#$ to work with.
Make the music examples in Finale; save them as PDFs, and then lay them out on pages with InDesign. I would no more attempt to write a book in Finale than I would try to notate music in InDesign.
- MikeHalloran
- Posts: 706
- Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 2:56 am
- Finale Version: 27
- Operating System: Mac
You can substitute just about any other layout program for In Design in the above comment and it will be equally true.BuonTempi wrote:Both apps require learning their methods and workflows in order to get the most out. But InDesign is vastly superior, more consistent, more adaptable, more coherent -- and most importantly of all, it's built for the express purpose of DTP work.jzucker wrote:I could do the whole thing in finale since indesign is a pain in the !@#$ to work with.
Make the music examples in Finale; save them as PDFs, and then lay them out on pages with InDesign. I would no more attempt to write a book in Finale than I would try to notate music in InDesign.
Mike Halloran
Finale 27.3, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
MacOS Ventura 13.2.1; 2017 iMac Pro 18 Core, 128G RAM, 4TB; 2021 MBAir M1
NotePerformer3, Dorico 4, Overture, Notion 6, DP 11, Logic Pro
Finale 27.3, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
MacOS Ventura 13.2.1; 2017 iMac Pro 18 Core, 128G RAM, 4TB; 2021 MBAir M1
NotePerformer3, Dorico 4, Overture, Notion 6, DP 11, Logic Pro
-
- Posts: 135
- Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:20 pm
- Finale Version: V25 on windows 10 64
- Operating System: Windows
The workflow you describe is exactly what I do. I export in PDF, import into a graphic frame in indesign and yes, I have master pages and styles setup but it's still painful to go back into finale and correct mistakes, have to re-export and then re-import back into indesign.
Ultimately, I don't think it matters in a jazz guitar instructional book whether the keening is correct. Anything I can do to make the workflow easier makes it more likely I will produce more material. Using indesign to write a jazz guitar instructional book is kind of like using a Ferrari to drive the 5 miles I go to work everyday.
Here's an example from one of my books.
Ultimately, I don't think it matters in a jazz guitar instructional book whether the keening is correct. Anything I can do to make the workflow easier makes it more likely I will produce more material. Using indesign to write a jazz guitar instructional book is kind of like using a Ferrari to drive the 5 miles I go to work everyday.
Here's an example from one of my books.
-
- Posts: 1297
- Joined: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:59 am
- Finale Version: Finale 27
- Operating System: Mac
Just over-write the original illustration, and then use ID's Links palette to update the link to the file.jzucker wrote:have to re-export and then re-import back into indesign.
If you think you might be able to make the adjustment in Illustrator, you can right click on the PDF, and select "Edit With" and choose Illustrator. The amended file will be automatically incorporated.