dotted bar lines

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Robkapilow
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Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 6:05 am
Finale Version: Finale 2017
Operating System: Mac

Post by Robkapilow » Thu Aug 31, 2017 8:57 pm

Finale 25.4 Mac

Is there a way to create dotted bar lines in a large score without subdividing into smaller bars and hiding time signatures? Making a 12/8 bar into 4 3/8 bars, hiding the time signatures and dotting the bar lines works fine for the instruments playing but wreaks havoc on instruments that have rests as one bar of rest (12/8) reads as 4 bars of rest. Any suggestions?


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Peter Thomsen
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Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:47 pm
Finale Version: Finale v27.4
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:29 pm

You can add them with the Expression Tool.

I would create the false barlines as shape expressions.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

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motet
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Post by motet » Thu Aug 31, 2017 11:02 pm

The problem with expressions, though, is that you don't get the usual before- and after-barline spacing, so things can look jumbled, requiring tedious manual adjustment of note spacing. I've had some luck using an articulation, which has the advantage of (optionally) being taken into account by Finale's spacing algorithms. The dashed barline is in the default shape library. Set-up the articulation as shown below and assign it to a metatool. Click with the metatool on the note before where you want the dashed barline. Finally, in Document Options / Music Spacing, check Avoid CollisionOf Articulations and respace. It's not perfect, so you might have to tweak the dashed barlines occasionally, but it does result in extra space between the notes.

You can apply the articulatios to one bar and then copy them forward, but I don't know of a way to postion an articulation vertically relative to the staff rather than a note, so after a copy you will have to adjust them vertically depending on the pitch of the notes they're attached to.
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Peter Thomsen
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Finale Version: Finale v27.4
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Fri Sep 01, 2017 5:37 am

Robkapilow wrote:… dotted bar lines …
motet wrote:… dashed barlines …
I wonder whether Robkapilow meant dotted or dashed.

motet wrote:… The dashed barline is in the default shape library …
The dashed barline in the default shape library may - or may not - have the same line thickness as the barlines in your document.
Anyway, you can create your own, custom shape, and give it the same line thickness value as the value in
Document Options - Barlines

One thought:
Because of the in-between spaces you might prefer a slightly bigger line thickness than the line thickness for ordinary barlines.
(This is similar to the fact that ledger lines sometimes are given a bigger thickness than ordinary staff-lines)
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

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motet
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Post by motet » Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:23 pm

I didn't know there were dotted barlines!

I have a need for this, so played with it a little more to get better spacing. I added an invisible line on the right side of the shape to get more space allotted there, and increased the offset on the left. As you can see, the resulting spacing is similar to 3/8.
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