I've been trying to better understand staff size, rastral numbers, and Finale settings. I've been really helped by Robert Puff's post (http://www.rpmseattle.com/of_note/under ... in-finale/) and Peter Thomsen's comment (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10452).
I'm just wanting to make sure I understand page rescaling correctly. If my staff height is set to 20.5 points, and Scale System is set to 100%, and if I scale page to 80%, am I correct in assuming that gives me a staff height that's 80% of 20.5? So... 16.4 points, or 0.23 inches tall?
Thanks in advance! Maybe a dumb question but I just want to make sure.
PS: Oh also, can't tell you how many times I tried changing settings in the "Page Format for Score" dialog box but couldn't understand why it didn't look any different... until I found the "Redefine Pages" command. LOL.
PPS: I'm also feeling, rather belatedly, that my "scale page to 80%" is a bad way to do it. It was a result of trial-and-error to find what I liked when starting to typeset a hymnal, but three years later, all 328 Finale files have the same settings. Do others of you stick to 100% page scaling as a general rule, and change other things as needed?
Understanding page resize and staff height
Moderators: Peter Thomsen, miker
- dankreider
- Posts: 169
- Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2016 6:14 pm
- Finale Version: Finale 25.5
- Operating System: Windows
Finale 25.5
Windows 10
Garritan mostly
General Editor at gracemusic.us
Windows 10
Garritan mostly
General Editor at gracemusic.us
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- Posts: 1306
- Joined: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:59 am
- Finale Version: Finale 27
- Operating System: Mac
Yes, your calculations are right. As a rule, I keep Page at 100%, system scaling at 100%, and just set the Staff Height. It's very easy to get confused if you have two or more of these things altered. (E.g. Text objects on the page will reduce to the Page Scaling; Text objects attached to the Staff will scale to the staff - unless you use Fixed Point Size....!)dankreider wrote:I'm just wanting to make sure I understand page rescaling correctly. If my staff height is set to 20.5 points, and Scale System is set to 100%, and if I scale page to 80%, am I correct in assuming that gives me a staff height that's 80% of 20.5? So... 16.4 points, or 0.23 inches tall?
Do others of you stick to 100% page scaling as a general rule, and change other things as needed?
- Peter Thomsen
- Posts: 6621
- Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:47 pm
- Finale Version: Finale v27.4
- Operating System: Mac
Amen to that.BuonTempi wrote:… It's very easy to get confused if you have two or more of these things altered …
I recall an attached Finale document where the (un-experienced) forum user had used all 3 scalings: Page Scaling, System Scaling, and Staff Scaling.
The layout was, ehm, quite a mess.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996
- David Ward
- Posts: 814
- Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2016 4:48 pm
- Finale Version: F 25.5 & 26.3
- Operating System: Mac
I tend to reduce the system size rather than stave height in larger full scores, but use fixed point fonts for tempo marks &c. This seems to make it easier if the occasional system needs to be a little smaller than the others (eg with multiple divisi etc). Even in scores whose systems have a modest number of staves (or indeed in a part) I have encountered a whole page worth of systems where a system reduction from, say, 100% to 97% for just that page has solved uncomfortable crowding without the need to rethink the page layout.BuonTempi wrote:… … As a rule, I keep Page at 100%, system scaling at 100%, and just set the Staff Height. It's very easy to get confused if you have two or more of these things altered. (E.g. Text objects on the page will reduce to the Page Scaling; Text objects attached to the Staff will scale to the staff - unless you use Fixed Point Size....!)
However, I wouldn't consider myself a true expert and may be taking a less than ideal approach.
Finale 25.5 & 26.3
Mac 10.13.6 & 10.14.6
Mac 10.13.6 & 10.14.6