Smart shape hook cap

[sPretzel]

This has been driving me crazy for a long time. The hook on a custom smart shape is positioned with respect to the middle of the horizontal line. Since it has a butt cap (not projecting), this leaves a gap of half the stroke size at the junction of the horizontal line and the hook. Is it possible to make either of the lines a projecting cap or extend it so that the junction is nice and square?
Of course, Finale's own smart shapes (not custom), like the bracket tool, don't have this problem.

In the picture, the first shape is Finale's bracket tool (no problem). The second shape is a custom smart shape with a hook and you can see the gap I was referring to (if you look closely).

This is for F27.1.

[N Grossingink]

You could make a custom smart shape line with a custom arrowhead in the shape of a hook. See attached.

[sPretzel]

Actually, I said that Finale's own bracket hook doesn't have this problem. That's true but Finale's own 8va bracket hook has the problem.
Isn't there any setting somewhere I could tweak to fix this?
N Grossingink: I will have to try this but I am not too keen on the shape designer because I can't always position or size objects precisely (I have to do it more or less visually at times instead of entering a number).

[N Grossingink]

Here's my hook with the 8va starting text. It's a Custom Smart Shape that might not play back but that can be arranged thru other means.

[motet]

Ridiculous that MM has not noticed and fixed this.

[sPretzel]

N Grossingink:
The problem has rubbed off your end barline!
I have played with a custom hook a little and it seems that it must have the shape of a hook, not a straight line. If I simply create a vertical straight line in Shape Designer, starting at the origin, there is a gap in the resulting custom shape between the horizontal line and the vertical line.

By the way, is it possible to duplicate or modify an existing Finale smart shape, like the octave bracket? Or perhaps find out its settings if I want to recreate it as a custom line? (I think I figured out the answer to the second question, in Smart Shape Options)

motet:
Am not surprised.

[Shinohara 1027]

Deleted

[sPretzel]

Hello Shinohara,

You're right, I was using the single line. That being said, it's not clear to me where the connection with the horizontal line in the custom shape takes place. As I said in the last post, if I only create a vertical line for the hook (not a hook as you show), I notice a gap between vertical and horizontal line.

I was looking for the settings for the Finale's own 8va bracket so I can have a starting point if I want to recreate it. They seem to be available in Smart Shape Options.

I disagree with you regarding visibility in print. This corner issue can be visible in print, depending on the stroke size, as well as the printer.

[Shinohara 1027]

Deleted

[sPretzel]

The hook is proving to be more troublesome to recreate.
1- If I have a dashed line and make a hook, the overlap between the hook's horizontal section and the horizontal line varies, resulting in the last dash (connected to the hook) to be of variable length, possibly longer than the dash length set for the horizontal line. It depends on the overall length of the smart shape in the score.
2- If I only create a vertical line for the hook, I get a gap with the horizontal line.

Indeed, there have been discussions in this forum about issues with Finale 27 in Windows. Mac appeared to have fewer issues but it wasn't issue-free either. Ideally, I would not have to make any modifications to correct issues of Finale and would simply use the software as it is intended to work! Unless MakeMusic's intent was for the software to be broken to begin with.

[Shinohara 1027]

Deleted

[sPretzel]

N Grossingink:
Have you tried a vertical line in shape designer for the custom arrowhead? I always get a blank space between the vertical line and the horizontal line of the custom line. The only way I can get rid of the space is to choose the hook option for the vertical line, not the custom arrowhead.

If I create the hook as a custom arrowhead, I can "get rid" of the space if I size the arrowhead correctly. The issue is still present but is no longer visible with a solid horizontal line bracket. But if I make the horizontal bracket dashed, then the issue shows itself again depending on the length of the horizontal line: the last dash could be the size of dash + horizontal leg of the hook.

Also, the resolution in shape designer seems to be 1 evpu. So if my vertical line stroke size is not a multiple of 2 evpu, I cannot position it vertically to be flush with the horizontal line. For example, if the stroke size is 0.5 pt, I would need the vertical line to start at Y = +0.25 pt and go downwards (if I start at Y = 0 pt, I get the corner issue this thread is about). Since resolution in shape designer is 1 evpu, I cannot position the vertical line to start at Y = +0.25 pt, it can start a Y = 0 or Y = 1.

UPDATE: After much tweaking, it appears that this horizontal offset (blank gap) that Finale introduces is of length 12 evpu (incidentally, that's also the default length of the hook in Smart Shape Options). So shifting the custom arrowhead back to X = -12 evpu (instead of setting it at the origin X = 0) makes it sit flush with the bracket's horizontal line. But I still have the resolution problem in shape designer. If line thickness is anything else than multiples of 2 evpus, I cannot correct for the corner issue.

[N Grossingink]

N Grossingink:
Have you tried a vertical line in shape designer for the custom arrowhead? I always get a blank space between the vertical line and the horizontal line of the custom line.

Yes, but I get the blank space too.

I used my angled "arrowhead" on a solid line. After some futzing around I got some good results (see below and attached file). The dashed lines need a bit of care when drawing them to ensure the rightmost dashes have the same gap before the hook. This is easily done "by eye".

[sPretzel]

Thanks for everyone's input. In the end, I created a custom arrowhead for the end point style, as suggested by N Grossingink. Then I used the multiline tool (I'm not sure that's its name), as suggested by Shinohara. I didn't create a proper hook but a straight vertical line with a little horizontal bit. Setting the stroke size to something even, I added a tiny horizontal line the size of half the stroke size to fill any potential corner issue that might pop up. I then positioned this vertical line at x = -12 evpu to counter the bizarre blank gap Finale introduces. If the resolution of the shape designer was finer than 1 evpu, I could set the stroke size to something other than multiples of 2 evpus. So far, this seems to work like Finale's own bracket without the corner issue. It doesn't need adjusting (or futzing! New fun word for me) the length of the horizontal line to make sure the dash does not get any longer than it is meant to be at the junction with the hook.

Now, I have to say that MakeMusic is very generous in giving us a lot of futzing to do in order to get what we need out of Finale.