Re: Curved beams?

[Mark Polesky]

Erik Rodkey wrote:

> I'm a new user of Lilypond, very impressed by the ease of use
> (once you get into it) and results from the program.
> However, the flexible nature of this program makes me wonder if
> it would be possible to apply a bezier curve to the beaming tool,
> in order to create the sort of curved beams which was common in
> Baroque music, both handwritten and engraved.
>
> I don't mind having a go at this myself, but would appreciate
> tips general or specific from those experienced with the source
> code.
> Any idea how to go about doing this?

Sounds intriguing.

The absolute most general advice...

Start by studying the Beam properties here:
http://kainhofer.com/~lilypond/Documentation/user/lilypond-internals/Beam.html#Beam

You can use the grep search (upper right) to find these things in
the source:
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=lilypond.git;a=summary

Study the source to figure out how beams are calculated, drawn,
etc. Keep asking when you get lost.

If this doesn't help at all (or if you already know this), feel
free to ask more specific questions.

Welcome to LilyPond!
- Mark