On Wed, May 23, 2012 at 12:47 AM,
address@hidden <address@hidden> wrote:
[ ... ] Your patch is a post-processing corrective for when this fails. However, the goal of LilyPond is twofold:
1) Provide users with the ability to tweak LilyPond's output when for some reason the automation mechanisms put in place are not sufficient (which is what you're doing).
I find that the automation settings generally produce a good-looking result, and looking through some of my scores I find that I usually let slurs, ties, etc. alone, with an occasional override of 'positions. For me this is testament to how well the system does work in the majority of cases. My use of \shape seems to be in the realm of small tweaks of curves which are generally OK (to my eye, this part of the slur passes a little too close to a note head--that sort of thing.)
One of the nice things here is that you can set 'positions (and other properties like 'height-limit, 'eccentricity, etc.) and tweak _those_ results.
and this is a case in point (if any is needed) why an easier way to use 'control-points would be a big help. I've tried to duplicate the tie constructed with control-points there using \shape in the attached file (which accounts for some of the fussiness!) \shape gives you some semblance of the curve you want whether ragged-last is #t or #f, but of course you'd need to redo your 'control-points override (in this admittedly extreme case).
As a next step (should you wish to pursue your slur work further), I'd recommend considering the cases that your work is responding to from a musical perspective (where does LilyPond fail in your own scores or in scores you're reading?) and the type of information you are using to correct the problem. Is there any way that this information can be used as hints to the automation process (the elaboration of curves, their scoring, etc.) that could make it more likely that slurs will not need to be tweaked down the line?
I will certainly look with new eyes at the sorts of situations I've been trying to accommodate (and try to understand what might be going on--but I suspect that this will be a steep climb!!)
Thank you very much for your detailed and helpful explanations. You've given me a nice road map so I can understand the process a little better.
Let me know if you have any questions or need any further explanations and thanks for your work!
Will do, and thank you so SO much for yours!
Best,
David
shape-tie-test.ly