Re: how to simulate or vectorize free hand curve notation

[Andrew Bernard]

Hi Ryan,

I feared as much. I assume you are talking about the curve in the extract from your sample, attached for reference.

Lilypond slurs are Bezier curves that have two control points. That means you can’t create arbitrary wavy curves like that with that object – you need a large number of control points for that. (As an aside, if you do want to shape slurs there is an even nicer function that \shape called \shapeII in the openlilylib library.)

So what are the alternatives? Take a look at the NR section on graphics in markup.

http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.18/Documentation/notation/graphic

You could use the path command, which will allow an arbitrarily long list of curveto commands – consequently as many control points as you want. Since lilypond is not a graphical drawing tool, this approach, for the curves you show, would take a very large amount of effort, compiling and adjusting.

You can also use Postscript directly in markup, and you could write Postscript path commands. This has similar drawbacks to the above, but you can use Ghostscript as a development environment to see the curve. Again, painstakingly difficult. Also, if you incorporate Postscript into your lilypond file, it will not come out if you need to render the output in SVG.

The least nice way is to export to SVG and then create your curve in the document in Inkscape, or other SVG editor. This is a last resort, because once you go out to Inkscape you can’t come back again into lilypond.

Lilypond graphics markup allows the inclusion of EPS (encapsulated Postscript). So you could draw the curve in Adobe Illustrator, export as EPS, and include as an EPS file in lilypond.

I engrave vastly complex New Complexity School scores by a composer colleague of mine. The modernist notation challenges lilypond at every turn and every measure, so I am used to these issues! In the end, often, I feel defeated by the composer who has nothing more than an HB pencil!

Andrew

On 17/11/2015, 08:37, "Ryan Michael" <address@hidden> wrote:

The curves, say, on the second treble staff, in the image. 

wavy curve.jpg
Description: JPEG image