Hi All,
I just want to say that I make very heavy and extensive use of the \shapeII function in openlilylib in my dense new complexity school scores and it behaves perfectly. This is contrary to what Simon reports, so I am mystified. I mention this so that the experience of Simon does not put you off trying it out (there's no disrespect intended here Simon - I am sure what you say is true, in the context in which you deploy this function.)
It's such a good and powerful function Simon - maybe we should look into how it goes wrong for you at some time, and hopefully fix it.
Andrew